Online Marketing Trends for Businesses in 2011

The year 2010 was the year of social media. Social media consolidated its position and by the end of the year major search engines admitted that their algorithm took into account the visibility of a website link on the profiles of the famous and the popular!

The year 2011 will be the year of mobile applications. Internet access via mobiles will increase. Mobile browsers on the other hand will display search results based on location. So ensure your website is a part and parcel of those applications especially if you are in retail, services or hospitality business.

Below are some trends in search engine optimization and marketing that will continue to matter in the year 2011.

1. Local Visibility: Local visibility will make a huge difference. Search engines especially Google has changed its algorithm to detect the location of the visitor and deliver results based on proximity of the location. They will further refine the process. Claim your listing on Google maps and other sites like Yelp.com or CitySquares.com.

SUGGESTION: Encourage your customers to post reviews about you on whatever social network they frequent.

2. Communities Matter: Who is talking about you? Apparently social ethics has nothing to do with business. The more you are talked about the better! So watch out for 2011 and get popular; either by hook or crook. If the person talking about you is important (has a lot of fans and followers) you carry more weight than your competitors. So if you want to outdo your competitors start a conversation that everyone is interested in and will eventually link to.

BEWARE: Don’t take in negative comments -algorithms can detect it!

3. Mobiles: Online access via mobiles will make a difference especially if you are in the retail, services or hospitality sector. If you are on the move Google maps will detect your location via GPS and send you specific retails of stores, restaurants and all that matters.

TIP: Offer downloads of these applications on your website. Visitors will appreciate that gesture.

4. Videos: As technology gets better and loading time is almost instantaneous videos are becoming increasingly popular. Product videos will be The Conversion Factor in ecommerce sites. Information sites will attract better linking if they include process videos.

SUPER TIP: For conversion optimization add a product use video to your squeeze page

5. Cross Channel Marketing: Resource crunch will see businesses experimenting with both traditional and newer forms of marketing. Small businesses will become more strategic in their planning. Direct marketing is returning back on platforms like SMS.

BEWARE: Do not apply the same strategy to all channels. Each channel has its own requirements!

6. Customized Applications: Just as RSS revolutionized your homepage these apps are design to deliver just what you want to see. So make sure you are a part of these app or networks that deliver these apps.

SUGGESTION: Mobile applications are specific to browser and most applications are not cross platform. Provide your visitors the entire array for each platform.

7. Advertising: It will become popular in other forms. Banner advertising will make a comeback as partner websites. Videos will be used in adverts. Infographics will be cloaked advertisement on social media platforms. Advertorials along will discount offers will be accepted by many blogs as a form of advertising.

TIP: Advertising on a niche social media platform is a great way of sending relevant traffic to your website.

8. Instantaneous Load: Loading time for websites will make a lot of difference as far as optimization and ranking visibility is concerned. The fact that higher loading time leads to high bounce rate is no industry secret.

NAG: Pester your webmaster till the loading time is well below 2 seconds

Do You Need a Spanish Version for Your Website?

The unofficial results of the census have resulted in a hullabaloo amongst internet marketers. Everyone is asking the same question- should we have a Spanish version of the website”

To quote a popular article eMarketer expects the Hispanic online population to grow by nearly 10 million people between 2010 and 2014.

The above data shows the estimated number of users from Hispanic population segment by the year 2014.

The crucial point is how to integrate this piece of information with your website marketing strategy. Most marketers think that adding the Google translate software to the website will suffice. However, hardcore marketers disagree. Conversion processes require pampering and playing to the requirements and fears of the decision maker. In that case automated translation does not work.

The content has to be customized to their thinking.

Adding a customized Spanish version of the website can be expensive, especially if you have a large website. Small businesses cannot afford the cost.

However for ecommerce businesses a Spanish version of the checkout page is a must especially if your Hispanic customer base is large. This makes the customer feel special and they will come back to your website again and again.

Let me know your feelings about it.

Online Press Release Guidelines

Generally, as business owners we all know exactly what we want to include in our press release. However there are certain guidelines that we need to follow to ensure that people can find us when they search for us online and search engines know which news to deliver when people ask for them.

Normally a press release is based on the format of

• Headline
• Summary
• Dateline and Lead
• Body
• Boilerplate Statement
• Contact Information

The headline and summary must be strong enough to arouse the curiosity of the reader so that they can continue to read the entire body. It should contain keywords that people are likely to search. Google news limits the title display to 60 characters, while Yahoo allows 120. Use Title case in the headlines. The summary may at times appear below the headline, so your company name should always be a part of the summary along with the keywords.

The dateline and lead are important from search engine point of view because they are used to access the timeliness of the document, the location and the relevance. It should be between 20 to 30 words.

The body copy can be anywhere between 350 words to 1000 words. It depends on the information that you want to give. Try to include a link back to your website via some keywords. Paid press release sites like PR web will accept them. If you are doing an unpaid press release include the entire web address like http://www.xyz.com.

In the press release world, Boilerplate Statement is typically your About the Company sentence. However, it can (and should) also include standard copy about any important people, services, or details in your release.

Contact information provides the media and everyone else interested in what you have to say a way to reach you. It should include your company name, telephone number, Website and an email address. Note: Never include a direct email address or you will be over whelmed by spam.

Google Best Practices

1. Have a news article with a permanent URL that contains at least three digits indicating the date. If not create a news sitemap and submit it after every news article is published.
2. Do not break up the article body- example avoid adding comment here option in the middle of the article.
3. Add the date between the headline and the body. This is important.
4. Titles matter, so they must contain keywords.
5. Separate news content from normal content on the website
6. Have unique and informative content

Try to write impartially, never blatantly brag about your product though you must sound proud about it. Write in active voice. Proof read your press release especially for grammatical errors. Add a inline picture. It makes the news article look attractive.

You can do a press release for any of the events relating to your company. A new employee, change in position, a new product, a webinar, a sponsorship or even a lecture given at the Local Chamber of Commerce.

So get started.

Response on Social Media Platforms

Social media has ensured that anyone can talk about anything including your company and how great it is or how it sucks (Aw!)

Are you there during the company bashing sessions on social media platforms?

It is very tough to track everything that is being said about you because even setting up a Google alert with the brand name or product name may not crawl through a social media platform. And that is exactly where the influencers and consumers are. This requires certain amount of manual work but it is worth it.

According to Brian Solis author of Engage, only 11% of members of a social media participate regularly in discussions and are active in expressing their opinion. The rest are just readers or listeners and they will be swayed by those participants whom they consider as leaders. So if someone is bashing your company be right there. Respond correctly and never humiliate the basher though personally you may feel like!@#$@!! (uhm…..)

General response posts for companies go like—

1. Looks like you have had a bad experience with our customer service. Can you exactly mail me what went wrong so that I can ensure that you or others never ever go through this again?
2. We are following your feedback on the product. If there is anything else that you would like to share please email us.
3. Thanks for your feedback. We have received similar complaints from other consumers too. We are really sorry for the inconvenience caused. Our development team is working around the clock to rectify the defect. If you will send your order number or purchase number we will send a replacement to your address once the defect has been rectified.

Notice that each post is trying to take the conversation out from the public to the private. This is the wisest way to go because you do not know who the person is and what his intentions are. Is he a plant of your competitors? (Oh yes they are there all the time) and not all members are going to be appeased by such statements. Some are delighted that the company responded and will take the mud slinging to a higher level.

Here are some tough responses to them—

1. We have been repeatedly asking for specific feedback and your order number and have not received it as yet. Please send us details or your action may imply that you are simply out to defame us.
2. We are sorry with your bad experience with out customer service. We are retraining our staff after your experience. However, we feel that it is unfair to blame the entire customer service over and over again especially when they are trying to be at their best.
3. We have noticed that you are taking your complaints against our company to other platforms too. We think it would appropriate to mention that you have also received an apology letter from us.

The art is to identify the influencers and segregate them. Pull them into private conversations. Interact with them. Respond to their posts.

Above all never forget – Only good products make winners.

Regards,
Sangeeta

Who is on the Social Media and Where

If your business is primarily B2C you need to be where your customers are.  All arguments about not having the time or money take a back seat when you actually know where your customers are.  Pingdom.com has come out with statistics on social media behavior. The statistics are primarily based on US demographics.

 The surprising result is the young and tech savvy below 30 crowd’s presence is as strong as the 35 to 45 year crowd.

Here is a breakdown of where to find your consumers as per the age profile. So you just launched a new cool bike accessory for kids? Now you know where to talk about it. Cool gadgets? Target sites from the 18+ to 35+ crowd.

It is no secret that social media networking and interactions play a role in brand building and networking. What however helps specially as far as software companies or tools are concerned, these crowds are extremely willing to try out new beta testing stage products.

Hope these stats are of use to you.

Regards,

Ajay