On the heels of the latest GeoPublishers.com Expo, a recent post on DomainSherpa discusses the five biggest takeaways from the event that are trending today.

Michael Cyger cites Sara Mannix, President of Mannix Marketing, in one of the takeaway points with her recommendations on how to build the brand, and not just rely on the weight of the domain name. Mannix Marketing owns and operates several geodomain websites including LakeGeorge.com, Saratoga.com and Albany.com.

If you were one of the unfortunate ones unable to attend this years GeoPublishers.com conference, take a moment to check out the 5 Huge Trends in GeoDomains Now!

This is what Facebook looked like in early 2004, when it was an exclusive social network for Harvard students.

Yuck! I have to give props to the Zuckerberg for coming up with the idea (well, implementing it) but the original design and function of the site are far different from what over 750 million users see today. Imagine if Facebook responded every time a user complained about how difficult it is to get used to the new format, or the new news feed. This is what we would be stuck with, and I would have logged out a long time ago.

So, what are the newest changes to Facebook? The biggest change that you will notice is your news feed. The new news feed is organized a little differently, and no longer lets you toggle between “top stories” and “most recent”. Instead, your news feed will automatically be organized with Top Stories at the top, and Recent Stories feeding in below them.

Facebook describes Top Stories as:

“We determine whether something is a top story based on lots of factors, including your relationship to the person who posted the story, how many comments and likes it got, what type of story it is, etc. For example, a friend’s status update that might not normally be a top story may become a top story after many other friends comment on it.”

This is actually a pretty accurate explanation of EdgeRank, Facebook’s algorithm for determining what shows up where. If your Facebook page has a low EdgeRank, your status updates and any other uploaded content will not show up on all news feeds (more on this later). This change in the news feed was made to help organize the content you want to see, depending on how often you log on. If you log on to Facebook once a week, Top Stories from the past week will appear at the top of your news feed, making sure you don’t miss any interaction between your friends, family and favorite pages. If you frequent Facebook several times a day, you probably wont see much fall under Top Stories, because Facebook knows that you have already checked them out.

Facebook explains:

“it’s not just the people you hear from that make your News Feed interesting. It also matters how much you visit Facebook. If you haven’t returned in a week, you may want to see a summary of top stories first. If you’ve already visited several times that day, you probably care more about recent news.”

So for those of you who only frequent Facebook once a week or so, you no longer have to worry about missing important stuff. If you frequent Facebook often, you will see Recent Stories first, since chances are good that you have already seen or interacted with the Top Stories.

EdgeRank

EdgeRank is a score that your Facebook page earns, which results from a complicated algorithm that Facebook is in no hurry to share. Most of the criteria centers around engagement. The more fans your page has the better, but there are several other factors. Do your fans interact with your content? Do they post photos, comment on your wall, like your comments? This is why you may have noticed that certain friends appear in your news feed more than others, even though both utilize Facebook the same way. If you interact with a friends content, view their photos, like their comments, and message back and forth with them, you will see many more updates from that friend than you would someone you rarely interact with. EdgeRank is Facebook’s way of deciding what they think is important to you.

While EdgeRank also used to have everything to do with the “top stories” tab at the top of the news feed, and is still very relevant, you are no longer able to simply switch it off. In the past you could choose whether you wanted to view “most recent” updates, or “top stories” by toggling the tab at the top of the news feed on and off. Now, if you haven’t seen your Facebook wall in several hours (Facebook knows, trust me) you will have no choice but to be exposed to Top Stories before you scroll down to the Recent Stories.

This is why many Facebook marketers are considering EdgeRank to be more important than ever. Content with high EdgeRank will now appear in the coveted Top Stories segment of the news feed, and will have more durability than ever before. What I mean by durability is, in the past if a post went unnoticed for more than a few hours, it is pretty likely that you would never see it with a constant stream of content feeding in on top of it. Now, if you maintain a high EdgeRank, your posts may become much more “sticky” and can appear in the Top Stories section for days – depending on who’s news feed it is.

More Changes

Some of the other changes that I have recently noticed seem to have come straight from competing social networks Google+ and Twitter. The “subscribe” button is much closer to “following” somebody on Twitter than it is to “friending” somebody on Facebook. The “improved friends lists” seem to be strikingly similar to Google+’s circles. While these are both important and useful updates, it looks as though Facebook is trying pretty hard to keep it’s crown as king of all social content on the web.

The “subscribe” button allows you to further customize what content is being fed to you. You will notice the button at the top right of a profile page. When you subscribe to a person, you can choose to get all updates, no updates, or some updates depending on the topic. If you want to maintain and social relationship with one of your “friends”, but don’t want to be updated on what they had for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and what they did in between, just “unsubscribe”. If a Facebook profile allows subscribers, you do not need to be “friends” with them to subscribe. This is very similar to the way Twitter works, where you either “follow” or “unfollow” friends, celebrities, industry experts & news sources depending on what you’re interested in.

The new and improved “friends lists” allow a Facebook user to sort their friends, and control who they are broadcasting content to. Friends lists have existed for years, but Facebook now offers you smart lists to save you the time of organizing all of your friends. The smart lists include: Work, School, Family, and City, which Facebook likely knows based on your profile information. You can also place certain friends on a restricted list, so that they will only see your Public Posts. By using lists, you can control where the content that you are reading comes from, as well as where your own content ends up.

This is remarkably similar to Circles, which Google+ describe as:

“Google+ Circles helps you organize everyone according to your real-life social connections–say, ‘family,’ ‘work friends,’ ‘music buddies,’ and ‘alumni’. Then, you can share relevant content with the right people, and follow content posted by people you find interesting. For example, you might post an announcement about your engagement and show it only to people in your friends and family circles, or maybe you see a post from the circle you created for your book club that there’s a recent article on your favorite author.”

Even more changes are coming to Facebook, and will continue to come. I am sitting here watching the f8 development conference as I write this post, and I am seeing that there are so many people on Facebook, and the connections are already all made. So Facebook will now start rolling out apps that enhance usability and your overall social experience. One of the newest, and coolest, updates in my opinion is the Timeline. Soon, Facebook will release the Timeline, that will let you go back and look at your entire story, since your first status update. The Timeline will let you scroll through the years, and check out photos, stories, places, etc.. Mark Zuckerberg just showed us that the Timeline even has a function that allows you to track your locations over the years, forming a world map showing all the places where you have checked in.

Facebook is going to continue rolling out updates and new social apps in the future. While the massively popular social media site is constantly asking it’s users to learn how to use new additions and updates, these updates are essential to the progression of social media itself. Even industry experts are learning this stuff as they go! There are no textbooks, or history lessons that people learn from. The entire industry changes every day! Facebook is not spending all of their time and money studying the competition and emulating their devices. They are innovators. They are engineering new ways for people to share, interact and socialize all over the globe.

So next time a new update is released for Facebook, take a minute to check it out and learn what it’s about before bashing the Zuckerberg on your Facebook wall. He (or another Facebook exec.) might hear what you are saying, but nothing is going to stop Facebook from progressively changing and discovering new ways for people to interact online. And lets face it, 750 million users are not going to just give up on the king of social media.

Recently, our client received a 1 (out of 5) star review. Normally, you would think this was a bad thing, but not in this case. Instead of being upset about his review, he took a proactive approach and immediately SHARED the 1 star review with his fans on Facebook. Why? He leveraged this negative review to ask his fans for help and support:

What happened next?
His fans responded. In DROVES! My email was flooded with 5 star review after 5 star review (27 to be exact!). From real fans I may add. Talk about turning a negative into a positive! Sometimes, all you have to do is ask. It probably even helped that he had received the 1 bad review as his happy fans wanted to defend their beloved attraction. Take a look >>

So what’s the moral of this story? In this case, the old saying holds true: “You ask and you shall receive.”

Please note: This option is not necessarily going to work for every situation. Weigh your options. If the negative comment is not one shared by a majority of your customers, this may be a good way to get both sides of the story. Sometimes reviews are a great way to know what your customers are feeling. Reading and responding to the specific reviewer directly is also a way to reach out and address a potential problem at hand. Read other ways to handle reviews.

Does anyone else have any great ideas or tips to get positive reviews? We would love to hear from you!

Read more about Online Reputation Management

Customers frequently ask me – should I do Groupon? Or Deal of the Day? The answer is “it depends.” Discounting is not for everyone’s business, but for some, it can be a great way to market their business at no upfront expense.

The recent Huffington Post article on “Using Groupon ‘Worst Decision I have Ever Made,’ Says Merchant” highlights the problems with jumping on the latest bandwagon. You need to have a marketing advisor, someone who really cares about what is in your best interest.

Don’t assume that you will have repeat business, or that many buyers won’t redeem their certificates, and don’t assume people will spend more. All of this can be true but it’s not true for all businesses. When a salesperson is selling you a product or service, they need to have YOUR best interest in mind. Obviously, the plethora of Groupon and Groupon knock off companies don’t always have your best interest in mind.

As we offer a Deal of the Week on our sites – Albany.com, Saratoga.com and LakeGeorge.com – our integrity and client satisfaction is key. That is why we will readily tell a client when it’s not in their best interest to do certain advertising with us.

Most of our 600+ clients have been with us for over 10 years. So we train our sales team to look for the right candidates for the deal programs… not just any candidate.

The best client for a daily deal type promotion is a client that falls under one of the following categories:

• A new business who needs to get the word out on their location and products
• A business who needs instant cash flow and can handle the loss of margin
• A business that a product that has a high profit margin on their product like a frozen yogurt shop
• A business whose clients need to continually buy the product in order to gain the benefits like a monthly yoga program
• And lastly, the best business is one with fixed costs – where there is no additional cost for accommodating more clients. For example, consider someone who does tours; it costs the same to walk around the city with 3 people or with 40, so that type of business does very well. Or if you have excess inventory for your event that you can’t sell anyway… say you are doing Shakespeare in the Park, and only sold 20 tickets but can have up to 1000 per performance.

Businesses must be aware, that the deal advertising programs are NOT about making money on those transactions, it’s about the exposure. Your business will be advertised for free by the advertising company to thousands. You will definitely get the deal seekers who have no intention of returning as well as new potential customers.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Can we afford this?
• Is it worth giving away our product for 25% of its original cost for the exposure?
• How ready are my employees to upsell the new clients?
• Can we wow this new potential client with the experience? (especially if you get a quick influx of business). Nightmare stories abound on the web as to the results of these campaigns because the businesses did not think about how the influx of business would affect their bottom line, quality of service and customer morale.

Because there are many determining factors, there is no easy answer “yes” or “no” whether or not Groupon or Deal of the Day programs are right for each business. In the end it comes down to weighing the pros and cons and consulting with your trusted marketing advisor for a second opinion.

Pros:

• You expose your product to a new audience
• The buyers might not redeem their certificates increasing your margin
• You gain free advertising on the media that is marketing your business building your brand’s top-of-mind awareness

Cons:

• You may be discounting to people who would have paid full price or bought the product anyway
• You will attract deal-seekers
• You are taking a risk in hopes that the customer will become a regular, but many say it did not happen for them
• If you have a high-end product, discounting can have a negative impact on the brand you are building

Still on the fence about whether or not to proceed with offering a deal on Groupon or one of these other deal platforms? Feel free to contact us for more advice. Give us a call Toll Free: (800) 928-9154 or Locally: (518) 743-9424, and we’ll give you our honest opinion based on your specific business.

The goal with your micro-site is to provide enough detail and calls to action that the site visitor (your potential customer) will be strongly compelled to call you, contact you, or visit your business – sometimes without even having to go to your website! Below, I have compiled my top 10 tips to maximizing your microsite.

Tip 1: Optimize your Content…for Users and for Search Engines

The Why: Search engines love content. In fact, in the online world, content is referred to as “king”. It is still one of the most important factors for getting found on the web. Without content, it would be hard for the search engine to determine what page to show a result for a given user’s search. Because of this, it is crucial you add content about your business on your micro-site. Without it, you could have a lot of missed opportunities.
Let me illustrate my point with an example:

If someone were looking for a bakery in Colonie, their first step would most likely be going to Google and typing in “Colonie bakery”.

Now, say you have a microsite on Albany.com and you are a Colonie bakery! Pretend your name is “Sweet as Pie”.

Without any description about your business, it would be very hard for people coming to Albany.com to realize you are a bakery in Colonie –  it would also be hard for the search engines to figure this out.
The best thing to do is spell it out for them: in title of your name, you can say “Sweet As Pie – a Gourmet Bakery in Colonie”. Now you have made it clear to users and to search engines that you are a bakery located in Colonie. In your content, consider including something like this:

Looking for a Colonie bakery? Visit Sweet as Pie, a delightfully delicious bakery located in the town of Colonie, just minutes from Albany, Latham and Schenectady. Enjoy our world famous scones, pies, cakes, cupcakes, breads and assorted danishes, all fresh from the oven each morning. Sweet as Pie Bakery offers the perfect sweets and treats for just about every occasion including meetings, birthdays, weddings, or even just to satisfy a nagging sweet tooth any day of the week.

We can customize any order! Our Colonie bakery will cater to your needs and will travel from Albany to the Adirondacks – we are committed to delivering the best baked goods around. People travel from far and wide to visit our bakery in Colonie. But don’t take it from us – Come see for yourself! We are open every day 7am-5pm. Interested in a custom order? Stop in or Call us at 555-2727 to make an appointment.

For even more impact, add calls to action like “Call us to place an order” and  bold pertinent text including your ‘keywords’ (like “bakery in Colonie” for this example).  This should help you get found in the search engines for that particular keyword phrase. Added Bonus: Because your microsite has a link to your website, adding these keywords to a page that links to your site can also help it get found in the search engines too.

The How: Login to your microsite account and click “Edit Your Business Details”. Click on the Details tab.  The intro paragraph field will allow you to add 250 characters and will show up on the listing page with all the other listings in your category. Choose wisely here and stick to your key components and services. The Long Description field is where you can add an unlimited amount of text – you can give as much information about your business offerings, location and more. We strongly recommend you list all of your services, provide hours of operation and showcase what region’s you service.

Tip 2: Add Social Media Links

The Why: Have a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn page? Let visitors see what you are up to in the ever-growing social media circles by linking up your social media accounts – yet another way for potential clients to reach you in the segments they are already present in.

The How: Login to your microsite account. Go to the Contact tab and add the hyperlink to your Facebook Page, Twitter account and/or LinkedIn profile for your business.

Tip 3: Add Photos

The Why: We now know content is king, but let’s not forget that pictures speak a thousand words. How many times have you been motivated to book a hotel or go to a restaurant because the photos looked so good!? On the flip side, how many times have you been turned away by the pictures you saw on a website? We know the power of photos, so we have given all of our microsite users the ability to add up to 20 photos to their microsite. Use this as an opportunity to showcase your store, your products, your logo or your inventory. It is amazing how adding photos to your listing can take it from mediocre to WOW. Plus, search engines love to see a mix of elements on a single page so adding photos can give your business an edge with the search engines.

The How: In your account, click on the Photos tab. Before uploading, slideshow photos must be sized to 550×340 pixels. If you need help sizing the photos, please contact Mannix Marketing at 518-743-9424 or send us your photos to help@mannximarketing.com. Click “Upload Photos” on the right hand side of the screen. Click “Add Files”. Browse your computer for the photos and click “Open”. Once you have added all photos, click “Upload”. If you need help, contact help@mannximarketing.com.

Tip 4: Add Coupons

The Why: Increase customer response with coupons. Everyone’s looking for a deal these days – especially with the economy the way it is. Why not drive traffic to your business by providing them with an offer! Coupons are a great motivator to buy, they can help you track your marketing, determine your target audience, and help get the word out. How many times have you told someone what a great deal you got?

When you add coupons, you are not just creating a buzz and driving consumer behavior, you are also aiding in getting your brand and microsite to stand out. The coupons will also be fed into the specific coupons pages on the sites you are advertising on. If you are marketing your business on Saratoga.com and you added a coupon to your microsite, this coupon would also be featured here: Saratoga.com/coupons/. If you are a lodging property, we have a special section devoted to just lodging specials too, seen here: LakeGeorge.com/specials/. On some of our sites, this will not only give you more exposure and more microsite clicks, but could potentially land your special or hot deal to be right on the homepage of the website! (as seen on Albany.com, LakeGeorge.com and Saratoga.com) Plus, you have flexibility. You can set the deal for any length of time you desire,  switch them out, set disclaimers and expiration dates. BONUS: on the listings page, your microsite listing will also have a link letting visitors know your business is offering HOT DEALS, making them more liable to click on your listing over one of your competitors!

The How: In your account, Click “Add Coupon”. Select whether your coupon is for a lodging special or any other coupon or special offer. Provide a title and add in details of the promotion. If there are any disclaimers, please fill in the box. (If there are no disclaimers, this field can be left blank.) If your coupon is located on your website, please include the link of the page on your website where this coupon is located (Coupon URL) (Include http://). Fill in the coupon expiration date. If there is no expiration date, leave the field blank. Once created, all coupons will be made into a printable link for users to print out and bring to your establishment.

Tip 5: Add Events

The Why: Get the word out about your businesses’ events! Whether you have happy hour specials, shopping sales, volunteer opportunities, community events, etc… you have the opportunity to let the public know the many things you have happening at your business. Plus, if you add an event to your microsite, your event will also be placed in a queue to go onto our regional events calendars spanning Albany NY to the Adirondacks. Our events calendar is one of most popular sections on each our websites and get over 11 million visits a year. Make sure your event is getting the exposure it deserves.

The How: In your account, click on the Events tab. Select “Add Event”. Submit your event information with a start and end date. Add in as much information about the event as possible for maximum impact. Click “Proceed”. Check your event details for accuracy. Click “Submit Event Now!” Your event will automatically be fed onto your micro-site, and will also be reviewed and approved for the main events calendar.

Tip 6: Add PDFs

The Why: Have a brochure or menu you want to feature? Upload your PDFs to your microsite. Not only will you be able to offer site visitors the opportunity to download or print information about your business, but you are also giving search engines another media on your microsite. Just like content and photos, search engines love a mixture of media and this is one more added advantage to boosting your search engine placements. PLUS, if you have information on your PDF, search engines may also index those pages as well.

The How: In your microsite account, go to the tab labeled PDFs. Click “Upload PDFs”. Click “Add Files”. Browse your computer for the PDF and click “Open” (please note: all PDFs need to have a file size of 256KB or smaller). Once you have added in all your PDFs, click “Upload”. You are allowed to add an unlimited number of PDFs to your microsite.

Tip 7: Add Videos

The Why: Did you know over 178 million US Internet users watch online video during the month?* Video is an increasingly popular way to showcase your brand, tell a story and keep users interacting with your business. Do you have a TV commercial or a product demo? Showcase this on your microsite. Don’t have a video for your business? No sweat! You can use this as an opportunity to showcase a latest industry feature pertaining to your business or trending video. Do a search on YouTube to see if anything fits within your industry. You may be surprised what relevant videos you find! Remember, this will help provide an even stronger online media mix, strengthening your search engine placements.

The How: Login to your microsite account, select “Edit Your Business Listing” and click on the Video tab. If you have your video on YouTube.com, Blip.tv or another video service, copy the embed code from that location. The embed code in YouTube.com can be found to the right of the video right under the account name. Please uncheck “Show Related Videos” before you copy the code. If you have a raw video file, please send us your video file to help@mannixmarketing.com so we can produce the embed code for the video. Click “Save Changes”.

Tip 8: Add Press Releases

The Why: Growing your business? Adding a new product launch? Holding a seminar? Upload a press release for free! It is easy to submit and lets our editorial staff know when you have something interesting happening! After review, your press release will be fed into our Business News RSS feed for thousands of subscribers to check out. PLUS, your story may even be picked up and featured on one of our local sites’ homepage for HUGE exposure! A press release is also a great way to gain a link back to your microsite, which helps give you an additional boost in your search engine’s placement.

The How: Under your account, click on “Submit a Free Press Release”. Fill out the form and include a picture or logo. Click “Submit”.

Tip 9: Encourage Reviews

The Why: Let’s face it. Most every site you visit, reviews are prevalent. Consumers, whether B2C or B2B, are actively looking for the best fit for their needs and are trusting the word of recommendations provided by customers who have already experienced your business. Since our sites offer reviews, take this as an opportunity to encourage your happy clients to post positive  testimonials about your business. Not only will this help you stand out from your competition and provide more content about you, but you are also helping to control your online reputation in a time when other review sites do not allow such active control.

The How:

Top 5 Ways To Get 5-Star Reviews**:
1. When someone thanks you in person, writes you an email or sends you a letter of appreciation, ask them if they would tell others by writing a review. Offer them a link.
2. Do you send e-newsletters to past guests? Provide a link to add reviews from each issue!
3. Monitor comments on your Facebook page, and reply with a link to clients that have positive things to say, encouraging them to review.
4. Target your regulars. Thank them for their loyalty and ask if they would write a review for your business. Write the link down for them, or email it to them.
5. Add a link to your email signature. In your everyday correspondence with hundreds of customers, you may get a good deal of people using this link to add a review.

Tip 10: Review for Accuracy

Almost done! The last tip is probably the most important. After you have finished filling out your microsite with content, photos, PDFs, events, coupons, press releases and videos, check to make sure all information is accurate and grammatically correct. Your micro-site may be the first place someone has heard of your business so you want to make it count. Make sure the map is directing visitors to the right location; test out the contact form to make sure you are receiving the emails; double check the phone and address listed with your company are correct. Once that is all done, sit back, relax and know you did everything you could to enhance and optimize your micro-site!

Whew! Although this appears to be a lot of work, optimizing and enhancing your microsite can pay out in dividends! We are confident you will see how impactful these changes will make to your brand exposure, inquiries and click- through rates.

What are you waiting for? Login to your account and get started on editing your microsite for FREE! All of these features are included free of charge, so make sure to take advantage. As always, the team at Mannix Marketing is here to help! If you need assistance or do not have an account, call us at 518-743-9424 or email help@mannixmarketing.com

*Cited from comScore Video Metrix April ‘10 (stats on average)
**Cited from Managing Your Brand: What To Do About Negative Consumer Reviews

There is, however, one change we have noticed that has become more widespread for Google and could have a major impact on search traffic for some websites. And it has to do with Google AdWords.

What Google has done is opened a new ‘channel’ for AdWords advertisers so their ads can show up under more searches (and so Google can generate more ad revenue). The new ‘channel’ appears right where the AdWords have appeared for years (to the right of the organic search results), but above some ads or sections of ads there is a line reading ‘Related to [keyword phrase]‘. It looks like this:

So when does this show and how do you get your ads to show up under this heading?

When Do Related To Ads Appear?

It seems that searchers will see these ads when the search they perform is for a phrase that is not targeted by anybody with ads directly related to the phrase, or when there aren’t many people bidding for the phrase. We did one for ‘Lake George restaurants’, and there were no ‘restaurant’ ads to be seen, but we did get real estate and hotel ads.

There doesn’t seem to be any advertisers going after ‘Lake George restaurants’, but Google’s algorithms calculate that people who are looking for restaurants may be house hunters (so they show real estate) or travelers (so they show hotels).

How Can You Participate In The Related To Section?

Any AdWords advertiser is eligible for this. You just need to have your keywords turned to broad matching (vs phrase or exact match). Then, if someone types in a phrase related to your keywords, and there are no businesses specifically targeting it, your ad will have the opportunity to be seen there. Be careful with this – if you open up too many phrases to broad match, or the wrong phrases to broad match, you could negatively impact your campaign by generating more traffic that is not your intended target. This could increase costs, lower your Quality Score and cause some headaches. Small tests are recommended.

One more thing – we have also seen that in some cases, under Related to ads there is a ‘Also try’ section that offers other phrases that you, as a searcher, may want to see the results for.

Have you come across any ‘Related to’ results while searching? Will this change how you manage your pay per click program? We’d like to hear from you.

In their words: “When it comes to driving consumer decisions about a range of products and services, the Internet is by far the most influential media channel, but marketers have yet to capitalize on that influence.”

In our words: The Internet wins MVP when consumers have their wallets out.

Below are some key points, taken directly from the study results:

• The Internet tied in importance with peer advice from friends, family or coworkers among Americans.
• Overall, the web has the highest net importance of the media types included in the survey.
• Radio ranked lowest in net importance, followed by magazines, newspapers and television, respectively.
• In the U.S., 42% of online consumers do not read magazines and 40% do not read a printed newspaper.

It’s becoming pretty obvious that the Internet is taking over the media world. It’s right up there with word of mouth when it comes to consumer decision making. That in itself is HUGE, not to mention the other findings.

But all this is not bad news if you’re looking into advertising options for your business. Actually, it’s very good news because it makes your decision a little easier. Plus, you have the added bonus that online advertising is generally MORE affordable than traditional print advertising and you reach a wider audience.

So if you’re looking for ways to get more bang for your buck when it comes to promoting your business, look to the Internet! It’s the go-to source for the majority of Americans when they have their wallets out… (but you didn’t hear it from us)…

Dave Senay, Fleishman-Hillard president and chief executive officer, says “… our survey provides overwhelming evidence that the Internet is at the center of the decision-making process of consumers…”

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.

Online reviews can come from a host of sources – if you have a business and you aren’t checking for these reviews onine periodically, you should be!  The stats for online reviews are impressive: 86% of consumers read them before making purchasing decisions, making reputation management a must for businesses of all sizes. With the introduction of travel review sites such as TripAdvisor, regional dining reviews , potential customers and clients are savvy. Why risk going out for an expensive dinner, stay at a hotel or resort, or do some retail shopping without first seeing what others have to say? Not surprisingly, online reviews have become an integral part of any successful SEO and SMO campaign. 

Online reviews can boost your reputation and bring new customers to your business. But just like other promotional online environments, a review site can be viral, meaning (in the internet world) it can gain popularity and grow at an exponential rate, seemingly taking on a life of its own.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity for free exposure and word-of-mouth advertising, and do your best to ensure it’s all good!

How to Earn Positive Reviews

As in many other areas of sales, the best way is simply to ask for the business! Reputation management begins with developing a positive client base, so you can begin with your most trusted long-time customers or clients, people who know you and your business and have continued to patronize you. You can simply ask them to review you business and the quality of your services, providing them with a few possible locations where they can do so.  Tell them what you are trying to do and simply ask them to be honest in their assessment.  There are a host of locations where your customers can post their comments, including Yahoo Local, Insider Pages, City Search, and Ratingz.net.

A Word About Negative Reviews:

It happens. It may be out of the blue, or come from someone you’ve been expecting to hear from! Either way, negative reviews can be personally upsetting and damaging to your business. The best way to avoid these is, of course, to provide the very best in customer service that you can! If you have 30 or 75 or 150 great reviews and one bad one, most reasonable people will avoid giving it more credence than it may deserve. If there is a recurring theme in the complaints, then it’s probably something you need to look into and treat it as a learning experience. If it does happen to you, however, remember that most resasonable people understand that these things do happen, so don’t over-think it, and by all means avoid getting into a discussion or argument about it online!

Why is reputation management important?

Remember when you were a kid and you played that game where everyone sat in a circle and whispered something into the next person’s ear - by the time it went around the circle it was usually a totally different version. You can avoid that scenario by monitoring your reviews, maintaining positive communication and exemplary customer service, and making sure your business gets the positive attention it deserves.

The good news is that the online review environment is extensive, open to everyone, and FREE! Need help with your online reputation management? Call Mannix Marketing, Inc.!

You may have heard this already, but display ads (banner advertisements) are not like other forms of online internet marketing strategies. This form of marketing isn’t easily measured. Display ads are more like Billboards. The true purpose of the ad is to get people to become aware of your brand and your message. Although there are ways to boost the click-thru rates and power of your display ad, this shouldn’t always be the primary metric you use to judge the effectiveness of the campaign.

Then what should you look for? Due to the brand recognition, display ads can provide a lift in brand searches, search engine click-thru rates, direct visits and online/offline purchasing. Sometimes this doesn’t happen immediately, but because that user now recognizes your brand, they are more apt to change their search behavior and just type in the name of your business into Google or go right to your website. This may not have been possible without the awareness provided by the display ad.

Things to Remember:

• Display ads don’t always provide clear-cut track-ability like other online marketing campaigns, but some analytics programs like Yahoo! Full Analytics can show you the contribution of a display ad. If you do not have this software, check for a lift in branded searches, direct traffic and search engine click-thru rates.
• A combination of search and display ads yield the highest return on investment than when used alone. A study performed by Yahoo! and ComScore revealed that when combined with search, display advertising helped elevate conversions by 22%!
• Display Advertising is most effective at driving conversions to other campaigns. The best way I can explain it is to think of a display ad as a teammate who makes an assist in a game. They do not always get the recognition they deserve, but without them, the goal wouldn’t have been achieved.