Good Email Marketing Example – Ace Hardware

Here is a good email marketing example from Ace Hardware

Why does this work? It’s seasonal and it’s good, informative content that shows you why you need their products. They didn’t just send a promo for me to by grass seed and fertilizer – they are telling me why I need it through informative content.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

5 Hard Truths About SEO

1. It’s a LOT of hard work
2. It takes months and years to yield results
3. There are no guarantees (so don’t fall for that from an “SEO” consultant)
4. It’s always changing
5. SEO projects never end – they are iterative -> implement, analyze, repeat

Got anything to add? Leave a comment or jump into the forums!

15% Of Mobile Web Traffic Are Searches

A recent report from Opera (a web browser company) called “State Of The Mobile Web” determined that Google Search accounts for more than 9% of all page views on mobiles in the United States.  Add Bing and Yahoo mobile search share into the mix and you have almost 15% of mobile internet traffic being search.

Can you guess what someone may be searching for on a mobile? Local search results come to mind…

By default on mobile devices Google drops local search right into the top of the results.

Is your business listed in local directories? If not – you should get started now!

If you have any questions on local listings, please ask us in the comments or jump into the forums…

And if you need help… we offer a google local listing service…

Two Ways To Do Local PPC

If it hasn’t been obvious to you over the last couple of months we think local is the next big thing. There are many reasons for this – from Google adding location filters into search and advances with Google Local Listings…

Beyond your local listings, you can target local through Google AdWords as well. If your business operates in a geographic based market – a localized PPC campaign on AdWords is a great way to run a low cost and high click-thru online advertising campaign.

What does that mean? It’s easy to keep a low budget and have a highly effective campaign if you target local. Here are two ways to get started.

1. Target Keywords In A Geographically Targeted Area

When setting up a Google AdWords campaign you can target keywords based on a specific geographic region. For instance – let’s say you are a plumber in des moines…

If you were to bid on the keyword “plumber” and not set a location you will

• Pay a lot of money for clicks
• And you will have irrelevant traffic = waste of money

However in AdWords there is an option to target ads based on geography under “Settings -> Locations”. Here you can drill down to states or cities you wish to target. Now if you bid on the keyword “plumber” your ad will only show up for people searching from that geographic region – in this case we chose the state of Iowa.

2. Target Localized Keywords

In our plumber’s case he can target localized keywords in AdWords rather than generic keywords. For instance – instead of targeting the high priced keyword “plumber” they can target “des moines plumber”. Not only does that keyword cost much less per click – you know you are getting relevant clicks on your ad. This makes for a higher conversion rate, meaning more people that click on your ad will end up buying from you.

Do you have any questions on local PPC or AdWords targeting? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!

E-Commerce Tips – Interstate Batteries

Does this look odd to you?

Either Interstate Batteries are advertising their markup by blatantly stating they charge more than the Suggested Retail Price.

- OR -

Someone screwed up and hasn’t looked at it since…

Which do you think?

Confusing a user is the first way to get them to abandon your E-commerce site. Are you confusing your users?

Try ordering something from your own site and see if the process is confusing! When we told you to break up with your website we said the same thing… If you can’t use your site chances are your visitors can’t either.

Google Adds “Nearby” To Search

Google is taking another step in the local direction – once again making Google Local Listings even more important! They’ve just added a way to refine search results by location.

From Google’s press release…

Location has become an important part of the way we search. If you’re a foodie looking for restaurant details, food blogs or the closest farmer’s market, location can be vital to helping you find the right information. Starting today, we’ve added the ability to refine your searches with the “Nearby” tool in the Search Options panel. One of the really helpful things about this tool is that it works geographically — not just with keywords — so you don’t have to worry about adding “Minneapolis” to your query and missing webpages that only say “St. Paul” or “Twin Cities.” Check it out by doing a search, clicking on “show options” and selecting “Nearby.”

What’s this look like?

When you click on “Nearby” Google Filters Results Based On Your Location

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Internet Video Marketing Extends Marketing Arm

Using the internet and social networking sites is a fantastic way to market a business of any size today. Most young people today are expecting to see a Facebook fan page for businesses they work with. It’s really not surprising at all. Next, there’s internet video marketing. Using videos on the internet is so powerful, because the human mind reacts differently to videos than text. Videos more or less tell a story, and the human brain is very receptive to that, so videos are more effective in getting the human mind to respond positively.

Because of how well the mind responds to internet video marketing, its popularity is growing exponentially in today’s personal and business world. Websites like YouTube have made it incredibly easy and simple to share a video online and also to upload a video from your own camera. Making your company seem more down to earth by offering helpful information in a format that the brain can grab and understand is very powerful indeed. Tell your company’s story while helping your potential clientele with a topic that relates to your product or service.

Putting a face to your business’ name is another good part of internet video marketing. When you put some of your people online speaking to the potential or current clientele, it lets them see that you are real people, with real faces and names, not just some big corporate company who doesn’t care. It gives you some confidence to your customers, and it lets them trust you more easily. When they can see that you are real, and that you are down to earth and sincere, they are more likely to trust you. Today’s world is full of shady characters, so let them see who you really are.

So, in short, tell them a story with video. Videos are powerful because the human mind loves a story! Internet video marketing is one of the most viral and powerful forces in the world of business today, so you absolutely do not want to miss out on this! Make this form of marketing another arm for your business and its ability to reach out to people that you haven’t been able to reach before. Put your face to your name and let them see that they should want to work with you. Let social networking and videos work to your advantage and get ahead in your industry!

Google Buzz Makes Local More Important

Google Buzz has made having an local internet marketing strategy exponentially more important – as if it wasn’t already. As you can see in the screenshots below Google is making a significant push into the location based social game. If you log into Google Buzz Mobile and click the ‘Nearby’ tab you will see a similar interface to that of Foursquare and others.

In these screenshots you can see how Mike Templeton was able to check in to Jethros BBQ and leave a review… Look familiar? These checkins and reviews will soon be integrated into your Google Local Business Listings. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google integrate the coupon system that is built into Google Local Business Center into Buzz for immediate coupon delivery based on location.

We’ll be covering how Google Buzz affects your local internet marketing strategy in depth in future posts. For now, learn how to get started with local from our last webinar.

Here are some great posts on how Buzz will affect Local..

• What Google Buzz Means For Local Business
• Google Buzz: “Are You at Work? How About a $.99 Big Mac From McDonald’s, Three Blocks Away?”
• Local Implications Of Google Buzz
• Google Buzz For Local Marketing

Yesterday I buzzed (is that the correct term?) how Google Buzz Mobile was better for the consumer and business than FourSquare and other location platforms. I’m sticking with that. If you are going to use any of them in your business – this is where it’s at long term.

Do you have any questions on how Google Buzz will affect your local marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Email Marketing – Moving Beyond Spam

When you first hear email marketing, most people think of the spam that infiltrates their inbox daily. This bombardment of solicitations has led to its decreased effectiveness. While some of these messages make it through the spam filter and are actually read, it is not the best way to utilize this marketing tool. This is not to say that mass emailing should necessarily be thrown out altogether. As e-mailing one-thousand people takes about as much time as emailing ten people, it can still be worth it to do so. However, even within the realm of mass emailing, there are ways to optimize your efforts.

One of the best methods for getting the most out of your general email marketing efforts is to offer exclusive deals and discounts. Doing so makes it much more likely to generate interest than does a message simply advertising a specific product. Specials and coupons generate a sense of immediacy that has a higher chance of resulting in a webpage viewing and, thus, a purchase. Everyone wants a good deal and this technique uses that fact to its full advantage while still benefiting the customer.

Nonetheless, moving beyond mass email marketing will undoubtedly benefit you the most. One effective way to build a targeted contact list is through squeeze pages. These one-page websites provide an offer for the customer in exchange for their name and email address. Once they have filled out the form, a message will be sent immediately to their mailbox that contains their bonus information along with details about your company and direction to your main website. By providing something of use to the client, it begins to build a trusting and loyal relationship. Also, as they took action and showed interest by filling out the form, they are much more likely to make a purchase than would someone who received an unsolicited email.

This opt-in structure is the best way to avoid your message being sent straight to the trash. What results from these lead capture pages is a list of people that you can now continue to build a relationship with. When there is a new product or business advancement, you now have a group of people who are interested in hearing about it. Although it is important to make sure you do not contact them too often, an update here and there is a great way to keep your company fresh in their minds. By using one or all of these techniques, your email marketing efforts can now be more effective than ever.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Google Social Search Will Change SEO

Today I noticed Google introducing results from my “social circle” into my organic search results. This is a big move towards personalized search from Google – which WILL affect the SEO world in the next couple years. This puts importance on social connections and content outposts.

Here you see “Results from people in your social circle”

When you click through you get an interesting result…

Filtered search results from your social circle!

What makes up your social circle?

If you have a Google Profile – then Google knows about your social outposts. It uses these outposts – like Twitter, FriendFeed, Google Reader, and others – to create your social graph and filter organic results by what your friends have blogged, shared, and linked to.

How does this change SEO? If it isn’t obvious – this move is away from traditional ranking by keywords and authority and into ranking by social proof. This means your content outposts and social connections will become increasingly important.

The future of SEO is changing. We’re moving towards a social proof model where your social graph will help determine the relevancy of results. SEO tactics will move away from keyword targeting towards building an expansive social graph. The standard SEO practice of link building will change – shared links will carry more weight than inbound links.

SEO is changing – are you ready? Traditional SEO tactics will remain unchanged and will still be important. Adding social into personalized results will just add another facet to our internet marketing strategies.

Do you have questions about Google social / personalized search? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!

Next Page »