Sure it’s only February, but now is the best time to start thinking about your Internet marketing plan for the 2010 holiday season. Why so early? Here are just a few good reasons: (more…)

We all know what the end of a year means … New Year’s Resolutions! I recall my personal resolution last year was to drink more water. I succeeded in my quest and am now a happy water drinker. A happy, happy water drinker.

But my challenge to you this year is to not only make resolutions for yourself, but make them for your business. After all, our business is our livelihood. We need to make sure that it is just as “healthy” and “happy” as it can be.

So, here are some ideas to start 2010 with gusto!

A. Get that website redesign that you’ve been thinking about! It’s time and it really does make a difference.

B. Try Social Media Marketing. That’s right … Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr. It cannot be denied that Social Media is a powerful tool in marketing your brand. Start slowly by creating one account. Get used to how it works and how you can use it for marketing purposes. Put it on your daily schedule for updating and work on building your fan base and followers. Once you are comfortable with the one account, you are ready to add another.

Make sure that you are maximizing your opportunities with social marketing. The conversation starts online, but the conversion happens in the real world.

C. Embrace one new “function” on your website. Try adding something new and creative to your website. After all, your website is your vehicle to promote your business. Explore videos. Add a Newsletter Sign up and try Email Marketing. Try blogging. Add related articles or expand your content by adding a new section altogether. Keep your website moving forward!

D. Set marketing goals. With all these new marketing strategies, make sure you track your efforts. You’ll easily be able to see the difference your new strategies are making by analyzing your statistics. Continue doing whichever avenues have made a positive impact.

E. Get involved. Read related blogs and leave comments. Become fans of Facebook pages. Send Direct Messages on Twitter. In a word … participate. Your effort will be rewarded.

F. Cross your t’s and dot your i’s. Make sure your online profiles are fully complete. If you can add 10 pictures, add 10 pictures. Fill out all descriptions and added info sections. Don’t forget about the reviews! Make sure you have enough reviews by soliciting happy clients for them. It’s a good idea to go and check all accounts. You may have thought you would go back to finish one or more of them but forgot about it.

G. Manage your reputation. With the introduction to real time search, it is more important than ever to be aware of what is being said. Use Twitter Search to track any mention of your name, your keywords, your location and your competitors’ name. Use Google Alerts to have an email update sent directly to your inbox. Based on your choice of query or topic, Google will send an email of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.). This is very handy indeed.

Above all, have a happy and healthy New Year!

The concept of Short URLs is wonderful. Instead of very long, multi foldered URLs that can be hard to remember, type in and break in emails, how about a URL with few characters that can be generated in seconds, pasted wherever needed and redirects to the page you want readers to go to. All this and great tracking capabilities to boot. Perfect for today’s world with social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and the ever increasing effectiveness of email marketing.

But the fact that thousands of sites can be linked to by the same main URL domain can lead to a trust issue. How do you know if the link will lead to a safe site that really matches the copy that surrounds it? Is it possible that the link is a spam link, and the enticing copy surrounding it is only there to trick you into clicking on it? Does the fact that you don’t know make you more or less likely to click on it?

Even though the majority of Short URLs you come across will indeed be safe and link to a good page, the truth is that it is tough to be 100% sure that what you are clicking on is safe, and will lead directly to where you want to go. And we all know that one bad click can sometimes ruin a good day. So, what are some tips to keep in mind when you come across Short URLs:

• If you trust the sender or poster (like someone you follow on Twitter), you should be okay. But be wary, as some accounts can get hacked and those hackers may spam people associated with those accounts.
• If you think the link may be spam, don’t click on it. If the marketing message entices you, you can probably find out what is being referenced by searching that website.
• Preview the linked page if possible (TinyURL offers this option – http://tinyurl.com/preview.php).

I believe that the need for a service like Short URLs will always be there, but the exact form the future versions of this service will take is yet to be determined. Do you have ideas of what it will look like? Do you have alternatives to Short URLs? Have you run into any huge problems? Let us know.

Spread your marketing message virally via email newsletters through social media! The Internet changes at the speed of light, seriously. Articles come through my Google Reader like hotcakes. I can hardly keep up with all the blogs out there talking about social media, search engine optimization, techniques, case studies and the latest and gratest theory.

Do you have an email newsletter that you send out weekly/monthly/bi-monthly? Why not connect it with your Facebook Page for your business and kill two birds with one stone? Don’t know how? It’s easy, trust me. Here are some instructions:

If you use Vertical Response as your email platform

If you use Constant Contact

If you use iContact

Providing an email sign up to your newsletter can be as easy as downloading the Static FBML application to your page and then following some simple instructions. Have questions, please contact us and we can help you get up and running.

Increase your reach by over 24% by creating this simple form and pasting it right into your Facebook Business Page profile. It will show up either as a tab when you download the app, or in the left hand corner of your Page profile.

Examples:

Get people to sign up via your Facebook Page for news, latest events, or hot deals THEN follow up with a short, but sweet, BLAST through the “Send an Update to Your Fans” feature. Whether you have 10 fans, 100 fans or a billion fans — say hello to them via this feature  fast and effectively.

Facebook is making communication easy, folks. Jump on the band wagon and promote your business through these easy to use tools.

Don’t miss out on the added 24% of traffic/customers/leads that you could get by broadcasting your email newsletter through social media.

So you’re doing the right thing… You’re creating non-spam e-campaigns and sending to a list of subscribers who have given you permission to send to them… Then why are your messages getting caught up in spam filters?

The most common culprit would be the words that you are using in the subject line of your e-campaigns. There are actually certain spam filter “trigger” words, which are words and combinations of words that are identified as being most commonly used in spam messages. These add spam points to your email when being received by your subscribers, and if your points are too high, your message will get blocked. In other words, if your e-campaign “looks” like a spam message, it could get caught in spam filters, even if you are following all the rules.

So… wondering which words and phrases to avoid? Have a look… (more…)