South Central Media
Creating demand starts with creating awareness of your brand. While paid search is especially effective in driving results further down the buyer funnel (capturing people actively searching for products/services you provide), display advertising is an essential tool for driving buyer consideration and awareness.
While the meta tag description does not directly affect the search rankings, it is still a crucial element of on-page SEO.
Why?
The meta description tag can be a deciding difference between a user clicking through to your site … or moving on to your competitors.
Filed under: SEO | Tags: meta description, meta description best practices, meta description tag, meta description tips, seo meta description | View Comments
A quick keyword search on “blogging” via WordTracker nets a not-too-surprising list of the usual suspects:
and so the list continues as expected, with obviously a large percentage of the volume dedicated to those of us looking to spike site traffic and hit the big win to blogging and marketing paradise.
But a second, more intriguing number of keywords indicates that knowledge seeking is giving the “make money blogging” crowd a run for its search engine glory:
Now either we’re being overrun by Internet existentialists, or there’s something to be said about the demand for good, valuable content with insights into blogging. Which brings me to a larger point.
While blogging is certainly a valuable vehicle for gaining inbound links and subsequent traffic boosts, increased rankings and so on, it’s also a perfect platform for you and your brand to engage with your customers on a whole different level.
Think value before traffic. Think blogging tutorials for beginners. Think about how you can offer these blogging-intrigued enthusiasts a helping hand.
Do this, and watch both your traffic AND reputation in relevant communities spike.
Filed under: Blogging | Tags: blogging for community, blogging for money, blogging for value, blogging tips, what is blogging, what is the meaning of blogging | View Comments
First impressions are certainly memorable and often lasting depending on the approach, and in the case of sustainable social media, the process for that first hello and handshake is quite similar when you break it down into simple, actionable steps.
Following these 5 simple steps will provide you, your brand, your cause and your conversations a platform to engage like-minded communities with the intent of forging sustainable relationships:
The first step is where most of us fall flat on our faces. Once you dip that first toe into a social community, rather than leaping in armed to the teeth with promotional information and product sales sheets, take a step back and observe – Focus on conversation trends, identify the most popular or thought leaders in community and try to understand the temperature of the community (will they be receptive to your message and why/why not).
The second step is a natural follow-through to the listening process. Once you’ve listened and determined the temperature of the community and who the thought leaders are and how they are engaging each other and the community as a whole, offer a personable introduction with the caveat that you are there listen, learn and participate.
The third step requires active participation in ongoing conversations. By providing thought provoking commentary, you’re working to establish yourself as a trustworthy member of the community. You’re not self promoting, but asking questions, engaging and guiding the conversation into new avenues without expecting it to land on your site.
The fourth step is an extension of the active participation process. Once you feel comfortable enough to venture out on your own, offer an olive branch to the community by providing helpful advice, information, tips, etc.
That leads to the fifth and final step in your journey to sustainable social media. By offering value to the community without expecting favors or rewards in return, you’re legitimately focused on the long-term positive evolution and not the personal, short-term gains that your engagement could provide your business/brand. While the word “free” may make some of us cringe, it’s not about losing out on a sale in the immediate that you should be concerned with. It’s the “everybody wins” mentality from focusing on the relationships that will net much greater rewards down the road.
Filed under: Social Media | Tags: 5 steps social media, social media tips, sustainable social media | View Comments
The number one conversion-killing mistake for any landing page is being too general.
If you’re an auto dealership looking to shine a spotlight on your hot new 2010 mid-size SUV lines, then why fill the limited real estate you have for content on your landing page with general information about your brand and dealership?
Because it’s too tempting (and often much easier for busy business owners) to simply re-use existing Website content to populate your landing page. After all, it’s all about driving traffic … right?
Filed under: Landing Pages | Tags: landing page conversion, landing page copy, ppc ad copy | View Comments
As a small-to-medium business, effective paid search marketing is all about trimming the excess fat from your campaign to achieve maximum results, i.e. spend smarter to acquire more customers.
I would encourage all business owners, whether just dipping toes into the proverbial PPC pool or savvy veterans of the PPC realm, to reconsider how you approach campaign setup and focus more on understanding your customer’s needs and how to capture demand by offering highly relevant ad copy and smart PPC management.
Filed under: Paid Search | Tags: effective paid search marketing, ppc campaign setup, smart PPC marketing | View CommentsArguably the most important on-page element when it comes to SEO optimization, the title tag is a crucial bit of meta information that you (or the search bots) can’t afford to neglect.
A bit of background on the title tag:
Okay iPad users, I’ll admit that we don’t go out of our way to feature Apple news. Considering there are blogs geared to tech and geek news and product reviews that do it a lot better than we can, we stick to offering tips on effectively marketing your brand or business.
Enter Chimpadeedoo, a signup app for iPad with a sleek and simple interface for collecting email addresses while you’re in physical locations. Exchanging business cards at trade shows just got an extreme makeover.
Best part is that you can actually store connections locally on your iPad, so if you’re in a bind without internet access, you’re still covered on nabbing that essential new contact’s information.
MailChimp’s Chimpadeedo App for iPad
Filed under: Technology | Tags: chimpadeedo app, chimpadeedo ipad, ipad app, signup form for ipad | View Comments
Pun intended.
The real deal when it comes to writing effective e-mail subject lines is personalization, and the smart entrepreneurs, business owners and e-mail marketers are the one’s who take the time to write compelling, unique and personable content before ever scheduling or hitting the send button.
Filed under: Email Marketing | Tags: effective email subject lines, email marketing subject lines, writing effective email, writing email subject lines | View CommentsEngaging. A word that quite simply implies all you need to know about effective copywriting and content strategy.
The formula for sticky content is simple: Start with an engaging headline that peaks the reader’s interest (enough to read past the first line of copy), provide value and build trust leading up to a compelling call to action.
I’ve prepared a brief list of 5 headline types that are time tested and true to grabbing your audience’s attention.
Filed under: Content | Tags: content strategy, effective copywriting techniques, effective headline writing, engaging headlines | View Comments
