The Social Networks are at War and the Users are Winning

While we're on the topic of Google+ and other social media, it's a good time to point out that we are currently living in a very interesting time in the social world. As with the introduction of any competition to an existing market, the companies we are so used to start to get a little shaken up. But, in true capitalist nature, it ends up being the consumer that wins.


So for our last post we covered the new Google "Search plus Your World" feature, which you can check out here. Already, the feature has been developing its early adopters, but it has also gathered some haters, particularly Twitter. Apparently “@example” searches are turning up Google related profiles with the new Google search, as opposed to Twitter accounts. Now the two are battling it out with Google fighting possible anti-trust issues. It just goes to show that Google REALLY wants in on the social networking game. We’ll get to see how that turns out.


As for the Facebook front, today the company announced their new “Listen With” feature. “Listen With” allows friends to get together online to play music for one another and chat about it, using streaming audio services like Spotify. Facebook plans to roll out the feature over the next few weeks. It can’t be a coincidence that they announced it 2 days after the new Google search. It seems that both companies are always armed with an ace up their sleeve for when the time calls for it.


So now, what do the users get out of it? We get to play around with all these new features, of course! While these companies duke it out and try to one-up the other, the user gets to reap the benefits. Cool!


There has never been a better time to take advantage of social networking and this battle only proves how important it is that you have an online presence yourself. Social network branding means everything these days. Would these giants be fighting for your business otherwise?

The Future Relationship Between Google+ and Your Business?

It doesn’t surprise me that yesterday Google decided to reveal another new feature to back up their Facebook challenger, Google+. The social network has been picking up a lot of steam since the end of last year, hitting an estimated 150 million active users and still going. It also seems that out-“teching” Facebook is going to be the deciding factor for Google+ in the long run though, so new features were to be expected.

While G+ still has a lot of catching up to do if it means to really contend with Facebook, there are still some wonderful features about it that are worth checking out now. One of which is the new feature I was talking about, referred to as “Search plus Your World.”

Google has implemented a new twist to their search engine, their most famous feature, to create a sort of smart search that understands the user and their relationships with other individuals. This means people and pages you know can populate searches (this feature can be turned off), making Google+ your way to the world’s first true “Social Search”.

So how does this factor in to your business? (Forgive me for taking so long to get here.)

Simply put, it’s all about branding and localism. Branding on the web has always meant casting a big net, and focusing on the sheer volume of pageviews, general rankings etc. With the implementation of this “social search” idea, your brand will thrive off of the brands and individuals in your area and within your extended network. With this new feature, having a social standing online with your physical and Google+ community is going to be what recommends your pages to individuals. This means branding your business to your community is going to be an absolute must. Google does a better job explaining how it works here, I am suggesting possibilities in the long term though.

So while Google has gone and traced the Earth and created the most sophisticated search engine in human history, they want to use their new technology to simply make your social world more personalized and ultimately, a little bit smaller.

In the end though, this is all simply my speculation on the new search feature and could, in the end, be very different from the user experience I (or even Google) expect it to be. Google+ might end up tanking in a year as well. We just can’t know at this point. I’d recommend making a profile for now though!

Why JC Penney got Spanked by Google

So as you may or may not know, JC Penney, one of the largest clothing retailers in the world, got in big trouble with Google just a few months ago. Due to some major issues with their... style of internet marketing, Google slapped all JC Penney links to the back of their search engine results. Let's explain.

Link building is a popular trend when it comes to internet marketing and search engine optimization. It's always nice to have lots of different pages linking to your website and Google recognizes/rewards this. So what was it that got JC Penney busted? Link-baiting, a common "black-hat" SEO technique that had hundreds of spam websites linking to JC Penney products. (This tricks Google and other search engines into thinking the company website is more popular online than it really is.) While "black-hat" SEO tends to have a quick return and great results, it's also a great way to get your website blacklisted. JC Penney is still feeling the wrath.

Seriously though... go to Google and look up a simple clothing item (I searched "black sweater") and see how many pages you have to go through. Then try looking up "department store" and see how far back Penneys is with that criteria! Shocking eh?

So what does this all mean?
SEO is serious business, and doing it right can do wonderful things for your business online, but done carelessly can ruin your online presence indefinitely. So in the long run, if you are looking to market your business it pays to let the professionals do it. Even if it takes a little longer for search engine marketing to take effect, it's always better to put on the "white hat".

Or you can get kicked back to page 60...

Lessons in Branding and Reputation Management - Make or Break Your Business

After the announcement from Netflix founder, Reed Hastings, earlier this week regarding the future of Netflix I couldn't help but think about how important branding and reputation management really are to ANY business. Now I think we all have the same question on our minds - "how could a company like Netflix make such a bonehead move?"

For those of you who need a timeline of the "series of unfortunate events", let's start from the beginning...

• As of July, the company announced that they would be separating their DVD and Streaming video combo
• Public backlash ensues - Netflix goes quiet
• Hastings releases personal video to console Netflix users... by announcing same pricing but a division of the company. Streaming video will remain Netflix, and mail-order videos will be from their new company, the awfully named, "Qwikster"
• More public backlash - Netflix needs a cave to hide in

So let's talk about the state of Netflix.
As of July, Netflix turned from a heroic video-rental slayer that was adored by the public into exactly what it always has been. A business. The hostile response to their increase in price was really just consumers opening their eyes to the product they were already buying (yea, and the price and combo split matters a bit too.) What really got the web buzzing was the "greed" Netflix exposed though. Were they not still providing an awesome service, and for a good price?

This all comes down to reputation management, or in this case, simply keeping your happy customers happy. While it's hard to say exactly what they should have done otherwise, the folks at Netflix shouldn't have announced their premium changes the way that they did. (The simple “pay more, get less” model doesn’t tend to work very well.)

This is a prime example of why proper reputation and brand management is key! Completely alienating the majority of their customer base clearly means they weren’t taking their reputation to heart.

Now we have the company (brand) split.

The only two services that Netflix provided to their customers, the services that they themselves are famous for, are getting a divorce. Qwikster, which I can never seem to remember how to spell, will be handling the DVD delivery service now. The main question this raises for me is, “why would Netflix split up the two services that have made their brand so well respected?” Unfortunately for the company, many customers and stockholders are wondering the same thing. Netflix is now projecting massive losses in the coming year.  

Even after all of these major mess-ups, I highly doubt Netflix will be going anywhere anytime soon. Too many people enjoy the streaming services alone, and would be willing to pony up the extra money for it. As for the fate of Qwikster, only time will tell.

All in all, this makes for a great real world lesson in reputation and brand management. With most cases, brand management means to help a troubled brand, or to simply help define one. In this case, Netflix simply lacked the care needed to protect their brand’s image, and to maintain their once spotless reputation.

Google+ and the (Potential) New Face of Social Media Marketing

Not sure about you guys, but we're itching to see how Google+ is going to affect internet marketing. Facebook's "like" button plugin still reigns supreme, but according to searchenginewatch.com, the new "+1" feature has already surpassed the twitter "tweet" plugin in popularity. On the user end, Google has attempted to integrate all of its services into a one-stop-shop with Google+. Now, with business profiles in the works, it's possible we have only seen the tip of the iceberg here.

Here at GOiMarketing, we strongly back Social Networking as part of any companies’ internet marketing strategy. With that said, we want to see the business end of Google+… now! We know that Google has plans to release business profiles packaged with Analytics Tools soon, but using the other new features available with Google+ really offers some room for imaginative marketing. Alas, for now we have to stay put and wait for Google.

So do you think that Google+ is going to be the one to end Facebook? Is it even possible for both to coexist? Is it still just too early to tell, despite the hype around Google+?
Got a theory? Tell us what you think!

A Short Primer on Google Analytics

So you have this terrific new website and you're curious how it's doing regarding attracting visitors. Your SEO firm will give you the skinny, of course, but if you'd like to check your analytics, Google lets you do so.

Google' Analytics basically measures, collects and analyzes the activities of your site's visitors. What keywords brought them there? How long do they stay? Which pages do they look at? And so on.

When you log into Google Analytics, head to "Website Profiles" and choose the site you want to analyze. Then click on the "View Reports" tab. You'll be taken to your dashboard, where you'll be able to view how your site is doing.

Some different Google Analytics sections

Traffic Sources Overview: This section gives you a breakdown and percentages of the different sources of traffic to your site.

Visitor Overview: This is where you'll see what pages your visitors go to when they arrive at your site, how long they stayed, and your rate of bounces off your site. You'll also get a list of new visitors as well as how many "absolute unique visitors" your site received.

Map Overlay: This allows you to look at a Country or Territory view of a world map The color will tell you how the percentage of visitors coming to your site from any one country. You can then click on the "view report" link that will give you views of the specific cities from which your visitors arrive.

Content Overview: This section will tell you how many times your site's pages are viewed. It also will give you the number of unique page views as well as your site's bounce rate.

The bounce rate is important because, if it's high, then you know that people are coming to your site but they're leaving because they're not finding the information they need or are looking for. You can then change your content or design and watch to see if the bounce rate improves.

If you'd like to see your website attract and keep more visitors, contact GoiMarketing.com. We can help you better understand your site's performance and, if necessary, make some changes to improve it. Contact us today!

What Google's New Algorithm Means for Your Website's Content

Google in late February made a huge change to its algorithm, a change it made in order to put the kibosh on low-quality content sites that too often relied on low-quality content. The idea was to keep sites comprised of keyword stuffed, computer-spun content from showing up too high in search results.

The change already is having a huge affect on search. For example, PCMag.com on March 3 reported that "traffic to some sites has plummeted 50 percent following Google's 'farmer' algorithm change last Friday [Feb. 25], which was intended to weed out content farms from search results."

For example, the PCMag.com article continued, "Theteacherscorner.net, a 13-year-old site with 'several million monthly pageviews and thousands of pages of original content for K-12 educators' said its traffic dropped by 40 percent and ad revenue by 50 percent. 'This is a huge and devastating hit to the well-being of our website.'

"Another webmaster from Healthhype.com said its site lost 50 percent of its U.S. traffic, even though its articles are original and apparently cost $100 to produce. Real estate page www.c21theharrelsongroup.com saw its placement for a 'Myrtle Beach' search go from a number 11 rank to the fourth page of results."

Google's response? According to the PCMag article, a "Google spokesman told PCMag that sites that believe they have been adversely impacted should 'extensively evaluate their site quality.'" The Google rep also said, "'[i]n particular, it's important to note that low quality pages on one part of a site can impact the overall ranking of that site.'"

But what does it mean to you, the owner of a small business?

It means you should make sure your website is filled with quality content. Content that is engaging and well-written. Content that gives solid information. Keywords are still important, of course, but aiming for every single keyword your target market uses? Maybe not such a wise idea anymore (if it ever was).

As you build your website, aim for the narrow. That is, specialize. Become a go-to authority on your niche. Make sure your content adds value.
If you have other questions or concerns regarding the February algorithm change, give us a call here at GoiMarketing.com. We'd be happy to explain it to you in more detail and discuss how you can create a site -- or fill your current one -- with engaging, informative content. Contact us today!

Nine Reasons to Add Video Marketing to Your Marketing Mix

Have you harnessed the power of video marketing to market your business? No?

Well, if you're still on the fence, here are nine reasons why you should add video to your marketing arsenal.

1) Place the right keywords in the form YouTube.com provides when you upload your video and you'll find that people interested in what you have to sell will view it. How so? Because Google loves video as much (and sometimes even more) as it loves pages with written content.

2) Once people arrive at your video, they're more likely to "convert." That is, they're more likely to click a link to your site, or go to the page to which you direct them to sign up for your newsletter, etc.

3) Videos are extremely cost effective. Do you already have a video camera at home? You have an Internet connection, yes? Then you need spend nothing more to create videos! Turn your video on today, download it to you YouTube and place it on your business website tonight. It truly can be that fast.

4) You also don't even need to have a video camera to create a video. Do you have pictures on your hard drive? Even if you don't you can purchase some from iStockPhoto or some other photo-buying site that are evocative of your service or product and, with the help of Windows Movie Maker (for example), you can create a slide-show video.

5) You can make as many videos as you like and place them on YouTube and other free video-sharing sites. Create a YouTube "channel" for your business, too! Make and upload dozens of videos to your channel and you, too, can become a television "station" owner, a station that brings you new customers 24 hours a day, every day of the week.

6) No matter what service or product you sell, you can create a video. Do you sell landscaping services? Put together a video about how to remove a large bush or tree. Or how to trim a lawn properly. What types of plants work best in your region depending on how much sunlight they receive?

Or are you a plumber? Make videos that show people how to fix a leaky toilet or spigot, or how to replace their old toilet with a new one.

You'll soon become known as an expert in your field. People love to hire experts!

7) Video marketing is easily measured. You'll be able to see how many people watched your video and you'll be able to see how many of them clicked on your links and visited your website as a result.

8) You, and you alone, control your message.

9) Search engine crawlers love videos. Google, especially, owner of YouTube, has started ranking videos just as it does "regular" Web pages (those with standard -- written -- content). Which means your video well could rank higher than a written page optimized for the same keywords. In fact, YouTube in many circles is considered to be the number two search engine (behind Google itself).

Is your business ready for its close-up? If so, give GoiMarketing.com call. We can help you produce affordable and engaging videos that will help get your website buzzing with new visitors! Contact us today.

Four Terrific Article Marketing Tips

We haven't talked about article marketing in awhile and that's a shame, because article marketing with keyword-rich articles really is a terrific way to get free traffic to your business' website.

So with today's post, here are four great article marketing tips:

1) The longer your article is, the better. Aim to write articles of at least 500 words in length. Anything shorter than 250 words really won't do you much good. Four or so keywords in such a short article will come across as "keyword stuffing." Your article also won't read very well.

2) Go for quality in your articles, not quantity. Yes, it's extremely helpful if you can write thoughtful, informative articles of 500 words or so five days a week for a month and then one to three times a week for the next couple of months after that. But if you simply don't have time, aim for fewer articles of higher quality. What do we mean by quality? Articles that are engaging, well written and offer good, solid information to your target audience.

3) Pay your writers well. Speaking of lack of time (or if you feel you're not a good writer), consider outsourcing the writing of your articles to a professional. Watch out for writers who will accept $5 (or even less) per 500-word article. You will be paying for junk. The article may be written by people who have no grasp of complex English grammar and syntax. In addition, you risk that the "writer" may simply cut and past someone else's article and foist it off to you as original. Many professional, highly talented writers can write an article for you for between $25-75 or more (the more would be a for an article on a highly technical topic).

4) Distribute your articles to the big guns. Hundreds of article distribution sites are popping up on the Internet each day. However, we recommend that you distribute your articles to the major players in the article distribution arena: ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, articlesbase.com, articlesnatch. com, etc. (Here's a list of the top 50). You also can place your article on your own HubPage, Squidoo Lens, AssociatedContent pages, etc.

If you'd like to explore more about how article marketing can bring your website targeted traffic affordably and continually (once the article is distributed, it's on the Internet -- and being found -- forever), give GoiMarketing.com a call. We can research the keywords that will work best for your campaign and we can also write and distribute the articles for you. We look forward to hearing from you.

Become the Go-To Resource in Location Via Content Marketing. Part Two

We discussed in our last post how blogging and e-mail marketing with newsletters can help a small business "beat" the large and national chains that compete for their same business in their local market.

This post will describe two more "content" marketing strategies: social media and "old school" networking events.

First, social media. Yesterday, you could do business without a website. Today, though, you're not taken seriously by prospects without one.

It's heading in the same direction as far as having a presence on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. -- if you're not there, you must not "care." And, if you don't "care," no one wants to do business with you.

"Relationships" matter when marketing your business today. Critically so. People want to feel they're doing business with someone they know and trust. Even if they've never met you in person, they still must feel that they 'know" you.

Social media sites allow you to create relationships with customers and potential customers. It needn't take you too much time, but you should take some time to set up a Facebook and Twitter account and start posting. You also may want to look into LinkedIn and even posting to forums that discuss your industry/offerings.

Don't forget to cross-promote your blog posts, videos, newsletters etc. on Twitter and Facebook

Although we started this two-part series on how content marketing online can help brand you as the expert in your sector, we also believe you shouldn't ignore "old school" style networking. That is, invest in a bit of shoe leather, make your way through eating some soggy hors d' oeuvres and hie yourself to some local networking events.

Not only will you get the chance to start crafting some real-life relationships with potential customers, partners, etc. you also can use these events to create content for your online marketing efforts.

Place photos you take of the event on your blog (and then be sure provide a link to your Twitter/Facebook pages, and vice versa). Videotape certain parts of the event and place it on your blog, e-mail it your newsletter list, etc.

Are you ready to get started crafting a terrific content marketing campaign, one that will help you engage, relate and attract visitors to your site and increase your customer base? Then contact GoiMarketing.com. We look forward to hearing from you.