SEO and SMM are Getting Married

Most entrepreneurs have at least heard the terms Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing (SMM), and have some desire to leverage them to bring their business to new, otherwise untapped, markets. What exactly are these two marketing strategies, and how do they hinge on each other?

SEO Is About Visibility

When people talk about SEO, it really means changing the variables of a particular site, or profile, to make that site friendlier to search engines and to increase the visibility of that site, page or profile in targeted Search Engine queries.

There are many factors that impact where a particular website will display in the Search Results (SERPs), but a few of the factors include:

  • Age of content on the pages of the site.
  • How relevant the content is to the search query.
  • Number and quality of other sites that link to your site.

SMM is Critical to

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PPC – The Anti-Linear Marketing Channel

When it comes to setting up marketing channels, owners of small and mid-sized businesses try to use traditional methods to do Internet Marketing. As Karl Ribas wrote on Search Marketing Gurus, this is not effective.

No fixed price tags

One of the traditional approaches to marketing is the idea of fixed costs. If I spend $10,000 on a billboard, I know it’s going to be there for the length of the contract, and there will be an average of “x” traffic to see that billboard.

When it comes to Pay-Per-Click marketing (PPC), this no longer holds true. The idea behind PPC is that advertisers compete against each other for placement and price. The key variables that determine these two items are:

  1. Quality Score (relevance of ad copy to keyword as well as relevance of landing page to keyword)
  2. Bid price

Advertisers compete against each other in these two areas. … Continue reading

10,000 Auto Parts: A Part For Every Occasion

When Claude Greiner, the owner of Teddy Bears Auto Salvage, wanted to increase his business, he knew that increasing traffic to his website would make the difference. So he contacted DirectiveGroup. We thoroughly interviewed the owner of Teddy Bears to determine exactly what his internet marketing needs were. This included geographical marketing to pinpoint exactly who Teddy Bears Auto Salvage’s customers were and where they were located. Claude answered detailed questions about his business goals. DirectiveGroup did the rest.

The Challenge

Many of Teddy Bear’s customers were located within a 30-mile radius of the salvage yard. Because of the demand of specific auto parts that Teddy Bear carried, the salvage yard also has clientele outside of the local area who had their orders shipped. This included wholesale accounts, specifically other auto parts stores who bought from Teddy Bears and resold to their local clientele.

The Goal

As outlined by DirectiveGroup, … Continue reading

Too Much We In Your Website?

You have a website because you want to attract customers and increase revenue… you want to tell your readers all about you and what a great product or service you offer. Come… see… buy… right?

Wrong! One of the most common and perhaps biggest mistakes in website copy is believing that readers want to hear about you, when in fact, your readers are thinking about their own wants, needs, and desires. What they really want to know is how your product or service will benefit them or solve their problems. And your web pages should reflect this, but do they?

A nifty tool to see if the words on your web pages convey a desire to meet the wants and needs of your readers give a more self-focused impression is the WeWe Monitor or Customer Focus Calculator found at http://www.renowinc.com/wewe.htm. Just enter your URL and the company name or names … Continue reading

Now is the Time: 5 Easy Steps To Get Started in Social Media

You’ve heard about the explosion of social networking sites. Over 400 million people worldwide use one or more. A social networking site is a place of social interaction. On Facebook, members become friends, share information, invite each other to events, and engage in other social activities. On Twitter, people share brief messages or updates with one another. Individuals, organizations, and businesses take part. Have you ever wondered if you should get involved, and if so, how?

You may be hesitant to try something new; however with the enormous traffic that these sites receive, it’s time to make your presence known! Not only is social networking a strategy to increase revenues and/or deepen customer relationships, it is also a fabulous Search Engine Optimization (SEO) technique for linking to your website.

Here is a simple 5-step process, adapted from the article, “5 Steps to Get your Business Ready for Social Media” to … Continue reading

Hospitals Must Now Have A Powerful Online Presence

Not long ago, if a person suffered medical symptoms, he or she would first turn to a family member or friend for help or advice. Not anymore. The internet has taken over as the first source that consumers turn to. Why? Because research has shown that trust in online sources has increased about 44%. That’s a lot of credibility. How can you tap in?

There are some surprising statistics in 5 Trends in Healthcare in 2010, a study commissioned by Google, which show that an online presence is critical for healthcare providers and institutions.

Check this out:

  • 61% of adults use online health resources.
  • 53% of those adults ask their doctors new questions based on what they find on the internet.
  • 80 million Americans use social media for health-related issues.
  • 65% of all adults say that the internet is their top resource for health concerns.
  • 32% of adults say
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