Our Monmouth Blog

Every small business should have a blog as part of its marketing plan. A business blog can have a significant impact to your web traffic and help you make connections locally that you may have otherwise missed. Blogging has other benefits such as improved search engine results and can bolster readers perception of you and your business as a leader and expert.

A potential business blogger must also keep in mind the commitment blogging takes. Are you comfortable writing for public consumption? Are you prepared to receive comments on your thoughts? Are you willing to be challenged on controversial ideas? A decision to start blogging should not be made on a whim and involves planning.

Here are some of my favorite resources to get you started:

Andy Beard - Blog Search Engine Performance, Wordpress, Niche Marketing, Affiliate Marketing Tips and Social Media
copyblogger - copywriting tips for online marketing
success
Daily Blog Tips - tips to create or improve your blog
ProBlogger - the name says it all.

Know another great blogging resource? Let me know!

Happy blogging.

comScore Releases April 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

According to the May 22nd comScore press release “April 2008 saw Americans conduct 10.6 billion core searches, with Google Sites continuing to gain market share as the leading search engine.”

The report continued:

In April, Google Sites extended its share of core searches to 61.6 percent, up from 59.8 percent the previous month. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 20.4 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (9.1 percent), AOL LLC (4.6 percent), and Ask Network (4.3 percent).

There is no doubt Google is the steak and the potatoes in the search industry. If you are serious about improving your Internet marketing ability you need to strongly consider how you can improve your Google search results. Search Engine Marketing should be a part of any businesses marketing plan. Local businesses can make their mark in search if there is a focused effort.

Hugo Vidal Teixeira of Compenent House recently wrote a fantastic blog post on the importance of good user interface design titled “Ten UI Lessons from the Real World”. Through excellent pictures of real life examples Hugo demonstrates how bad design can hurt your brand, confuse, or even be offensive. It is not only good information but really funny and entertaining. As you read the post I am sure you can think of a few frustrating websites where ultimately you did not do business with because of a poor UI.

A well designed website can increase your credibility and improve sales conversions.

Best wishes!

For those of you that are frequent flyer’s Newark International Airport - EWR is on Twitter. Get up to date information on airport delays or weather closures direct from the source:

http://twitter.com/EWR

Do you know any other useful Twitter tips?

comScore Releases March 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

According to the April 15th comScore press release “March 2008 saw Americans conduct 10.8 billion core searches, representing a 9-percent increase versus February.”

The report continued:

In March, Google Sites extended its share of core searches to 59.8 percent, up from 59.2 percent the previous month. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 21.3 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (9.4 percent), AOL LLC (4.8 percent), and Ask Network (4.7 percent).

There is no more important mission for the online marketer than to rank well in search engine results. With the number of websites and web pages growing daily by unfathomable numbers it is critical that you not only rank in Google and Yahoo but you rank well. As a local small business owner the opportunity is to rank in your local market. For example, if you are a photographer you would want to rank for the following search terms:

Photographer
NJ photographer
Monmouth County photographer
Red Bank NJ photographer

The above search phrases are listed in order of difficulty. Google yields 92.2mm results for the term “Photographer” but only 1.8mm for the term “Red Bank NJ photographer”. While it could take years of focused effort to rank well for the search term “photographer” a local business should be able to rank well for the other above related search terms with a well executed short to medium term marketing plan.

How important is search engine rankings to your business?

Best wishes

I already received my first April Fools Email Virus. Make sure you only open emails and click links from trusted sources.

Have a fun day!

Best wishes.

There seems to be a very big buzz about Twitter lately. I have always been skeptical about how much time should be invested in these types of tools. Time is always at a premium when you plan how you want to invest outside of the walls of your business. In spite of that you may want to do some experimenting with Twitter as part of your Internet Marketing Plan.

Recently Aaron Wall of SEO Book blogged “Are you Using Twitter Yet”? Yes, Aaron and so is Barack Obama and John McCain conversely no Hillary Rodham Clinton. Could that be the difference? Probably not but there may be something to Twitter.

Darren Rowse of Problogger helped shed some more light on Twitter. In Darren’s March 25th post he tells us “How I Use Twitter to Promote my Blog”. Darren is not is only a great teacher but he also really knows how to leverage these tools. Since I am Twitter subscriber to both Aaron and Darren I was able to see how the best in the business use these tools to promote, market, and network. Darren uses it to engage his subscribers with questions that help guide content and direction for his blog as well at promote recent posts and his other blogs. As business owners I think there is a potential opportunity to apply this tool for business promotion.

I had to go directly to Twitters website to answer some basic questions about Twitter. The following was taken directly from Twitters FAQs:

What is it?
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Developers can use the API to make Twitter tools of their own. Possibilities are endless!

How do I use it?
Tell us what you’re doing in 140 characters or less! Send your thoughts, observations, and goings-on in your day. Whether you’re “eating an apple” or “looking forward to the weekend” or “Heading out of town” it’s twitter-worthy. Join us here. All of your personal information including your phone number is, of course, confidential.

But… what is the point?
As it turns out, your best friend is probably interested in knowing if you’re “loving the new Radiohead album.” And yes, your Mom may want to know if you’re “skipping breakfast in favor of a latte.” You might want to know if your significant other “feels like taking a road trip.” Find out what your friends are doing; keep each other abreast of your quotidian rituals.

Here are some ideas:

Are you a restaurant owner?
Use Twitter to tell about daily specials and events. Or maybe even ask you best patrons what they want for dinner tonight?

Own a retail store?
How about using twitter to promote an Internet only special event. You could also use Twitter to link to special coupons.

The bottom line is as a business owner will anyone care what you are eating for breakfast or if you love the latest Radiohead album? No, but I think there are some opportunities for creative business owners to use Twitter to promote and communicate with your clients and prospects.

I’m IMNJ on Twitter.

Check it out for yourself and let me know how you use Twitter!

Best Wishes!

3/31: Correction As Hart pointed out Hillary does have a Twitter account. Frankly, I can not explain why at the time when I did several Twitter searches I did not find the presidential hopeful.

When was the last time you did a quality browser test on your website? It may be more important now than ever before. According to the February ‘08 W3Schools Browser Statistics Firefox(Fx) continues to gain market share over both IE6 and IE7. Thats right, I said old IE6 and you may have more users hitting your site with this past version browser than you think.

For those that are unfamiliar with Firefox it is a fantastic alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. It is significantly easier to use and has many features and plug-ins that advanced users want.

I have always stressed the importance of having robust reporting on your website. Now is a good time to do another review and make sure that your site is optimized for the browsers your visitors are using. I would suggest using a service like browsercam if you don’t have access to the top three browsers.

Unexpected negative results within your website is a credibility killer. Credibility is key to earning trust especially with new users. You have less than three seconds to make an online impression and we all need to make sure our best foot is forward.

As we begin to implement our business plans for 2008 nobody should question the value of the Internet to any business. The numbers are clear and compelling:

- 71% of all Americans (over 237,000,000 people) use the Internet on a regular basis. (Source: internetworldstats.com)
- 91% of Internet users use a search engine to find information. (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Tracking)
- 78% of Internet users research a product or service before buying it. (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Tracking)

For most businesses it is not the question of why should I have my business on the Internet but how. This can be a significant challenge given the number of options that are available in the market. Companies like Yahoo and Google would be happy to get you started and by the way so would the Yellow Pages and hundreds of other web developers and marketers. How as a business owner can you make an informed decision without investing so much time that it distracts you from your business?

It is important for anyone who is interested in taking the first step to do some homework, and there is plenty of information on the Internet. If you have a general understanding of some of the basic technology this will be very helpful as you take your first steps forward. Have a general understanding of what a Domain name and hosting is. Write down all of your questions as you explore the information. What websites that you use do you like? What don’t you like about other websites? Remember your website will be your business card to the world.

Take a look at your competition and see what they are doing on the Internet. Do they have a website? Are they doing PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising? Are they collecting eMail address and marketing via email. These are just a few basic marketing activities the Internet has to offer. Is your competition taking advantage of them?

Once you have an idea of what you would like to accomplish online and have taken a look at the competition the next important step is to determine whom to work with. How comfortable are you with the technology? Are you the type of person that needs likes handholding? Or do you want to be in control of every step? Do you want to hand the reigns over to expert? Do you want to work locally or with a large corporation? What is your budget?

Based on the answers to these questions there is a solution for every business. My advice is to speak to several companies and get proposals from all of them. Once you have the proposals in hand ask yourself the following. Do they understand your business, your clients, and market place? Do they have a track record of success? Are they accessible if there is an issue? Do they have references? Will you be an account number or a valued client? Now your ready to make a decision.

The Internet can be a catalyst to bring any business to the next level and beyond. No matter what choices your make, now is the time to put it together and make it happen in 2008.

Wishing you success.

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The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP announced in a June 6th press release that

“Internet advertising revenues reached a new record of $4.9 billion for the first quarter of 2007. The 2007 first quarter revenues represent a 26 percent increase over Q1 2006 at $3.8 billion and a 2 percent increase over Q4 2006 at $4.8 billion.”

The Internet marketing industry is flourishing because of its success reaching target audiences. Most of today’s consumers pre-shop and research on the Internet prior to making buying decisions even if they don’t buy online.

A well thought out Internet marketing strategy should be a part of every business plan. While the costs of many of these programs vary there are a number of sites that allow you to post free classified ads to promote your business. This is a chance to generate some free impressions and leads.

Here is a list of 7 Online Classified Ad sites that offer free ads:

1. AdtoAd
2. ClassifiedsForFree.com
3. Craigslist
4. eDirection
5. LiveDeal
6. Postlets
7. Zipeee.com

What other sites do you use to promote your business for free?