LyntonWeb Blog: Perspectives on the Social Web

6 Must Have Marketing Technologies for Revenue Growth in 2012

Matt Lee — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:15:00 GMT

Just this past month, Google Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, noted that half of small businesses are not yet online. For businesses that are online, however, their growth rate is twice that of offline businesses, according to Schmidt. That's a powerful statement. You can double your business by taking it online. How effective is your online presence? Do you have an online presence? It's 2012 after all, time to get with the program and make a commitment to your company's revenue growth.

Technology as a Raw Material

In the industrial economy, we used to think of iron ore, wood, and crude oil as raw materials. In today's online economy, we consider marketing technology as raw material. Instead of wood and iron, we have content management systems, blogs, and social media platforms. These are the raw materials that support the construction of your online business and spur its growth. Let's take a closer look at the raw materials of today's technology economy.

Content Management System (CMS) - A content management system allows you to build your brand online, market your products and services, and publish content frequently. A key feature of a CMS is its ease of use - this allows numerous members of an organization - from salespeople to technologists to easily create and publish content specific to their expertise or departments. An effective CMS will also be able to integrate components like e-commerce or a company blog.
Blog - companies that blog have over 50% more website visitors than companies that don't blog. Blogs are likely the singularly most effective marketing technology you can invest in. They drive traffic, they define your online persona, and they help establish thought leadership. Freshly published content also piques the attention (and indexing) of search engines like Google and Bing. Effectively building and incorporating a blog strategy into your overall marketing strategy is a must.
Social Media Platforms - social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are places for listening and engaging with fans, customers, and even critics. Listening will allow you to receive feedback on your product, service, and industry. Enterprise-wide applications like Hootsuite allow you to efficiently manage your listening and collaboration efforts.
Marketing Automation - automating your marketing technology efforts is an effective way to nurture non-sales ready leads down your sales funnel. You may consider segmenting your prospects into separate lead nurturing campaigns by company size or by the type of content they download. You could also customize email campaigns for leads based on their behavior on your website. Think of your website as an information gathering place that leads will visit frequently. Each visit should move a lead a little further down your sales funnel until they either make a purchase or reach out to contact you directly.
Analytics - you can't manage what you can't measure. Analytical utilities, like Google Analytics, offer detailed dashboards of your website traffic, visitors, and visitor location, among many other types of data. Reviewing this data for patterns is valuable. What is the most commonly visited last page before someone becomes your customer? How do some of your highest volume customers navigate through your site? What section of your site do visitors spend the most time in? Constantly tuning and evaluating your website based on your analytics is essential.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - your best future customers are your current customers. Selling and then retaining the relationship you built during the sales process will have enduring value for your organization. CRM software like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics keeps track of the many calls and interactions you have with prospects and customers and helps you find your most sales-ready leads. Your CRM can also integrate with your website's lead generation activities for a full on closed-loop marketing effort. Closed-loop marketing is the best way to get the most insight from the Big Data your company's own online presence is generating.

So there you have them. The raw materials of marketing technology. How many of these raw materials are you including in your marketing efforts? How effective are the people that are using the marketing technology in your company or department? Need more support? Or expert advice? Give us a call.

The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design

Ron Mattocks — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:40:00 GMT

I know it’s a bit late but better that then never. It’s Friday which other it being the end of the week, it’s also time for The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design, keeping those who work for and with Lynton up to date with the latest news, trends and tips that affect us all. In edition #5

Social Media has become ludicrous
Business speeds up with combine search, social, and content
10 items will get you a perfect optimized page
Stalking is good when it’s your competition
Facebook has a message for marketers

1. How Ludicrously Complicated Social Media has Become INFOGRAH (Business Insider)

“Digital marketing is confusing—really confusing—as this insane graphic shows...”

2. How Search, Social, & Content Accelerate Your Business (Social Media Examiner)

“Your customers get 99% of their information from search engines, social media referrals, online news sites and targeted content. If your business is NOT there among the solutions when your customers are looking, you’re lost. And even if they do find you some other way, you will still lose if you don’t have compelling content to keep them engaged with your brand.”

3. 10 Elements of a Perfectly Optimized Page (Search Engine Watch)

“One area that search engines have made a number of significant advancements in recent years is in how they evaluate content on a website. So what does a perfectly optimized page look like in 2012? Let’s look at 10 elements…”

4. How to Stalk Your Competition in 10 Minutes (HubSpot)

“You're a rock star inbound marketer. You spend your time figuring out how to increase your web traffic, generate more leads, and analyze your marketing analytics so you can keep your competitive edge on the web. Come on, what's more rock star than that?”

5. Facebook’s Advice to Marketers: Post Stuff About Your Brands (Mashable)

It’s no secret that Facebook has decided the best way to spur more advertising on the platform is to encourage marketers to use their brand Pages more effectively. With that goal in mind, Facebook looked at postings on 23 brand Pages over one month to see which posts did the best. The upshot: When you talk about things related to your brand, you’ll get more engagement.

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B2B E-commerce Drives Increased Sales and Improves Efficiencies

Matt Lee — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:01:00 GMT

If you're a manufacturer, distributor, or similar B2B entity and think that e-commerce is solely the realm of Amazon, eBay, or Zappos - think again. Your B2B customers are consumers too - and they want to buy from you online. In fact, your B2B customers want to buy from you in the same seamless and efficient manner that they buy books from Amazon or shoes from Zappos and with the same customer service expectations. Whether you like it or not, B2B e-commerce is being held to the high standards set by B2C players like Amazon and eBay. If you haven't considered B2B e-commerce as a method of increasing sales for your manufacturing or distribution company - you're likely behind the curve.

Why B2B E-Commerce

It's predicted that US based e-commerce will approach $280 billion (USD) in sales by 2015. In addition to riding that upward sales wave, here are some more factors to consider in moving your B2B purchasing online:

LyntonWeb B2B E-Commerce Client - http://www.officefurniturenow.com

Track and Understand Customer Purchase Patterns

You might be selling highly customized, CNC machined products, for example. Seeing (and tracking) the website pages that your customers visit, will give you insight into the information or product attributes they are most interested in. Is your product a metal alloy, pure stainless steel, or a polymer plastic? Perhaps you'll find that the type of material plays a heavy role in the purchase decision. You will also be able to determine why products or purchases are abandoned. Why is Product A typically abandoned after being added to your shopping cart while Product B doesn't even make it into your shopping cart. Integrated ecommerce packages with tools like HubSpot will offer you access to Big Data that you can then analyze for meaningful patterns.

Globalization

Your manufacturing company started out in Fort Worth, then built a facility in El Paso. You just opened an office in Austin - but the demand for your product is growing overseas. Rather than investing in office space and a sales-force in Europe - start by offering international e-commerce transactions supported by multilingual site capabilities. You'll be able to track your global demand and sales from your headquarters in Fort Worth and still enjoy the Texas summer heat.

Supply Chain Efficiency

Are you currently sending regular customers to a warehouse or other outlet for regular or recurring purchases? E-commerce will offer the capability to set up recurring orders for repeat customers. Further, coupling your Big Data analysis with your supply chain will allow you to offer multiple or paired products to customers. Why not remind a large customer of yours that they should buy lubricating grease for the large industrial chain that is currently in their shopping cart? A paired purchase reminder like this is easy to automate through e-commerce and is helpful to your customer.

Product Variety

Suppose you're a furniture manufacturer in the Midwest. There is no amount of showroom space that can compare with the online space available to you and the variety of pictures and options you can present to customers. You'll also be able to determine which products or which versions of products are generating the most interest.

Software as a Service

This is just a fancy way of saying that you, Mr. or Ms. Distributor, will not have to go to Best Buy and decide on which big fancy computers to buy and lug back to your office. Instead, you'll be able to hire experts that will help you configure hosted e-commerce and marketing tools like Shopify and HubSpot to optimize your B2B e-commerce efforts at a much lower cost than in-house servers and databases.

Ramping up for B2B E-Commerce

So, you're convinced by the compelling reasons above and wondering what you should do next. Firstly, be sure that your website is optimally tuned to generate leads and build your brand. No one wants to make online purchases through a poorly thought out website that is devoid of valuable product information. Secondly, capture your leads (if you're not already). Lead intelligence will help guide your e-commerce efforts. And finally, consider this intermediate step before full blown e-commerce - offer your product set online and allow users to determine product attributes but let the final step be contacting your sales people rather than an online purchase. It's a useful way to get end-user feedback on what essentially is a prototype of your future website shopping experience.

Implementing B2B E-Commerce

Still not sure? Worried? It's OK - go ahead - dip your toes in the e-commerce waters. Implementing e-commerce is the easiest part of this process - just give the LyntonWeb B2B experts a call - we'll help you every step of the way.

The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design

Ron Mattocks — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:32:00 GMT

It’s Friday which other it being the end of the week, it’s also time for The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design, keeping those who work for and with Lynton up to date with the latest news, trends and tips that affect us all. In edition #4

Bing Social Search is taking on Google.
How do you plan your content marketing? Bricks or Feathers?
What’s the best time to share on Twitter and Facebook?
Is your brand engagement on Facebook lagging? Try these tools.
3 Tools to keep your design project on track.

1. Head-to-Head: Bing’s Social Search vs. Google’s Search Plus Your World

(SEO Engine Land)

Earlier this year, Google made its results more social with Search Plus Your World. Now Bing has reshaped how it handles social information as part of its “The New Bing” launch. Which does better, Google’s blended search+search model or Bing’s more segregated approach. Let’s look at some examples.

2. Bricks vs. Feathers: Planning Your Content Marketing InfoGraphic

(Convince & Convert)

Do you remember this trick question from grade school: Which weighs more – 5 lbs of bricks or 5 lbs of feathers? Some of us (self-included) were initially fooled by this obvious test of common sense, but as it relates to your content marketing, should you be focused more on building substantial content productions or presenting your audience with a steady array of minute snippets that define your brand and message?

3. Best and Worst Times to Share on Twitter & Facebook

(Mashable)

Want your link to get the most traction on Twitter? Post it on a Monday between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET. Link shortening and tracking service bit.ly has released new data on the best and worst times to share links on popular social networks, from Facebook and Twitter to blogging site Tumblr.

4. 4 Tools to Enhance Brand Engagement on Facebook

(Webtrends)

Over the past few years, Facebook marketing has moved from the domain of early adopters to a mainstream focus for nearly all businesses. During that time, a large number of social media marketing tools have emerged to help companies reach and engage with fans, run promotions and contests, and even integrate Facebook Ad programs with the rest of their social marketing.

5. Style Guides, Mood Boards, And Style Tiles: 3 Tools To Keep Design Projects On Track

(Van SEO Design)

How do you begin the process of communication and collaboration with your clients? Do you send them wireframes? Complete and polished design comps from Photoshop or Fireworks? Often the first visuals you send can set the tone for everything that follows. 3 recent client projects have convinced me I need to change my own process for shaping a design with clients.

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Social Sign-In Enables Website Engagement and Access to Rich User Data

Matt Lee — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:30:00 GMT

If you're looking for a jolt to your inbound or internet marketing efforts consider adding social sign-in to your B2B website.

For the uninitiated, social sign-in is the ability for your website visitors to register and sign-in to your site with Facebook, Twitter or other social network provider credentials. It's an effective way to increase lead capture without having new visitors fill out tedious forms specific to your own website.

Facebook, Twitter and, to a lesser extent, LinkedIn, are essentially becoming the "middleware" of the Internet. You open your browser, navigate to Facebook (or Twitter or LinkedIn) and read, share, or comment on content within these sites. Millions of users already share key contact information and other valuable personal data with these sites - why not use that to your own website's advantage?

Given that a key goal of most B2B websites is user "stickiness" and engagement - social sign-in can be a very powerful approach. Recent studies have shown that visitors accessing a website through a social login spend more time on the site (12 minutes) and have more pageviews (10) on the site. Further, users are more apt to login using their existing social network data than creating a login that is only specific to one website. Considering that over 800 million users trust Facebook with personal credentials like email and password info - why you want to try to recreate that trust by forcing your website visitors to create a login specific to your site? Moreover, what about your site is so special that would encourage visitors to have a unique login to it? Nothing, really.

Additionally, Facebook et al. are already effectively managing huge databases of real user data, why not put that user data management to work for you? Don't misunderstand, it's not that the content on your site isn't valuable; it's just that if your visitors are willing to share their Facebook, Google+, or even AOL credentials with you - accept it. And be very thankful for it.

Social Sign-In = Better Leads

As a B2B entity, a main goal of your online presence and corporate website is to generate qualified leads. Mind you, there is a huge difference between leads and qualified leads. We've all reviewed the essentially "fake" leads with the xyz@______ email and single letters for first and last names. Those types of leads may allow your SEO or marketing team to say that leads are increasing or that they have met their lead goals for the month, but in terms of the potential to help drive revenue by generating new sales - they are worthless.

Facebook or LinkedIn, as examples, encourage real user data. Why would anyone invest their time in uploading pictures of friends and family or build out their online resume and not want to have real contact information associated with it? Social sign-in allows that sort of real data to be passed to your database and become a part of your lead nurturing campaign. Integrating social sign-in into your B2B website is very much like receiving high quality, free leads from highly trafficked social networks.

Social Sign-In Best Practices

If you have decided to add a social login component to your website, here are some tips to consider:

Make it prominent - let visitors to your website know they have the ability to use social network credentials on landing pages, registration pages, or even when sharing or commenting on your site content
Don't Limit Your Social Network Options - Although Facebook has the largest user base, many people still have preferences for Yahoo, Google+, Twitter, or even AOL - don't shut them out. Most social login plugins offer many social networks as login options. In this case, it's much better to be inclusive than exclusive.
Test, Test, Test - Whether your site is built on WordPress, Drupal, HubSpot, or even if it's a custom developed site, be sure to heavily test your social login process. An error prone login process could be the difference between a user visiting your site regularly or never coming back to your site again.

The Bottom Line on Social Sign-In

Let's summarize some key factors for considering the use of social login for your website:

Users logged in via a social network spend more time and have more pageviews on a site they are logged into
Social sign-in allows businesses to analyze well-filtered customer data which in turn can be used for demographic targeting and further social engagement
Users prefer social sign-in over creating a new account
Using an existing social network login helps increase landing page conversions

If you haven't used social sign-in yet it's worth considering and if you are using sign-in be sure it's optimized on your site.

The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design

Ron Mattocks — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:30:00 GMT

It’s time for The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design, keeping those who work for and with Lynton up to date with the latest news, trends and tips that affect us all. In this third edition:

Jeff Foxworthy can tell you if your site is over-optimized.
Do you know what Google’s Social Search is exactly?
Panda’s, Penguins and Search, (SE)O My!
Looking for a Photoshop workspace for Web Design?
Brands are getting creative with Facebook ads.

1. Your Page Might Be Over Optimized If… (Search Engine Watch)

“…now is the time to ponder the search engine over-optimization debate in a style worthy of the comedic wit of Jeff Foxworthy. Please place your tongue in your cheek as we present to you some thoughts and suppositions about how you too might be able to recognize that a website has been over optimized.”

2. 3 Ways Google Social Search Should Change Your Marketing (Social Media Examiner)

Since the introduction of Google+, Google has been redefining how it can provide more relevant search results. Recently Google introduced Search, Plus Your World, something I’ll call Google social search. This new enhancement has made it essential to have a Google+ profile and/or Google+ business page. Why? Google is highlighting Google+ content in search results.

3. Penquins, Pandas, and Panic at the Zoo (SEOmoz)

“Google’s war on lovable critters escalated on April 24th with the release of the “Penguin” update (originally dubbed the “webspam update” by Google). While every major algorithm update causes some protest, post-Penguin panic seems to be at near record levels, worsened by weeks of speculation about an “over-optimization” penalty. Webmasters and SEOs are understandably worried, and many have legitimately lost traffic and revenue. Before you go out and burn your website to the ground for fear of a penguin in the pantry, I want to offer some advice on how to handle life after an algorithm update.”

4. The Ultimate Web Design Workspace for Photoshop (Just Creative)

I’ve been using Adobe Photoshop on a near daily basis, since 2006 and over this time I’ve learned quite a number of tips & tricks. I’ve optimized Photoshop for performance, learned all the essential shortcut keys and tools, and have recently found out what I consider the ‘ultimate web design workspace’.

(In case you’d like to find more top wed design blogs you can find a full listing here Alltop’s Web Design best blogs listing)

5. How Brands are Using Facebook Ads (Mashable)

“On Leap Day 2012, Facebook gathered all its marketing executives in New York City for a coming-out party of sorts for a slew of new ad products. To people outside the industry, the promise of new initiatives might appear a bit on the dull side. But for advertisers, anything that Facebook does for advertising is of interest.”

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If you liked this blog post, you should share it. If you really liked you’ll probably like the information our whole team publishes—you should subscribe. And if you really, really, liked it, then you will like engaging with the likeable, knowledgeable, loveable bunch at Lynton through our below social networks.

Using Green Marketing to Increase Customer Loyalty

Matt Lee — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:24:00 GMT

My local energy company just installed a fully programmable digital thermostat in my house at absolutely no charge. That's pretty good green marketing if you ask me. In exchange for the ability of my utility company to prevent brownouts by controlling my air conditioner temperature by a few degrees on hot days, I was able to have a new fully programmable thermostat installed for free.

In addition to having a technician come to my house for the installation, I also received a welcome letter, a quick reference guide, and a refrigerator magnet with a dedicated 800 number I can call should I have any questions or problems while participating in this program. In short, by joining their "Easy Cool Rewards" program - my utility company made me part of a community.

As energy costs continue to rise, a staggering 4 out of 5 households think the price they pay for their household energy is too high. The time is right for utility companies to launch green marketing initiatives that address key customer pain points. If these marketing efforts are implemented sensibly, they will not only help meet customer needs but they will also help create positive awareness around the utility company's brand.

So where do you start with your green marketing efforts? Ideally, you'll want to begin by listening to your energy customers biggest problems and identifying a well-planned approach to solve their problems. The best way to do this is to get their feedback on ideal solutions. They may not have all the answers but opening the door to a conversation with them is critical. For example, Reliant energy recently launched an online community to share energy news that allows its customer to easily view their energy usage and share energy saving tips. It's an effort designed to show the transparency of a household's energy usage while also building customer loyalty.

Utilities should seek to expand their online presence beyond their corporate websites. Consider these following activities to help build online reach:

A Commitment to Social Media - Comcast Cares is an excellent example of how a Twitter presence can support phone and email help. Twitter is also a great place to listen and search for feedback and address unhappy customers. Remember, even if your company isn't on Twitter your customers will be.
Explainer or Tutorial Videos - Videos are a great way to increase your audience as you can post them on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and many other places. Explaining how to do something or why to do something - maybe it's installing more energy efficient windows or when to consider insulation - is a great way to be helpful and get your video shared.
Email Lists - Although email technology has been around for awhile, it's still an effective way to provide weekly or monthly exposure of your brand to your customers. A weekly energy update or quarterly energy checklist would be useful and thoughtful ways to show your customers you care.
Thought Leadership Content - This can be a whitepaper or tip list that energy customers can download and share. Offering downloadable content is also a good way to enroll customers into a targeted email campaign. Be sure to ask them to provide their email address when they download your content.
Corporate Blog - Southwest Airlines uses its corporate blog to share behind the scene stories of life at Southwest. Build a team of bloggers across departments so that all dimensions of your energy company can be presented and all marketing efforts including your green marketing efforts can be supported and shared.

Once you've genuinely built your online presence and have shown your helpfulness to your customers, you'll likely be rewarded in the form of better feedback and your customers will become your informal marketing distribution arm by sharing your videos, Twitter posts and other valuable content you create. In developing an infrastructure for your green marketing efforts, you'll not only increase customer loyalty, you'll also have a reusable platform you can weave your future marketing efforts into, going directly to your consumers.

Now, think about the positive ripple effect of a Facebook or Twitter post when I share my positive experience about my free thermostat. How many more people would think of my energy company in a positive light? By enhancing their online presence beyond their corporate websites, energy companies can be helpful to consumers and build their brand at the same time.

Big Data: Improve Your Bottom Line with Metrics

Matt Lee — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:53:00 GMT

You're a CMO or marketing professional presenting to your board on marketing progress over the past year. Sales are trending up, your industry has generally seen good revenue growth, and the economy overall has started an upward tick. You're bullish on this meeting.

Before you even have a chance to sit down, you're bombarded with questions:

"What path do our customers take online before they make a purchase?"
"What sites refer the most leads to us?"
"What terms are our customers most likely to search for?"
"What is the last page of our website that customers typically visit before making an online purchase?"
"How much revenue has our Facebook page generated?"

The questions continue on in rapid fire fashion for over an hour. You leave the meeting with your head spinning but satisfied you were able to answer the toughest and most analytical of questions. Yet, you know there is still more work to be done and more data to be mined. But next year - not having all the answers - may cost you your job.

The era of Big Data analytics is here and growing faster than ever. What's Big Data analytics, you ask? It's everything around us. It's what Google, Facebook and Amazon do. It's the reason you'll see an ad for insurance in Gmail after you've been emailing your insurance agent about new quotes or you'll see banner ads for cell phones after you've visited a number of cell phone service provider websites.

Increasingly, companies of all sizes are using Big Data analytics like metrics from web traffic reports, email blasts and CRM reports to make important marketing decisions and refine their sales funnel. In fact, it's predicted that by 2017, CMOs will be spending more on IT than CIOs.

So what should you, as a market leader today, know about this brave new world of Big Data analytics? Here are some thinking points for you:

You're probably a laggard - recent studies show that many marketers are behind in their use of data to expand marketing opportunities in the digital arena. Email can only go so far and is plateauing in its ability to meet sales demands. In the growing area of social media, marketers report the least amount of time and resources spent.
You're probably in a silo - if you think of measuring your marketing success within particular channels like social media, PPC, or email, you'll be much better served by thinking of your marketing across channels. Users and data will flow across email, social media and search. Your new customer may start with a search on your industry, post a question on Twitter, receive a link to your website from an email and then visit your site to download a piece of advanced content and be entered into a lead nurturing campaign. The experience is not discrete or specific to separate channels; it's an evolving one that builds over multiple channels.
You need more leads - and not just more leads but better qualified leads (i.e. ones with legitimate corporate email addresses not "@aol.com" ones). Nearly two thirds of marketers said their biggest challenge was to attract more leads in 2012 and to concoct the appropriate marketing mix to get these leads.

Are you worried now? Fear not - the marketing gods offer solutions for all great marketing challenges. By now it should be clear to you that Big Data analytics will be key to revenue growth for your enterprise. So, if you're looking to become the Big Daddy of Big Data analytics, here are three areas you should focus on:

Organizational Alignment - Big Data mining and monitoring involves technology. Are you friends with your CIO? Have you taken your CIO out to lunch or dinner? If you haven't yet, you better start. Your marketing success is inextricably tied to your CIO. Whether you choose HubSpot or Marketo or another marketing automation platform, you'll need CIO buy-in and sign off. And don't forget to find out what you already have. Your CIO likely has tools in place that are already tracking some valuable metrics that will be useful to you.
Marketing Mix - email marketing is plateauing, smartphone use is growing. Build a cross channel marketing plan that attracts potential customers across social media, search, PPC and even content marketing. Cast a wider but very much trackable net.
Your People - your marketing strategy and plan is only as good as the people you have implement it. As CMO, you won't do the work but the buck will stop with you. Know the profile of your ideal hire and integrate them quickly into the Big Data analytics mindset.

Ready? Set. Go! You're early enough in the game. Make Big Data Analytics work for you.

The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design

Ron Mattocks — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:30:00 GMT

Wow! Two weeks in a row! This is a hot streak. Speaking of which, here’s some headlines hot off the presses from the past week. It’s time for The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design, keeping those who work for and with Lynton up to date with the latest news, trends and tips that affect us all. In this second edition:

Social Media Advertising Mushroom Cloud on the Horizon?
Winner or Loser? Did Google’s Panda 3.5 list you as SPAM?
For developers—Pluses are now “Shares” on Google+
Life being ruined by social networking?
B2B or B2C? Who’s better at Social Media marketing in this industry report?

1. Social Media Advertising Explosion (AdAge)

“The great agency battle has begun. After years and years of riding shotgun, agencies that focus on communications and conversations – PR firms and social media agencies – are gunning for their clients' ad budgets. At stake is who will control, and earn the lucrative fees, from the cash companies are pouring into Facebook and Twitter ads.”

2. Are You a Winner or Loser with the Panda 3.5 Update? (Search Engine Land)

“This week Google rolled out a new search algorithm it says should better prevent webspam from polluting its search results. Who won and who lost? …Turns out, these winners/losers are mostly likely reflecting a previously unconfirmed Panda Update, not the new algorithm change…”

3. Google+ has a New “Share” Button (Google+ Developer Blog)

“When your visitors come across something interesting on your site, sometimes you want to encourage a simple endorsement (like +1). Other times, however, you want to help visitors share with their friends, right away.” Confused yet?

4. Are Social Networks Ruining our Lives? - Study (Mashable)

Is the Connected Generation actually the Alienated Generation? Nearly 40% of Americans spend more time socializing via the Internet than in real life. Almost a quarter say they have missed out on important moments because they were, ironically, distracted by trying to share those moments on social networks. Nearly 20% say they actually prefer to communicate electronically via social network or text message than talk over the phone or face-to-face.

5. Are B2B Marketers better at Social Media Marketing than B2C? – Report (Social Media Examiner)

“Do you primarily market to other businesses? Are you wondering, “How does social media marketing work differently for B2B businesses?” In the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report,Mike Stelzner asked marketers how they’re using social media.” There are significant differences according to the report.

Should your business advertise on Tumblr?

Suzanne Birkholz — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Just last week, blogging platform Tumblr announced it would be offering businesses the ability to purchase paid ad space on its blog network. Tumblr’s decision to host ad space is no real surprise, other than it took them this long to make the move.

What is Tumblr?

Tumblr has been growing in popularity since its inception in 2007 .. and for good reason. Its tagging and sharing features allow content to be spread like wildfire through its user base. And unlike more traditional blogging platforms like WordPress, Tumblr is super simple to set up and maintain. So, even if you’ve never touched PhotoShop before or have no budget for a web developer, Tumblr’s user-friendly interface has got you covered. And while Tumblr blogs aren’t nearly as customizable as those on WordPress, the simplicity is what draws so many users to them.

Tumblr has become so popular in fact that the word "Tumblr" will soon overtake "blog" in Google searches. Furthermore, with 21.8 million unique visitors in March 2012, Tumblr nearly tripled its traffic from the previous year.

Who's using Tumblr?

Unlike Facebook, the bulk of Tumblr’s users are aged mid-30s and younger. Therefore, businesses targeting more youthful audiences may likely find a home on Tumblr.

However, with Facebook’s recent purchase of Instagram, it’s clear that the web’s biggest social platform is also aware of the impact of quickly-posted images that can go viral in the blink of an eye .. in all demographics. The skyrocketing growth of Pinterest, particularly amongst women mid-20s to mid-40s, further indicates the shorter attention span within the online social realm and the desire (and effectiveness) to share ideas and information quickly and painlessly.

Is Tumblr useful for your business?

Paving the way for Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook’s new timeline layout, Tumblr makes sharing photos and other quickly-posted content particularly pain-free. Businesses who specialize in visual products (think: fashion, art, design) often find Tumblr’s photo-sharing capabilities particularly intuitive and useful to their customers.

Not sure where to start getting social? Speak to one of our social media enthusiasts to find out how we can help grow your online influence.

What to Expect When You're Expecting ...

Mike Rastiello — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:40:00 GMT

... Your Website to Go Live

We're a web marketing company. What else would this blog be about?

Over the course of working on projects, our clients will invariably ask one or all of the following questions as we approach the launch of their site.

What better way to address these questions than a blog post?

(1) What is involved in bringing a site live?

One day your website is on a development server with a weird-looking testing URL, and the next day it's live. How does that happen?

Magic.

Okay, it's not magic, it's DNS.

DNS stands for Domain Name System. DNS is a naming system for any computer or service that is connected to the Internet. It takes a domain name (lyntonweb.com) that humans understand and converts it into something that a computer understands (beep boop beeeep). No, just kidding. DNS changes the domain name into an IP address, which is a series of four numbers between 0 and 255. For example, Google's IP address is 74.125.224.72 (try putting that in your browser's address bar).

When we bring a site live, we edit the DNS zone record for your domain name to point to the IP address that is associated with your new server.

(2) Who on my team should be involved?

If you're a larger company, you may have an IT department at your disposal. If you do, your IT manager will know exactly what to do to bring your site live.

If you're not lucky enough to have a team of super computer engineers, your friendly web marketing agency (Hi!) can help.

(3) When is the best time to take my site live?

There are a few things to take into consideration before answering this question:

Is your new site a redesign with new content?
How much traffic does your site receive?
Does your site sit on multiple servers with advanced technology such as a shopping cart or web app?

We generally like to push new websites live on Friday afternoons, even if it's a simple redesign.

Why is that? When you update the DNS of a domain name, you get a message saying that the process could take anywhere from 24-48 hours to fully resolve.

For the most part, we see the update happen anywhere from 2-6 hours, sometimes a little longer.

The reason that we like to do launches on Fridays (besides ending the work week on a serious up-note) is that it gives the site the entire weekend to resolve across the Internet, so come Monday morning, visitors are definitely seeing the new site.

However, sometimes you need to push a site live in the middle of the week, and that is totally fine, too. For those situations, we still make the DNS update in the afternoon so that if there is any downtime (there usually isn't), it's at a low-traffic time, and then the site can resolve overnight.

So, now that you know what happens once your site is ready to go live, why don't you contact us so we can go through this process of bringing your new website into the world together?

The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design

Ron Mattocks — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:59:00 GMT

Welcome to LyntonWeb’s new weekly blog series, The Friday 5: Five Headlines from Social Media, Inbound Marketing, SEO, and Web Design. The world of web marketing spins at a fast paced making it hard to keep up. The Friday 5 is meant to help those of us who work for and with Lynton to stay on top of the latest news, trends and tips that affect us all. In this inaugural edition:

Google+ Gives Itself a Makeover
LinkedIn’s New Segmented Status Update
Turn Facebook Timelines Into Pinterest
Find the Links That Lower Page Ranks
Learn How Neuroscience Affects Online Customer Behavior

1) Google+ Gives Itself a Makeover

Just when you were getting used to Google+ (if you were even using it), the new social network platform gives itself a makeover. You can read the entire article at Mashable And catch the short video to see it in action. http://mashable.com/2012/04/11/google-plus-redesign/

2) LinkedIn’s New Segmented Status Update

LinkedIn continues to add more features making it just as relevant as a marketing and research tool as it is a professional networking site. Companies now can send targeted status updates through their pages. Additionally, to help companies know who they should be targeting, LinkedIn is offering page admins more detailed stats related to company size, industry, job function, seniority, geography, and employees. You can watch the LinkedIn video, then get details from the full post in HubSpot.

3) Turning Facebook Timelines Into Pinterest

Pinterest is the newest cool kid on the social media block, but Facebook still dominates (despite the new timeline setup). How about combining the features of Facebook with the look of Pinterest? Yeah, there is and app for that. It’s called spiffy app. Read all about it at Mashable and make sure to check out the bonus feature at the bottom: 7 Super Pinterest Tools (“Pin a Quote” is a fav.)

4) Find the Links That Lower Your Page Ranking

“…thousands of low-quality blogs of low or average authority were manually removed from Google's index, they weren't the only victims…” Read who these victims were and how the search engine experts at SEOmoz can help in understanding How to Check Which Links Can Harm Your Site’s Rankings

5) How Neuroscience Affects Online Customer Behavior

“According to Dr. A.K Pradeep, our senses take in 11 million bits of information every second. A great deal of that information comes from the eyes but our other senses transmit a large amount of information to our brains as well. Consciously our brains can at most take in 40 bits of information every second. That means that 99.99% of the information that we take in shapes our decisions subconsciously…” Read the rest of Kevin Dean’s post, “Neuroscience Outlines the Key to Social Customer Effectiveness” at Social Business

25 Tricks That Will Enhance Your Blog’s Value: Part 5

Ron Mattocks — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:30:00 GMT

For this entire series I’ve been sharing tricks to up the value of your blog, both for your readers and your company. Tricks 1 – 20 can be found in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Along with providing these tricks, I’ve been trying to convey, too, the importance of your company’s blog to its marketing efforts. 43% of companies are using blogs a serious part of their marketing strategy.

Time to bring this series home.

21. Incentivize Engagement

Does your company have a sample product or perhaps a book? These are good items to use as simple giveaway offers to incentivize engagement. For example: “Leave your most successful closing technique in the comments below. Our panel of 3 sales professionals will decide on the best one, and the winner will receive our book…” Couple things here: keep the equitable value low dollar (there are legal issues, $50 max is safe), make the qualification criteria objective if possible, or if subjective, use a panel or third party. Also, use an incentive that ties to your company—some people have used gift cards, but there’s a high chance people will take the money and run.

22. Visual Appeal

You know what they say about first impressions. You may have the best content in the world, but if the overall visual appeal looks amateurish, then a reader’s initial thought could be that the content will be too. The same could be true if it looks too gaudy. And by the way, Google will penalize your site if you have too many product ads. (A personal suggestion: If possible, keep your blog’s graphic elements brand consistent, but use a layout that differentiates your blog from the company website. This makes the blog feel less sales-oriented and lets readers know they are at the right place.)

23. Social Elements

Social Media and blogging go hand-in-hand. If your content is great, readers are more likely to share it, especially if it’s made easy for them. There are at least two sets of social buttons you should have: large icons that encourage readers to follow you on your social media profiles, and “chicklets” that encourage readers to share each of your posts. The large icons should be prominent and above the fold. The chicklets should be in between the comments and the post. Include calls to action for both sets (“Follow Our Networks & Get More” and “If you liked this post please share it.”) Huge item here: Google is starting to rank content that’s shared higher than content that’s purely optimized. Get people to share your superb content.

24. Plugins and Widgets

These are handy tools for your blog, and they serve a variety of functions. Focus on the ones that foster engagement, help grow your social media reach, and are visually appealing. Facebook and Twitter offer some good options. Others that work well are those that feature “Most Popular Posts,” “Most Commented on Posts,” and “Most Frequent Commenters” Your blogging platform may offer a menu of widgets and plugins that are easy to incorporate onto your site.

25. Scan Ready

Like bolding key text, the overall look of an actual blog post influences a reader’s decision to read the content. Big blocks of words can look like it will take a lot of time to get through a post. Short, spaced out paragraphs that are 2 to 3 sentences long are inviting. So are bullet points.

I hope this series of posts has been helpful. In the world of social media, content is king if you want your company to get noticed. Ultimately, the question you need to ask yourself is, does this blog post provide value to readers? If not, you’re blog’s not adding any value to your online marketing efforts either. Thanks for following along during this series. Have tips of your own? Please share them in the comments. We would all be glad to hear them.

*****

Want to bring value to your social media program?

Contact LyntonWeb for an evaluation of this and all your company’s other social media needs. 877-LYNTONW or info@lytonweb.com Also, keep up to date with the latest social media and inbound marketing news by following up on our Social Media networks.

Photo Credit: Modified by Author under Fair Use Agreement

25 Tricks That Will Enhance Your Blog’s Value: Part 4

Ron Mattocks — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:30:00 GMT

I’ve already mentioned in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 the importance of your company blog, and by now I hope I’ve convinced you of this. If not, here’s another statistic: Nearly 40% of marketers see blogs as the most valuable content for their company.

Let’s keep going.

16. Be Bold

Sometimes it takes a long post to make a point. Bold the main points, key phrases, and embedded links to make the post easy for readers to scan through or for new readers to quickly determine if what you have to say is of value. If they just see a mass of words, chances are they will move on. One other thing, use black for bolded text even if your blog’s copy uses another standard color.

17. Have an Editorial Guide

Many of you may have several people writing posts for your blog. An editorial guide that addresses grammar, punctuation, formatting and many of the items in this series will get everyone on the same page. And if you’re the designated blog editor, this will make your life easier too. (If you’d like an editorial guide template leave us a comment, and we will send you one.)

18. Be Consistent

Don’t be sporadic in your posting. If readers can expect a new sales tip every Monday morning, then they will show up every Monday morning looking for it. Having an internal editorial calendar is the best way to manage this. Share it will all contributors and put in your editorial guidelines standards for when posts are due (I suggest a week prior to the planned publish date). Keep a few extra posts in reserve to fill last-minute gaps. By the way, Google likes fresh and frequent content; a good goal is at least 3 posts per week.

19. Make it “Sticky”

One thing you want to do is keep people on your blog or website for as long as possible. Making a post “sticky” can do this. Use embedded links that will draw readers to other pages or information. The link could be an author, a particular tagged keyword, a category, a specific product/service or a reference to another post.

20. Don't be Rude

I cannot emphasis how important this is. Do NOT ignore or forget about comments, especially a really good one. If you were talking to a client and they commented on something you mentioned, you wouldn’t blow them off, right? No, because it’s rude. Same applies here. If you can, reply using a personal profile with your name and face—the company logo makes you a faceless entity. If your comment setup doesn’t allow for this, then at least end your comment with your name. (Idea: If you write a paragraph or two when responding to a commenter, then your response might be good fodder for a separate blog post.)

Tried any of these tricks yet? Did it help? Maybe not—it’s early yet, and if you have no audience at the moment, it will take some time to build it up. In fact, the strategy of, “If you blog it, they will come,” isn’t a smart one. Go find your audience rather than waiting for them to come to you. Comments? Questions? Let us know. Tomorrow is the final segment in the series.

*****

Want to bring value to your blog and your social media program?

Contact LyntonWeb for an evaluation of this and all your company’s other social media needs at 877-LYNTONW or info@lytonweb.com. Also, keep up to date with the latest social media and inbound marketing news by following us on our Social Media networks.

Photo Credit: Modified by Author according to Fair Use Guidelines

25 Tricks That Will Enhance Your Blog’s Value: Part 3

Ron Mattocks — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:30:00 GMT

Missed Part 1 and Part 2? Click on the links to catch up. In Part 3 we pick up with tricks 11-15 on how to add value to your blog site. Blogging is not a waste of time. Effective blogs give their company’s website 434% more indexed pages—that’s a good thing.

Moving right along.

11. Current Events & Pop Culture

Get your creative juices flowing. Talk about a current event or a pop culture reference and relate it to what your company offers. Use these to illustrate a point you're trying to make or a problem your company can help with. And besides, what sounds more interesting: “5 Leadership Tips You Can Use” or “5 Leadership Tips You Can Learn from Yoda”?

12. Keep it Short

Short means not taking up a lot of your time, right? Yes, and the same is true for readers who don’t have much time to read super long posts. Oh yeah, and posts that are 300-600 words perform better in searches. BUT, this is only a general rule. My series of posts exceed this, but that’s because I don’t want the content to be so short that it fails to be valuable. Short and sweet is good, but don’t skimp on content.

13. Optimize in the “Write” Places

I’ve already mentioned a few spots where you can optimize outside of the actual post, but one key area is in the meta description and meta keywords for a post. This is what Google searches on, so add all the related keywords (remember the tagging strategy?), and write a brief summary of the post using the most important keywords. Some blog platforms also have a space to write an SEO title using keywords. When Google pulls up search results, this title and the meta description are what you see in the listed summaries. Keep these titles under 70 characters and the description under 160 characters. This is typically how much text shows in those list results. (Some blog platforms vary, so check to see if you have these features and if not, how to get them.)

14. Build a Series

Caught on to this one? A good series will keep people coming back provided the content is all useable. Announce you’re doing a series to set an expectation.

15. Pictures Worth 1,000 Keywords

Every post should include an interesting, eye-catching photo. When you’re loading it up, make sure to tag it with keywords and give it a description using the best keywords. Go a step further. Can you convey in one picture what would’ve been a 500-word post? What about an Infographic? Readers love eye candy.

Notice how Yoda works for this post? He's short. He's giving the "write" advice. He's from a popular movie series. A picture can be worth 1,000-word blog post. Can this work for your blog? Give it a try. Have questions? Let us know in the comments. You can also continue on to Part 4.

*****

Want to bring value to your social media program?

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons & modified according to Fair Use

25 Tricks That Will Enhance Your Blog’s Value: Part 2

Ron Mattocks — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:30:00 GMT

If you missed items 1 – 5 in Part 1, you can click here to catch up. As mentioned in the introduction of Part 1, your company’s blog is a necessary tool for a successful web marketing program. Companies with blogs get 97% more inbound links than others who don't. That’s huge if you want to be found in the vast expanse of the Internet.

Moving on to items 6 – 10...

6. Include Calls to Action

Every blog post should have a call to action, preferably at the end. This can be as simple as a line such as, “If you want to find out more, go here to get X.” Even better is a graphic element linking to an offer or an invite form to sign up for something like a newsletter. If someone takes the time to read your blog, there’s a high likelihood they will sign up if asked.

7. Embed Video

Like lists, embedded videos make for easy posts, plus they perform well in searches, especially YouTube. (If you don’t have an account, it would be a good idea to set one up.) Just make sure the videos have good descriptions and are tagged with the right keywords.

8. Invite Guest Bloggers

This could be a post unto itself, but for now, know that inviting thought leaders who blog to guest post on your site spreads goodwill, builds links, and exposes that person’s audience to your blog.

9. Tie Content to Strategy

Picking random topics for blog posts is less effective than a series related to a current marketing campaign. If you have a new product launch coming up, build buzz by blogging about topics surrounding that product’s function.

10. Show, Don’t Tell

If you tell readers all the whiz-bang things your company can do, they probably won’t care. Essentially, you’re just providing sales copy. If you show them what you can do, especially in an entertaining way, then they will stick around. Let’s say you’re selling a new software program. Write an amusing story about all the problems you once had without this software. This puts your product into a context people can relate to, and they will probably remember it more than they will a list of features. (Now take it a step further: Have a picture of a free brochure with the software specs as a call to action.)

Again, take a moment to think about how this could work for your blog, and ask any questions you may have in the comment section. You can continue on to Part 3 via this link.

*****

Want to bring value to your blog and your social media program?

Photo Credit: Freestock Images

25 Tricks That Will Enhance Your Blog’s Value: Part 1

Ron Mattocks — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:30:00 GMT

Companies sometimes forget how valuable their blog is. With all that has to get done in a day, putting together another blog post ranks somewhere in between organizing that jam-packed file drawer and restocking your desk with paperclips. “What’s the point?” some may ask. “It’s not like our blog is getting us any leads. No one even reads the thing!” And if you’re writing purely for SEO purposes, it’s hard to get excited about bending sentences to include a few keywords that are supposed to help your page rank.

Your blog, however, is one of your company’s most important assets in attracting potential clients. Blogs are 63% more likely to influence a buying decision than magazines. Your blog is how your company will be judged. Those who read it will determine the worth of your product or service. If there’s no value in the content, then there might not be in what you’re selling. And with the changes in Google’s new algorithms, content that’s not being shared by readers or is heavily optimized will rank lower.

So what to do? You’ve got no time. It’s just an SEO pencil drill, and readers couldn’t care less.

There's actually quite a few things you can do--25 to be exact--most of which are easy. In this 5-part series, you'll find 25 tricks that can help with all these areas and add value to your company’s blog.

1. Have a Tagging Strategy

Most blogs have “Categories” and “Tags,” and without a plan, this can confuse readers who might be looking for specific information. Use “categories” to segment general topics and/or products and services, but keep to a minimum. For “Tags” use related keywords as well as the category names related to the post. Make sure, too, that your tags are visible to readers in case they want to read more on a similar topic.

2. Make Lists

Lists can be quick to write; they’re quick to read and stick out in Google searches. Use the actual number, rather than spelling it out, and put it at the beginning of the headline. Another related tip, make a checklist that readers can use, for example, “5 Things to Check Before Publishing a Blog Post.”

3. Convey Value in the Headlines

The headline can be your one and only shot at getting someone to click, so it needs to convey what a reader will get from it. “Closing Tough Sales” is too vague, but “How to Close Sales Your Competition Cannot” tells readers they will gain both knowledge and an edge over their competitors.

4. Lose the Jargon

If SEO is your blog’s purpose in living, then shoot it now and put it out of its misery. Sure, a few keywords are fine. Too many becomes jargon (and Google will penalize you for it). Instead, write the way you would when talking to another person. There are plenty of other SEO tips in this list that will compensate for writing a post readers can use and relate to.

5. Ask Questions

You have a post with useable content. You have a headline that captures readers. You have relatable content. Now you need engagement. A good way is to ask readers for their suggestions or opinions. One effective tactic, if it makes sense, is to save a main point and leave it up for discussion i.e. “My reason why X is the most effective way to reach clients is Y, but rather than explain this, I’d like to hear your thoughts on why or why not this would work.”

Take a moment to think about how these first five items might apply to your company’s blog. Maybe some do, and maybe not. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments section. Continue on to Part 2.

* * * * *

Want to bring value to your blog and social media program?

Photo Credit: Freestock Photo

LinkedIn’s New “Follow” Button: a Boost to your Social Media Strategy

Suzanne Birkholz — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:43:00 GMT

On Monday, LinkedIn announced the release of its new "Follow Company" button. This button has been provided to companies to add to their websites, so that customers and clients can quickly and simply begin following them on LinkedIn. Visitors who click on the "Follow" button will be prompted to log in with their LinkedIn username and password, unless the visitor is already logged into LinkedIn on their computer, in which case clicking the button will allow them to automatically follow the company.

An integral part of any company's social media arsenal, LinkedIn allows consumers to stay up-to-date on the latest news, promotions, new hires, and much more of companies they're interested in. Find out how to add the LinkedIn "Follow Company" button to your company's website.

If you need assistance utilizing LinkedIn to your advantage, call us speak to one of our representatives about our social media strategies today.

Promoting Your Brand on Pinterest

Suzanne Birkholz — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:00:00 GMT

If you spend any time at all on the social web, you’ve probably heard the hype about Pinterest in recent weeks. It seems that everyone is jumping on this new bandwagon for 2012 ... and bringing all their friends along with them.

How does Pinterest benefit users?

With Pinterest, users can share images that are interesting to them and also browse images that other users have submitted. For example, if you’re looking for ideas on where to take your next vacation, you can browse Pinterest’s “Travel and Places” content and peruse endless photos of exotic places around the world. If you’ve just returned from Bora Bora, you could post a pic of your trip to show people how great it was.

Described as a “virtual pinboard,” Pinterest also lets users create sets of “pins” related to a specific topic. So, a bride-to-be may create a set (aka a “board”) with inspiration photos of flowers, dresses, and table decor for her upcoming wedding. This can help her stay organized and inspire others in the same boat.

How can your brand benefit from Pinterest?

A form of social marketing, Pinterest allows users to do the bulk of your marketing for you. Let's say you're Toms Shoes and just released a brand new style for Summer. Someone posts your new style on Pinterest, and word spreads like wildfire. Not much you have to do, right?

Well, yes and no.

Creating boards specific to unique audiences within your target market can help draw in potential leads to your brand. Let’s say your business sells women’s clothing. You could create different boards for fitness, evening, or even maternity and provide inspirations, perhaps of accessories, hairstyles, and locations that could accompany your clothing.

You could also encourage your existing followers of your blog, Facebook, or Twitter to “pin” an item of yours on Pinterest in order to enter a contest or giveaway you have going on.

Above all, you must add "Pin It" buttons to the products on your website. This will allow shoppers who’ve already discovered you to pass you along to friends and others within their demographic. A little word of mouth on the web can go a long, long way.

How might you screw up on Pinterest?

For starters, it's important to understand that Pinterest is primarily about sharing ideas, not about forcing marketing schemes down people's throats. Shameless self-promotion will not go over well on Pinterest, and users will be out the door before you even realize what you did wrong.

Like other forms of social media, Pinterest is about creating conversations and getting people talking about things that are relevant to your brand, not necessarily your brand itself. Mashable's recent analysis of "Whole Foods' organic approach to Pinterest" showcases how Whole Foods has used customer personas to share content that promotes the Whole Foods brand, including topics like healthy eating, recycling, and giving back. The point is: conversations take time. So, trying to rush a marketing campaign via Pinterest will likely frustrate both you and your users.

It’s also important to research your target market on Pinterest. Right now, Pinterest’s primary audience is young women, mid-20s to mid-40s, and the content they are sharing is “lifestyle” content, topics related to home decorating, children and parenthood, fashion, vacationing, and other similar subjects. So, if your business specializes in industrial gaskets, you’re probably better off advertising elsewhere.

For help identifying your brand’s voice and marketing strategies on Pinterest and anywhere in the social realm, contact us for a complimentary consultation.

A Rookie Writer’s Guide to Effective Web Copy

Suzanne Birkholz — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Last month, we challenged you to make copywriting a goal for 2012. So here we are, back again, to see how things are going. Not as well as you'd hoped? Perhaps we can give you a nudge or two in the right direction.

Writing doesn't have to be complicated; you don't have to be a wordsmith to write effective web copy. You just need a passion for your topic, some focus, and lots of TLC for the process. And give yourself some credit: no one knows your business better than you do. So, even if you plan on sending your content to a professional copywriting team to make edits and clean things up, you can still be a tremendous help to them by providing them the information they need to be writing about.

Feeling more confident? Ready to get started? Let's take a look at some of our top strategies for writing effective web copy:

(1) Gather the information you need before you start writing.

Deciding on the main goal of each piece of content is the first step. For example, if you're working on your blog, come up with a list of potential topics before you start writing. If you're updating your website content, develop your sitemap first, and gather the content you already have to see what can be repurposed. From there, you can determine which pages need more work and what type of content each page should include.

If you have any experience performing keyword research, come up with a handful of relevant terms for each page of content (including blog posts) that you’re writing. This can help you focus your writing and can assist with any SEO efforts you may be undertaking.

If you’re not comfortable with keyword research tools, just think about the page you’re writing, and come up with a few phrases that describe that page. For example, if you're writing about your company’s A/C and heating services, you may want to include terms like “Houston A/C repair” or “heater maintenance services.”

(2) Find a quiet space to write.

To do so doesn't require a luxurious home office, but it does mean you need some peace and quiet, perhaps your back patio, the library, your local coffee shop, or even at the airport - anywhere you can remain unperturbed by your surroundings.

Because your goal is to find the optimal place to write, your chosen location may make having secure access to the Internet, and therefore your CMS, impossible. Free file storage tools like Dropbox give you the flexibility to work in something as basic as a Notepad or Word file and save your content to be later uploaded to your website or emailed to your copywriting team.

(3) Stay focused by eliminating distractions.

Whether you're writing a quick blog post announcing the winner of your recent giveaway or are knee-deep in a complete website copy overhaul, distractions can reduce the quality of your writing and incline you to make more mistakes.

Internal distractions can include:

stress and fatigue
preoccupation with other tasks or goings-on

External distractions might be:

phone calls and text messages
an interruptive colleague or family member
push notifications from your social media sites like Facebook and Twitter
a messy workspace

Work something out with your staff or your family, so you have time and space set aside to write in peace. Schedule 20 or 30-minute intervals if you don’t have much time to spare. Grab a cup of coffee or hot tea to keep yourself focused, and be grateful for the opportunity to write (i.e. brag) about your business.

(4) Start with your big-picture concept, and dig into the details as you write.

Start with your title, and then break down your content into subsections. Deciding on the structure of your content prior to writing each individual subsection can create focus and flow to your entire page.

Furthermore, you don't need every word or punctuation mark to be perfect on the first draft. You just need to get your ideas on paper, and you may tweak your work as you progress. Proofreading and grammar can come last, or they may be outsourced to a professional proofreader or another member of your team.

Don’t be too proud to ask for help.

What's the biggest hindrance to website owners writing their own content? Time.

If your plate is already full and you'd like some assistance with your web content writing, give us a call today to discuss your needs and how we can help.

The Phases of a Website Redesign Project, in Plain English

Samantha Schultz — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Confused about the website redesign process? Unsure of what to expect and what might be expected of you? Here’s a quick rundown of the steps involved in the majority of website redesign projects. Your web team should be able to review this with you as well.

Discovery

Your website redesign team’s goal is to better understand your business and ultimately how the website can benefit your overall marketing and business objectives. Some of the things you will tackle during the discovery phase include:

Build your list of must-haves for the website
Determine if there are any applications or functions that need to be built into your website
Build out the list of pages for the website
Determine who your website’s primary and secondary audiences are
Collect any design and branding requirements for the project
Organize the website page templates based on the content

Unsure of how to prepare? Collect information from your employees about what they want to see from the website. Some employees’ thoughts and opinions may weigh more than others, but what’s important is that all of you are engaged in the process!

Design

After all the information needed for the website design and development has been collected, your website team will produce designs for your review. They will consider best practices for website design. Here are some of the website elements the designer will bring for review:

Page designs for each unique template (your homepage will look different than any other page of your website, as an example)
Buttons and other calls-to-action (CTAs)
Forms
Email templates for your newsletters, notifications, etc.

Content Generation

Vital to the website redesign process is building effective content – meaning the text and graphics that will appear on each page. Whether your staff is writing, or the web team you’ve hired is approaching the project, the developers will need the following to help build the website:

Text for every page of the website, including error messages and form fields
Images for each page as needed, whether that means stock photography, photo assets you already have, or some combination of both

Another area that you may consider with your web team while building content is the keywords your content should be optimized for. This simply means which keywords you want your website to show up for on the search engines; these should be used throughout your website copy. This may involve using keyword research tools to collect a high priority list of keywords.

Development

Your web developers, once they have designs to work from, will produce HTML templates for the website. They will also program any functions needed for your website. Your team will also consider any programming best practices. In this phase, the following things will be done:

HTML templates set up for review
Forms, functions programmed
Content (text, images) added to the page templates for the website
Test the website templates for different browsers (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari)

Sometimes, before a website launches, you will actually take the website to a sample of your audience to make sure everything makes sense. It’s always nice to have extra eyes on your site before going live!

Launch

After you’ve reviewed the temporary (development) website, and you’re ready to push live, your website team will do the following:

Make sure old URLs will point to the new URLs (if they have changed)
Point your domain to your new website

Have more questions about what to expect when moving into a website redesign? Contact us – we’re more than happy to answer your questions.

Extend PPC Messages & Grow Conversions with Awesome Landing Pages

Hadar Hazay — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are strong. You get solid, relevant traffic to your website, your ads contain compelling calls-to-action (CTAs), and your click-through-rates (CTR) are respectable. Sounds like a recipe for success, right? But when your campaigns are as optimized as they can be, and your site's just not converting, it's time to take a look at your landing pages.

Sometimes, a well-tuned PPC campaign is just not enough. Visitors are great, obviously, but unless they're converting into paid customers, you're throwing money down the tubes. You have to ask yourself: is my online space good enough for them to want to stay on the site and buy from me? The best indicator is your bounce rate. It is high? If your bounce rate is over 35%, your landing pages can probably use some TLC. It’s a good idea to build specific landing pages to support specific ad groups within your PPC campaigns to extend their messages.

Here are a few elements to consider when building landing pages specifically to bolster the success of PPC campaigns:

Keep your landing page clean and simple. Avoid clutter of text and images, and use simple design elements.
Keep up with promises. You promised $19.99 cupcakes? Show them. Don’t try to push more expensive cakes and different products; give your visitors exactly what they came for. Buyers hate "bait and switch," so avoid that tactic. It will only give you a bad reputation and increase your bounce rate.
Easy navigation. Make it easy for visitors to find information and navigate around your landing page. You can always link to extended product lines and services without cluttering the landing page itself.
Create brand awareness. Make sure your logo and company name are displayed on the page and are associated with the product or service you provide.
Extend your call-to-action. Create a form, and / or display your phone number. Use text that extends your PPC ad’s message. We always wish for more characters to utilize on our PPC ads, so here is our chance to describe our product with no character limits!
Engage your visitors. Eye-catching call-to-action buttons are necessary for turning a visitor into a conversion.
Include a map and directions to your business. If you have an e-commerce site, this is probably not necessary, but if you rely on local clientele, it's imperative.
Test, test, test. Use heat maps to see where visitors like to click on your landing page. Also test different variations of your page. This includes different themes, different messages, different text, and different images. You never know what little elements will engage (or deter) your visitors if you don't test!

To learn more about how your business can benefit from landing page design and testing, contact us for a free consultation.

Educate Customers through your Email Marketing Campaigns

Mike Rastiello — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:10:00 GMT

There are many different types of emails that you can send to your clients; they don't always have to be sales-related. Why not set up an educational email nurture campaign?

Case in point ...

One night last week I couldn't sleep, so I decided to catch up my my blog reading instead of tossing and turning.

Normally, when I come across an article that I really enjoy or think will be useful to me in the future, I save it to Evernote. However, this time I was using a different application on my iPhone than I normally do to read my blogs, so I had to email the article to Evernote, which I had never done before, instead of enjoy the auto-sync that usually occurs.

A few minutes later, I received the following email from Evernote:

Congrats! You've just emailed a note to your Evernote account. Did you know that you can send it to a specific notebook and assign tags to it? Here's how:

Select a destination notebook for your email by adding @[notebook name] to the end of the subject line.
Add tags to your note by typing #[tag name] at the end of the subject line. This feature works with existing tags in your account.
To designate a destination notebook and add tags, be sure to list the notebook name before the tags.

An example subject: Fwd: Recipe for Bouillabaisse @Recipes #soup #fish #french

Happy emailing and organizing in Evernote! Thanks, The Evernote team

How cool is that?

Evernote took the time to educate its users on how to use the product more efficiently. Most companies put together an introduction video and are done with it. But Evernote has subscribed to the school of thought that an educated user is more likely to stick around and use its product or service a lot more.

Columbia Sportswear sees sales increase through Educational Email Marketing.

Another major company who decided to test out email marketing campaigns for purposes other than just generating online sales is Columbia Sportwear. In early 2011, Columbia's marketing team, though not giving up on sales-based emails altogether, began to shift most of its focus toward educating customers on the Columbia brand. "We wanted to focus on messages that are brand-building, and can engage our customers and educate them so they have all the information they need to buy our products in any of our distribution channels," said Ali Norwood, Columbia's Ecommerce Marketing Specialist.

Columbia's new and improved email campaigns included:

Promotion and education of the brand and its products (e.g. "As waterproof as a nuclear submarine")
Involving multiple departments within the organization to determine the marketing direction, ensuring tangible benefits for more than just the sales team

Despite a lack of clear, sales-based calls-to-action, Columbia's email marketing click-through rates have increased 65%, proving that although the goal of us web marketers may be to see quick results, nurturing the customer through education of our brands and products can achieve much more effective and long-term results.

Setting Up Your Own Educational Email Marketing Campaign

According to MarketingSherpa's 2011 Email Marketing Benchmark Report, 91% of email marketers agreed that their email marketing efforts, even when direct online conversions were not achieved, were still helpful in garnering offline sales.

How can your company use email marketing to educate customers? How can a customer's life improve by using your product ... or by using it in a different way?

Not sure where to begin with your email nuturing campaign? We can help!

What Should I Blog About? Build Your Blog Strategy

Samantha Schultz — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Do you struggle with putting together a blog? Unsure about what to do with the space besides announcing company news? You may need to put together a strategy to focus your content. Here are some easy ways to break down your blogging approach:

1. Who are you trying to talk to?

First, it’s ideal to identify your target segments. Is there a particular target segment you want to attract more of? Think about them, then ask yourself:

Are they self-starters, or do they seek to outsource whatever you sell?
When they are thinking about buying X, what questions will they have?
When they are thinking about buying your product or service over a competitor’s, what questions or reservations will they have?

2. What role should your blog play in the larger marketing strategy?

Often, there is a larger marketing strategy that your blog content should support. Do you need more leads? A blog can help draw in qualified traffic through supporting search engine optimization – by publishing content that’s related to the keywords your customers are searching with on Google. Content may focus on a mix of answering common questions and case studies.

Or, do you need to make sure your boss and your staff are viewed as industry experts? Content should be focused on highly relevant and up-to-date topics, pushing good advice to your prospects.

3. What are your areas of expertise?

Finally, how can your blog add value for existing and potential customers? Think about:

What challenges have you helped your clients overcome?
What stories can you tell about how you’ve met an untapped need relating to your industry or customer need?
What new or upcoming trends, tools, and stories should your customers be on the lookout for?

After reviewing your blog prospects, role in marketing and expertise – brainstorm a list of content! Build a list of 10 or so at a time to save yourself from a painful analysis 2/3 times a week. Better yet – share your strategy + list with your company to open up the brainstorming with others. Make sure your blogging is transparent to encourage involvement. Need help building your blog strategy? Contact us for a conversation.

Is Your Content Social Enough? Google Is Keeping Tabs

Ron Mattocks — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:23:00 GMT

How social is your content? In other words, aside from visitors showing up to your blog, how often do they click “Like,” Tweet it, add to their bookmarks? Google wants to know. This past June they added Social Interaction metrics to Google Analytics. Why?

The one big question businesses have about the social side of web marketing pertains to reliable metrics, which Google is attempting to do by quantifying the activity of socially engaged users on your site. Before, you could evaluate this through the events tracking function. The problem, though, was that it lacked consistency, making it difficult rate performance with any real accuracy.

Social Interaction metrics changes that, though, with a consolidated linking of social media performance, which is tracked through the plugins on your site. To further standardize this process, Google partnered with Delicious, Digg, Gigya, Reddit, and several others, as well as with social sharing aggregators AddThis and ShareThis to align themselves for even greater tracking consistency.

Naturally, Google+ is already in the fold. The big three—Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin—are not. Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t track their social activity. Google has a dedicated page for developers that outlines how to manually configure each of these social buttons.

Once this is done and activated, it may take a few days for data to populate, but once it does, there are three basic reports that can be run: the Social Engagement Report, the Social Actions Report, and the Social Pages Report.

The Social Engagement Report contrasts visitors who engaged with the page (shared, bookmarked, liked it) against those who did not. The intent behind this is to determine, of those coming to your site, who’s really engaged with what you have to say.

The Social Actions Report indicates how many visitors clicked on a social sharing button for a page over a set time period. This also allows companies to analyze their content’s performance against criteria such as time spent on the page and demographics, which ultimately are indicators of what’s working on your site and what’s not.

Lastly, there is the Social Pages Report. This provides data on which site pages received the most social sharing activity over a set time span, which will help companies know what content is more valuable to readers versus others.

Keep in mind that if you track e-Commerce in Analytics, there is no tie between this and the new social tracking as of yet. However, it does tell companies which social media platforms their readers are the most active on. This is a big deal when you find out your target customers prefer to utilize Linkedin while you’re running PPC campaigns on Facebook.

Finally, you might be wondering why the social performance of your site’s content is so important, especially if it is performing well otherwise. Google’s goal is to provide users with the best content on the web, and what better criteria is there for doing this then pulling the content that people interacted with the most? So, if people are sharing and tweeting your competitor’s blog posts, and not yours, who do you think people will find first? Who do you think they will want to buy from?

Want to know how to make you content more social?

Contact LyntonWeb for an evaluation of this and all your company’s other social media needs. 877-LYNTONW or info@lytonweb.com