Partner Views Blog

What US & UK Pinterest Users Can Teach About Social Media Marketing?

Timothy Lorang — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

In my last blog I suggested that Pinterest may not be good for your inbound marketing strategy. My main point was not that Pinterest is not a good strategy for inbound marketing but that if your customers are not on Pinterest then it is not a good strategy. On the other hand if your customers are there then Pinterest is a great strategy. The mistake not to make is assuming you know how best to market on a social media platform based on your partial understanding of how it works, who you think would be interested in it, or if you think it is a good idea or not. Look at the statistics and the demographics then decide what would be best.

Pinterest offers a great example of how demographics can be different based on location. By now we know that Pinterest users in the U.S. are overwhelmingly women interested in crafts, fashion and interior design. The United Kingdom has far fewer Pinterest users but it does have the largest group of users outside of the U.S. In the UK the tables are completely turned. Not only are the majority of users men, they make more money than U.S. users and prefer interests such as venture capital, WEB statistics and Public Relations. In fact the interests are more in alignment with U.S. users of LinkedIn according to Google’s Doubleclick Ad Planner. If I were using social media to connect with venture capitalists I would use LinkedIn in the U.S. and Pinterest in the U.K.

The Infographic below from visual.ly compares U.S. and U.K. Pinterest users and has some interesting information for you to ponder over the weekend. The takeaway is do not start your social media strategy until you have studied the social media platform’s demographics and statistics.

The other Pinterest Infographic that has been making the rounds and you may find interesting is: Is Pinterest the Next Social Commerce Game Changer? from monetate. Let me know what you think about Pinterest and how you may be using it.

by visually.

Image Credit: Rugby Pioneershttp://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/78214/What-US-UK-Pinterest-Users-Can-Teach-About-Social-Media-Marketing

Pinterest May Not Be Good for your Inbound Marketing Strategy

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

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In my last blog on whether you should use Pinterest for your inbound marketing plan I mentioned that the platform was made for collectors and that it drives more referral traffic then YouTube, Google Plus and LinkedIn combined. Even with over 21 million users Pinterest may not be the best platform for you. Just because a social media platform has a lot of users and is very successful does not mean that you should use it for your inbound marketing strategy. A personal example would be StumbleUpon. According to shareaholic SutmbleUpon has the second highest traffic referral rates and fairly decent user base of 16 million worldwide users. Indeed, 14% of inbound traffic to my website from social media sites has come from StumbleUpon. Yet I have not received one lead from that traffic. I get less traffic from Twitter and Facebook but more leads. For some reason StumbleUpon and my site just don’t click. That’s fine, I do a lot better on LindedIn with my largest share of traffic and leads coming from organic search. Just because a site is popular does not mean it’s a good fit.

Are your Customers on Pinterest?

If you have a customer profile you know who your customer is and a bit about their needs and habits. Anytime you are considering a new marketing channel take a look at the channel’s demographics. A great free tool for anyone with a Google Account is Google’s Doubleclick Ad. It is designed to help you plan out your Google Adword Campaign but it is invaluable for anyone who is doing a bit of research on a website or social media platform. Since the tool lets you view data by country it is pretty easy to find statistics for your area. Since I live in the United States and 90% of Pinterest users do too we’ll be looking at those demographics. Here are some basic demographics for the U.S. during January 2012:

82% of the visitors were female
61% were between the ages of 18 and 44
85% had schooling beyond High School
69% have an annual income between $25,000 and $75,000

Fairly quickly you should be able to see if your customers are on Pinterest. If your customer profile is teenage boys, male construction workers or professional bankers then Pinterest may not be for you. If your customer profile includes intelligent, middle class women then Pinterest may work out.

Audience Interests

Another piece of information we can glean from DoubleClick Ad Planner are areas of interest. This lists topics that visitors have an affinity for. The affinity score shows how much more likely a visitor to Pinterest is interested in a specific topic as compared to the average internet user. The higher the affinity score the higher the connection between that interest and people who visit Pinterest. What we see is that Pinterest users are interested in these topics:

Fashion Designers & Collections
Fashion & Styles
Crafts
Valentine’s Day
Soups & Stews
Interior Design
Art & Crafts Supplies
Books & Literature
Visual Art & Design
Fiber & Textile Arts

These subjects would seem to support the earlier demographic information in that these topics generally are more appealing to women. This is not to say that men are not on Pinterest. In fact here is a great Pinterest board on Motorcycles from Rob Greenwood. But someone marketing women’s shoes or fashion will have a larger audience than will Harley Davidson.

The other important distinction is that most of these topics are visual and this makes sense for a platform that “pins” images on to a board to share. If you are marketing a service or a business that is not visual then Pinterest may not work. Someone may find tax annuities very useful but it’s hard to get as excited about it as Kate does about boots on her Love affair with boots board.

Pinterest may be a good option if your market is there and you have a product that is visual and would be easy to share. If you don’t think your brand can be visual check out General Electric’s Boards Now I am not saying that if your market is mainly men you should not consider Pinterest, but I am saying that if you sell jewelry to women, you probably should be on Pinterest. For some more examples of brands that are doing a good job on Pinterest look at HubSpot’s blog of 7 Example of Brands that Pop on Pinterest. If you know of some successful uses of Pinterest let me know about them in the comment section below.

As I mentioned before Pinterest is, for now, by invitation only so send me an e-mail if you would like to be invited at tim@imagemediapartners.com.

One final point for marketers. Pinterest has a robust sharing culture that does not encourage blatant marketing. Pay attention to Pinterest etiguette. For more guidance check out this great blog from HubSpot: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Pinterest for Marketing.

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/78112/Pinterest-May-Not-Be-Good-for-your-Inbound-Marketing-Strategy

Should You Use Pinterest for your Inbound Marketing Plan?

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

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For one of the many who just recently found out about Pinterest I find the platform a lot of fun, every interesting and a bit addicting. If you are not familiar with Pinterest it is a lot like keeping a scrap book without bothering with the scissors and paste. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail and explain how it works or how to set up an account; the best place to do that would be Pinterest’s About page. One thing though, you just can’t set up a Pinterest account, you must be invited. If you would like to be invited send me an email at tim@imagemediapartners.com and I’ll invite you to join Pinterest.

Collectors

Unlike Facebook or Twitter, which are about sharing or LinkedIn, which is about Networking, Pinterest is about collecting and that takes a slightly different approach for inbound marketers. In Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff’s book "Groundswell” they define Collectors as those who, “organize content for themselves and others using RSS feeds, tags and voting.” When the book was written in 2008 about 12% of U.S. adults online were collectors. Now, according to Forrester Research, that number is 21% and 35% for women in the 18 to 24 age group. Pinterest was made for collecting at it seems to have attracted the collector demographic. According the latest statistics from Google’s Ad Planner Pinterest has about 21 million users worldwide with the largest group, 19 million users, in the U.S. In the U.S. 70% are women and 61% are between the ages of 18 to 44.

The video below from CNN gives a great overview of how collectors can use Pinterest.

Traffic Driver

Pinterest is growing by leaps and bounds. People spend a lot of time on Pinterest and it is a great place for collectors but why would inbound and online marketers care? The main reason inbound marketers should care is because Pinterest drives traffic. It may not approach the number of referrals as Facebook, the King of Online Referrals, but it does better than YouTube, Google Plus and LinkedIn combined according to research by shareaholic. Since driving traffic to your site is one of the main goals for any inbound marketer then Pinterest should pique your interest. This is not to say that every business should drop everything and pour their resources and time into a Pinterest account but marketers should take a look.

For a bit more information check out The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Pinterest for Marketing and 7 Example’s of Brands that Pop on Pinterest. For a little bit more information on who is on Pinterest read Ignite Social Media’s Pinterest Demographic Data: The Marketers Guide to People Who Pin. For an excellent assessment of Pinterest’s strong and weak points read Monetate’s 5 Reasons Pinterest Works and 4 Weaknesses that May Kill It.

As I mentioned above Pinterest is, for now, by invitation only so send me an e-mail if you would like to be invited at tim@imagemediapartners.com. Let me know below what you think of Pinterest and how it could be a good or poor marketing tool.

Photo Source: Uploaded by user via Pinterest on Pinterest

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/77850/Should-You-Use-Pinterest-for-your-Inbound-Marketing-Plan

The History of Marketing: Where Inbound Marketing Fits [Infographic]

Timothy Lorang — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:08:00 GMT

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This great Infographic on the History of Marketing just came out from HubSpot and I had to share it. My blog has been involved in the various aspects of online marketing, mobile marketing and Inbound Marketing and this Infographic lays out a great timeline on the history of marketing and where Inbound Marketing fits in. Most of the space on this timeline is taken up with the last 90 years because the innovations and technologies of the Twentieth Century have been behind much of the changes in marketing. The last 20 years of the digital age has seen a tremendous number of changes but the last eight or so years has been the Age of Inbound Marketing.

The game changer has been the ability to share information and engage your potential customers on the internet. Providing valuable information, sharing that information via social networks and attracting potential clients to your website is the essence of inbound marketing. This Infographic goes into a lot of detail and I think you’ll enjoy poking around in it a bit.

I want to thank HubSpot for putting this together and giving me an opportunity to share it with you. Image Media Partners has been partnered with HubSpot for the past year and even though they didn’t invent Inbound Marketing, I believe their platform is one of the best ways to implement Inbound Marketing. Enjoy the Infographic and share it with your friends.

History of Marketing Infographic

From: HubSpot Marketing Software

Photo Credit: HubSpot

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/77760/The-History-of-Marketing-Where-Inbound-Marketing-Fits-Infographic

Five Steps to Optimize Web Page for Mobile

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

According to Nielsen’s latest figures on smart phone purchases by US Consumers, Apple’s iPhone 4S is closing the gap on Android. Overall Apple’s operating system now accounts for 30% of all smartphone users as opposed to Android’s 46.3%. The operating system that has been losing ground is the RIM Blackberry with only 14.9% of the market share. This is interesting in itself but I think that the bigger news from Nielsen is, “As of Q42011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly.” Another more revealing study shows that 62% of Mobile Users 25-34 own Smartphones. With the number of people owning smartphones growing and the market pretty much split between Apple and Android there are five very important things you need to do to make your website accessible to mobile smartphones.

Mobile Web Page: Make sure your website is organized to display on a mobile web page. Generally this means your site has Mobile CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) which is HTML code in your header section of your website that looks similar to this:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://domain.tld/mobile.css" type="text/css" media="handheld" />
This is not a technical “How-To” blog so if you are not familiar with CSS and HTML don’t put this code in your header and expect everything to be ok. Check with your webmaster first. If you use a platform such as HubSpot (affiliate notification) then this is taken care of as a default function. Many WordPress themes now come with Mobile CSS and if yours does not there are plenty of plug-ins available. If you like to get under the hood and do your own coding check out Mobile CSS by Sea Breeze Computers and the The 5-Minute CSS Mobile Makeover by Perishable Press. Another good way to check your website is to get a smartphone and look at your webpage and see how it looks.
Meta Viewport Tag: This is a simple code that tells the mobile device how to orient your mobile web page. This is what makes it possible to turn your smart phone at any angle and see the page and it usually looks like this:
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1,user-scalable=no" />
This code should be in your Header HTML but check this function on your smart phone and make sure that it works.
Apple Icons: With nearly 45% of new smartphone buyers choosing iPhones this is a necessary step. This is an icon that allows iPhone and iPad users to add a quick link to your site on their device. You can see our Apple Icon here on the right. If you don’t have an Apple Icon it is a pretty straightforward procedure. First design a 57x57 pixel icon for your web page or business. Make it in the .png format. Upload it to your website’s file manager then add the following link to your Header HTML:
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="http://www.imagemediapartners.com/filename.png" />
Be sure that "/filename.png" is the file name of your new Apple Icon. That is all there is to do.
E-Mail Optimized for Mobile Smart Phones: Along with the rise of mobile and smart phone use is the practice of reading e-mails on a mobile device. If you send e-mails as part of your business’ marketing efforts or if you send e-mail newsletters, make sure that that they can be read on smart phones. The easiest thing to do is to just send text e-mails. If you just need to have a bit of color or some images in your e-mails be sure they are optimized for mobile. The Email.grader.com is a great tool that will show you how your e-mail looks on different devices. Most e-mail programs like MailChimp and Constant Contact now give you the tools and options to optimize your e-mail for mobile devices.
QR Code Marketing: This really has nothing to do with how your website looks on a mobile phone but if you have gone through the work of optimizing your website for mobile phones you might as well encourage people to connect with your site by using QR Codes. If you are interested Image Media Partners provides a free and a professional QRCode Generator and Mobile Web Marketing Platform. You may also find the QR Code Checklist handy.

Remember; if you are not familiar with HTML do not try to change the code without any help. It is best to work with an experienced web designer. The HubSpot platform is already optimized for mobile devices and as a Certified HubSpot partner we highly recommend this platform for any website whose inbound marketing goals are greater web traffic, higher conversions and mobile optimization. Let us know if you would be interested in a free inbound marketing and website analysis.

Photo credit: Tsahi Levent-Levi

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/77105/Five-Steps-to-Optimize-Web-Page-for-Mobile

40 Twitter Management Tips from the Beer & Social Media Group

Timothy Lorang — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

During the past few weeks there have been some interesting discussions on the Beer & Social Media LinkedIn Group on breweries and pubs using Twitter as part of their social media plan. If you are at all associated with beer, wine or spirits and social media you may want to check this LinkedIn group out. They are very active and I’ve found the members to be very helpful. Recently one of the members posted a question about starting and managing a Twitter account for a beer wholesaler and received a lot of great advice. I’m going to try and summarize and list the advice given. Now, this will apply to beer wholesalers, retailers, distributors, breweries, brewpubs, pubs, bars and anyone involved in beer and social media. In fact a lot of this advice will transfer to most other businesses. (For more tips look at my blog: 12 Social Media Restaurant Marketing Tips from The Bowery.)

Follow every brewery, beer brand and pub possible.
Share and tweet interesting information from these breweries, even if they are competitors.
Retweet interesting information from these beer and brewery accounts.
Tweet information that people are interested in.
Promote your beer, brewery or pub but not exclusively, mix it up a bit.
Use Twitter #hashtags.
Put a dot in front of the @ sign like this .@BeerAle, so EVERYONE can see the tweet, if you don’t use the dot only the people who follow you AND the person you mention can see the tweet.
Make one person responsible for Social Media.
Make sure the Social Media person also understands the industry and your brand.
If you promote someone into the Social Media role understand that it takes time, do not expect the person to do their old job AND their new social media job.Expect them to spend at least 12 to 15 hours a week on social media tasks.
Consider making the Social Media position full time. This is part of marketing and public relations and should be treated as an important part of your team.
Don’t consign Social Media to your summer intern. You get what you pay for.
Involve others in the organization by giving them the authority to tweet.
Have social media guidelines for everyone involved in representing the brand.
This is an awesome responsibility so be sure everyone understands and respects the brand and that you trust them with this responsibility.
Have someone responsible to manage the tweets, but don’t micromanage the tweets.
Get smart phones so tweets can be sent from events at any time.
Create an identity for your social media account that is your voice, your brand.
Engage and target your ultimate consumer, the beer drinker.
Educate the consumer about your brand, beer and the industry in general.
Tweet about everything including: new releases, events, happy hours, new taps, samplings, beer festivals, limited releases parties, beer dinners, specials, pint nights….. everything.
Tweet about events and information your followers can use.
Tweet the How, Where and When.
Offer specials in your tweets, e.g. “Show this tweet for $3 pint of Full Sail.”
Offer incentives to follow and Re-Tweet, e.g. “Retweet for $4 pint of Stout.”
Keep the messages short so they are easy to share and retweet.
Encourage retweets.
Make it easy for fans to follow by having a clear link to your Twitter account on your website.
Use your Twitter page, profile and description to promote your brand.
Promote “Follow us on Twitter” at events, locations and on promotional material.
Respond to relevant direct messages about your brand or product.
Monitor your brand on Twitter and respond to mentions, both good and bad.
Respond to negative tweets right away.
Respond to negative tweets in a positive manner.
Monitor subjects related to your brand.
Don’t trash other beers and brands on Twitter.
Don’t trash customers on Twitter.
Don’t complain on Twitter.
Give credit to others on Twitter.
Be nice to your Mother and buy your Dad a beer.

Ok, the last tip was not related to Twitter but a subtle hint to my daughters that they should buy me a beer.

I would like to thank all the members of the Beer & Social Media LinkedIn Group and especially those whose ideas and advice I shamelessly borrowed and included in this list: Charles Osberger of Frankenmuth Brewery; Jeff Simon of Katcef Brothers Inc.; A. Mark McLean; Rachel Curto of Powers Distributing; Mark Sobelman of Beerattitude; Benjamin Moore of Active Beer Geek; Chris M. Jonston, video producer and designer; Jim Teresinski of Social Media Here; Kim Donaldson of Bottlenotes; Michael V. Shamah of The “World Famous” BOWERY; Rania Madanat of Scrumptious Media and many more whose thoughts, ideas and advice have seeped into my sub-conscious. Join all of these great people and a few hundred more at the Beer & Social Media LinkedIn Group.

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/76420/40-Twitter-Management-Tips-from-the-Beer-Social-Media-Group

Do a Social Media Evaluation as Part of Your Website Redesign

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:00:00 GMT

When you consider a website redesign make sure that you do a thorough social media evaluation. A key to inbound marketing, and a critical part of your website, is promotion and getting found. After you create interesting content and optimize the content so that it can be found you need to promote the content. Social media is one of the tools you can use to promote your website and its content but simply putting a “like” button above your blog is not enough. There are three questions you must ask about your plan when doing a social media evaluation:

What channels am I using to promote my website?
Is the traffic from social media sites relevant to my page?
Can people connect with me through social media?
Can visitors easily share my content through social media?

What Channels am I using to promote my website?

The big social media players, at least in North America, are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and now increasingly Google+, but there are many other channels that may be more relevant to you and your page depending upon your location and your demographics. Check out the annual Social Network Analysis Report from Ignite Social Media for very revealing demographic information about social networks around the world. You may find that the people you wish to attract are in a different social network then the one you have been targeting.

Is the traffic from social media sites relevant to my page?

Just as you should be testing your landing pages you should be testing and measuring whether the social media traffic to your site leads to qualified leads. For example you may get a lot of traffic from one social media channel but the visitors may never download your content or become a customer. On the other hand you may get far fewer visitors from another social media channel but more of them become customers. Measures your results and pay more attention to the channels that pay off.

Can people connect with me through social media?

Do you make it easy for visitors to connect with you through social media? Are your “Follow Me” social media buttons easy to find? Do visitors need to search your web page just to follow you on Twitter or visit your Facebook page? Can visitors find your YouTube channel or your Business Google+ page? Don’t hide your social media accounts. Make the “Follow Me” buttons clear and dominate. The best place is in the upper right hand corner of every page. Include the “Follow Me” buttons in your e-mail signature and even on your business cards. Let people know how to connect with you.

Can visitors easily share your content through social media?

We have all seen the “Share This” buttons on websites. Mine is at the top of this blog. Can each of your blogs be easily shared? Do you have “Share This” buttons on other important content on your website? A visitor may want to tell someone else about it, make it easy for them. When someone downloads some premium content such as an eBook or white paper from your website, can they tell others about it? You can easily put a “share this” button in the “thank you” e-mail or even on the eBook itself. Do the “Share This” buttons represent the social media channels where your customers are? Don’t emphasize sharing on Facebook if your potential clients are on LinkedIn.

The social media buttons are often overlooked when doing a website redesign but are an important part of any social media evaluation of your website. What do you think are the important components of your website’s social media strategy? What are you doing to make it easy for others to connect with you on social media and to share your content with others?

If you are considering a website redesign take advantage of Image Media Partner's offer of a free social media marketing evaluation.

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/75964/Do-a-Social-Media-Evaluation-as-Part-of-Your-Website-Redesign

Experiment to Improve Landing Page Conversion Rates

Timothy Lorang — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:37:00 GMT

When you are redesigning your website there are a number of things that affect landing page conversion rates; the color of the call-to-action button on your website, the description of your offer, or if you have a photograph on the landing page or not. The problem is that there is no right or wrong answer on how to improve conversion rates and no master style book that says to do one thing or another. The best course of action is to experiment and try different things. Do more people click a call-to-action button when the button is red or green? Do more people sign up for your newsletter when the sign up form is long or short? Do more people respond to your blog or your newsletter? Do you get more visitors to your offers from Facebook or Twitter? It is important to conduct experiments and try different offers, social media channels, landing pages and calls-to-action to see what works best. Get rid of tactics that don’t work and duplicate those that do work. If one type of offer gets more response then make more offers that are like it and stop making offers that don’t work.

Conduct A-B Experiments

Conduct experiments to see what works best for your website and landing page conversion rates. Do this by setting up two different landing pages or two different calls to action and measuring the difference between them. Do not make the difference too big or you may not be able to tell what made a difference. For example have two landing pages but have one with a picture and one without a picture. Which one performs better? Measure the difference, tweak your pages and try it again. Here are some A-B experiments you may want to try:

Button color and/or size: Try landing pages with different type of buttons. Do you get more conversions with a big, round, red button that says: GET IT NOW! Or a small, square, green button that says: Download?
Form Length: Will more people fill out your form if they need to give lots of information like their phone number, age and address or do you get more conversions with a simple form that asks only for an e-mail address?
Call-to-Action Placement: Do people click the button when it is at the top of the page or the bottom of the page? Does it work better on the left or the right?
Social Media: What social media channels work best? Put the same message in several channels and measure the result. Send out tweets with different calls-to-action then see which one was more effective.
Landing Page: Do people respond to a short direct description of the benefits or does a long, detailed description increase web conversion rates?

Keep experimenting with your website and your landing pages. Your website design is not a once and done deal. Your web pages should evolve and improve over time. It is especially important to experiment and improve website conversion rates. What experiments have you done to measure your conversion rates and what has been successful? Share your examples in the comments section below.

Photo Credit: Library of Congress

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/75691/Experiment-to-Improve-Landing-Page-Conversion-Rates

Increasing your Conversion Rate is the Goal of Your Website Redesign

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:00 GMT

For the past few weeks we have been looking at what to consider when you redesign your website. After the last blog on landing pages it should be evident that increasing your conversion rate, converting a website visitor into a lead, is the main goal of your website. This may mean getting a visitor to sign up for your newsletter, download an e-book, get a coupon, or sign up for a consultation. This is the goal of the process that starts with optimizing your website so that it can be found; providing original content that attracts visitors such as your blog and e-books; promoting the content on your website and through social media; setting up your website so it is easy to navigate and find content; and providing a landing page where in exchange for their e-mail address they get original and valuable content.

If you have more than one offer (and you should have as many offers as possible) you will notice that some offers will have higher web conversion rates than others. In other words one e-book may have a conversion rate of 50%, at least half of the people who visited the landing page signed up to get the e-book, while another e-book only had a conversion rate of 10%. You may notice that some offers get more response when you tweet it and others when it is posted on LinkedIn. There can be a number of reasons for low conversion rates.

What can Affect Website Conversion Rates?

Wrong Offer: Your e-book does not interest the people who are visiting your website. This could be because you are not attracting the right people and you need to change the subject of your blog and offers, or you are not offering what people need. For example, if you are a realtor who specializes in city condos, then posting blogs about suburban homes will not attract the right people.
Wrong Channel: If you sell baby clothes and you post your blogs to LinkedIn, a professional business platform, you may not be targeting your offers to the right group. Think about where your links, tweets, promotions and ads show up and make changes if you are not getting the results you want.
Wrong Landing Page: Are prospects getting to the right landing page? One of the most common mistakes is linking your offers to the wrong page or sending prospects to the home page. For example, if you say “sign up for my mailing list” send them to the landing page to sign up for the mailing list; don’t send them to your home page where they need to search for your mailing list sign up.
Landing Page Is Ineffective: Is it clear what you want the visitor to do when they get to your landing page? Do they understand the benefits if they do what you want? If they follow a link that says: 10 Ways to Save Money on Your Taxes and end up on a page that says: Save Money and Avoid a Tax Audit, they may be confused and leave the page. Be clear and consistent.

When you offer your visitors what they want, connect with them in the right places, and lead them to an effective landing page they will convert. You will be able to connect with them and increase your opportunities to convert them into new customers. Our next blog will discuss how to conduct experiments to improve your conversion rates.

Photo Credit: Jusben-morgueFile Free Photo

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/75690/Increasing-your-Conversion-Rate-is-the-Goal-of-Your-Website-Redesign

Landing Pages and Your Website Redesign

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:00:00 GMT

In the blog, Content Creation is the Focus of Your Website Redesign, we talked about the importance of providing “premium content” that visitors would gladly go through an extra step to access. The extra step takes place on the landing page. Landing pages are what you use to convert your website visitors and capture information so that you can engage with them in the future. Landing pages are vitally important to your website redesign but the landing pages will not show up in your menu and most visitors to your site will not even see them. The landing pages are the pages where you will engage with your visitor, where they will give you information such as their name and e-mail address in exchange for valuable information from you.

A landing page is the place where you turn a website visitor into a lead. Your first offers are not where you turn the visitor into a customer, but it is where you connect with those who may be interested in your business. When you have their e-mail address you can update them about new material on your website that may interest them or tell them about new material that they can download for free. After nurturing the lead you can offer them more information or invite them to become a customer. For example a gym may send an email to someone who has already downloaded two e-books and invite them in for a free exercise and fitness evaluation at the gym. A tax preparation business may offer everyone on their e-mail list a discount for preparing their first tax return.

Landing pages are obviously special pages where the visitors become leads. This is not your home page but a dedicated page with one purpose: offer your visitors premium content in exchange for contact information.

Special Aspects of Landing Pages:

It is a special page where visitors go to get premium content such as an e-book or white paper.
Leave out any website navigation; you do not want to distract the visitor from filling out the form.
Keep the description of the offer clear, simple, and concise. For example one company found that they had a 32% conversion rate with a longer description and form and increased their conversion rate to 53% when they made the description and form shorter.
Keep the form above the fold.
To maximize efficiency, consider these questions:
- How fast can you launch a new landing page?
- Can one person prepare the page in 15 minutes?
- What is the cost of experimentation?
- The form should capture just enough information to engage the visitor, at least their name and e-mail address.
- After filling out the form the visitor should be able to download the content and receive a thank you.
- Promote landing pages with Call-to-Action buttons on your website and through social media.

Landing pages are where the magic happens; they are the gateway to your conversion offers that create engaged and interested leads. Make sure you can grab their attention with an interesting offer, but also coherently explain what you are offering through the landing page! For more information about redesigning your website download our free e-book: Website Redesign for Small Businesses and Sole Proprietors: 7 easy steps to make your website more effective.

Photo Credit: NASA

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/73530/Landing-Pages-and-Your-Website-Redesign

Content Creation is the Focus of Your Website Redesign

Timothy Lorang — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:10:00 GMT

In my last blog I said that your blog should be the focus of your website redesign. This is because new content is what attracts visitors to your website and a blog is the easiest way to make new content. Content creation is not limited to blogs; it can also be in the form of written material, video or slides easily seen by any visitor to your website. All website content attracts visitors and increases your search engine authority and keyword ranking.

Original Content Formats

Blogs
Podcasts
Presentations (slides)
News Releases
Video (YouTube)
Photos (flickr)
Slide Shows
Check Lists
How To Guides
Recipes
eBooks
White Papers
Webinars
Infographics

Often this information will be so valuable that the visitor will willingly go through an extra step to get the information. We often call this “premium content” and it is one of the keys to inbound or permission based marketing and should be one of the keys to your website redesign. The goal of your blog is to attract visitors to your website who are interested in your content. The goal of the “premium content” is to attract visitors who are very interested in what your business has to offer so that they will go through an extra step to get the content. When they go through this extra step they will show you, the business owner, that they are interested, that they are a qualified lead. This will give you an opportunity to give them more information and content. You can then nurture them into becoming a new customer. The way that this happens is your visitor will go to a special page we call a “Landing Page” where in exchange for information such as their name and e-mail address, your visitor can download the “premium content.”

Before we get to landing pages it is important to create “premium content” that people will go through an extra step to access. For example, you may be a tax preparation service who helps small businesses prepare their annual and quarterly tax forms. You can prepare a series of short guides and check lists for businesses to make sure they have the right material ready for their accountants at tax time. You may be a gym that specializes in helping people get back into shape and may publish eBooks such as: “5 Ways to start a new exercise routine,” or “How to safely begin weight training after an operation.” A restaurant’s premium content may be a mailing list for special events such “invitation only” wine tastings or new menu updates. What information do you have that your potential customers need? What information can you provide in exchange for your potential customer’s name and e-mail address? That information will be the basis for your “premium content.”

Your website should be set up so it is easy to build landing pages so it is easy to publish and promote new premium content. In our next blog we will go into more details about landing pages. For more information about redesigning your website download our free e-book: Website Redesign for Small Businesses and Sole Proprietors: 7 easy steps to make your website more effective.

Photo Credit: Smithsonian Institution

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/73528/Content-Creation-is-the-Focus-of-Your-Website-Redesign

A Blog Should be the Focus of Your Website Redesign

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:00:00 GMT

In recent blogs we have been discussing whether you should redesign your website. I pointed out that if you do redesign your website you should incorporate inbound marketing because fancy websites do not attract traffic. When you redesign your website you should keep your assets safe by taking an inventory of your website to help maintain links and traffic. In my most recent blog I said that simplicity trumps flashy graphics. Remember, search engines cannot tell what color your website is and people do not link their website to yours because you have a fancy flash introduction. Search engines look for relevant content and people link to your website because there is valuable content on your site. Valuable content is the number one way to drive traffic to your website and should be your number one priority when redesigning your website. It is important to remember that getting valuable content on your website is not a onetime project but a continuing process. Your website redesign should focus on how to continue to add new content over time and the best way to add new content over time is with a blog.

The Importance of a Blog

The easiest way to add new content to your website is with a blog. Blogs accomplish several tasks at once:

Blogs add content over time, this keeps your content fresh and search engines and people like new, fresh content.
New content builds up over time giving your website more content that can be searched.
Individual blogs can be optimized to target one keyword making it easier to find the blog and your website through search engines.
Blogs can address specific questions or issues that may be important to your potential customers.
Other websites are more likely to link to valuable content on a blog giving your website more authority.
It is easy to promote a new blog posting through social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Blogs attract more traffic and visitors than static websites.
Blogs can lead potential customers to your products, services and solutions.
Websites with blogs can better show expertise by demonstrating knowledge.
It is easier to convert visitors to leads through blogs and calls to action in the blogs.

In addition websites with blogs attract 55% more visitors than websites without blogs and businesses with blogs get 97% more inbound links than do businesses without blogs. Original content is your website’s messenger; it will inform your prospects on what you do, and how passionately you do it. With a vast array of formats to create content on, you should always be continuously contributing original content to keep your prospects engaged and constantly interacting with your website. For more information about redesigning your website download our free e-book: Website Redesign for Small Businesses and Sole Proprietors: 7 easy steps to make your website more effective.

Photo Credit: George Eastman House

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/73527/A-Blog-Should-be-the-Focus-of-Your-Website-Redesign

In Your Website Redesign Simplicity Trumps Flash

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:00:00 GMT

When you are redesigning your website you need to pay attention to why you are redesigning your site, you need to pay attention to inbound marketing and you need to guard your website’s valuable assets. You will also need to resist the temptation of making your homepage too flashy. The homepage is the first page most people see when they go to your website. Many web designers advocate a flashy, interactive homepage to entice and dazzle the visitor. In reality simplicity always trumps flash. Think about the last time you went to the hardware store to buy some screws. How would you have reacted if when entering the store, lights started flashing, an animated spokeswoman started telling you how great the hardware store was and someone ran up to you asking you to fill out a form to win an iPad? If you didn’t see the screws on your way out of the store you probably would have bought them at another store. Think about why someone would come to your website and what you can do to help them find what they need. Think like your customers.

When someone lands on your homepage it must be clear what you do and it must be clear what you want the person visiting your site to do. Simplicity is really more important than design or fancy tricks. If your visitor cannot find what they want they will leave. Put everything that is important above the fold, which means at the top part of the page so they do not have to scroll to find it. Do you want them to see your products? Make it easy to find your products. Do you want people to read your blog? Put a link at the top of the page. Do you want them to follow you on Facebook? Do not hide the Facebook icon. Do you have a free giveaway or do you want them to sign up for a newsletter? Make it clear what you want your visitors to do.

Keep Website Redesign Simple

According to a survey done by HubSpot on consumers using websites these were the most important factors in website design:

76% - The website makes it easy for me to find what I want.
10% - The website has a beautiful appearance
9% - The website offers a cutting edge interactive experience
5% - Other

Your homepage is the face of your services or products. You only get one chance to impress that visitor, so make sure you carefully place the essentials you want them to know on your homepage. It should also act as a launching platform to places where they can contact you in the future, for example there should be links to your blog and social media accounts. For more information about redesigning your website download our free e-book: Website Redesign for Small Businesses and Sole Proprietors: 7 easy steps to make your website more effective.

Photo Credit: New York Public Library

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/73525/In-Your-Website-Redesign-Simplicity-Trumps-Flash

When You Redesign Your Website Keep Your Assets Safe

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:00:00 GMT

Recently we have been considering website redesign. It is important to be sure you are redesigning your website for the right reasons and that you should take into consideration the goals of inbound marketing. I had also mentioned that many businesses are alarmed after a website redesign to discover that web traffic actually goes DOWN and their ranking on web searches dramatically DECREASES. A lot of these troubles are caused because the website’s assets were not safeguarded.

No matter how bad you think your old website may be, if it has been around for any length of time, or if you have any recurring visitors or customers, the site has built up some search engine authority. Rebuilding a new site may break links, cause you to loose search ranking, or loose current customers. It is vitally important to safeguard your website’s assets such as content, inbound links, keyword rankings, and conversion tools that you have used to build a strong web presence. In order to preserve your web presence you must keep track of these assets to insure that they are all transferred to the new site during the redesign process.

It is important to take an inventory of your website’s assets and ensure that they are properly transferred to your new site. For example if someone links to your website using the URL “http://www.yourwebsite.com/product-one” and in your new design you move that content to “http://www.yourwebsite.com/new-products-three” the old link will be broken and you will have lost the value of the link. If one of your pages was optimized for the keyword “widgets” and you put in new content that has nothing to do with “widgets” you will lose that keyword ranking. You may need to rebuild the pages with the same URL and keyword strategy or at the very least redirect the old URLs to the new pages. Survey all your current web pages to be sure you know their value.

Your Website’s Asset Check List

Determine how many pages you have.
Figure out which pages are most popular/powerful.
Determine how many inbound links you have.
Establish where these links are coming from.
Look up what interior pages have inbound links.
Figure out which inbound links are most popular/powerful.
Determine what keywords you rank for before the move.
Figure out which keywords are most effective.

If you do not fully understand the importance and practice of proper SEO, doing a web design can be more damaging than helpful. If you do not feel comfortable around SEO work, it may be best to hire a specialist to perform the redesign so all the hard work you have put into making a web presence does not disappear. If you have not been tracking your website assets such as inbound links and keyword ranking you may want to incorporate that into your new web design. It may also be time to contact a professional to set you up with a system that can track these metrics if you don’t already have a system in place.

For more information about redesigning your website download our free e-book: Website Redesign for Small Businesses and Sole Proprietors: 7 easy steps to make your website more effective.

Photo Credit: The Library of Congress

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/73521/When-You-Redesign-Your-Website-Keep-Your-Assets-Safe

Redesign Your Website for Inbound Marketing

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

In Monday’s blog I asked “Should You Redesign Your Website?” and pointed out that many people redesign their websites for the wrong reasons. Many businesses worry more about how the website looks rather than how the website functions. In fact in the past, many websites were just an online brochure, a place to put your phone number and business hours. Brochures needed to catch someone’s attention because they needed to compete against all the other brochures on the table but a pretty brochure doesn’t show up on internet search engines. Redesigning your website with flashy graphics, the latest colors and arresting font designs will not increase traffic to your website. I am not saying that people will not find your site pleasing or interesting with the new graphics and colors, I am saying that people will not find your new website through search engines if your concept of website redesign is only about the “look.” You need to redesign your website thinking about its functions; about how it performs using Inbound Marketing.

Small and sole proprietor businesses that do not have large marketing budgets realize that they need to be smarter about attracting new customers to their websites. In order for websites to be successful they must be functional and achieve their goal of attracting traffic and converting customers. Many businesses waste time and money redesigning their websites with the wrong goals in mind. When you redesign your website with inbound marketing goals in mind you approach the task in a completely different way. Inbound marketing is any marketing tactic that relies on earning people’s interest instead of buying it. This means that your website’s redesign should be concerned about getting found and converting your site visitors into leads and customers.

A website redesign using the concepts of inbound marketing should:

Insure that your Website’s Assets are In Order and Safe: This means protecting keyword authority that you have earned, your inbound links and your premium content.
Formatting your Homepage: Make a great first impression by focusing on the functionality of your homepage. Can people find the content they want? Can they get in touch with you? Will they do what you want them to do on your homepage?
Focus on Continuous Original Content that Attracts and Converts: Creative and original content is the most powerful way of attracting and retaining website visitors. This means a blog that is easy to use and update as well as premium content.
Formatting Your Landing Pages: Design compelling landing pages so visitors will be more willing to give away their contact information for your content offerings. Your redesign should take into account the need to quickly add and update offers and content.
Conduct Conversion Experiments: Make constant adjustments to landing pages by experimenting with their layout and formatting. Your website should make it easy to do A-B testing of pages and calls-to-action and to make updates and changes when needed.
Review Your Metrics on Visitors and Leads: Set up a system to measure the metrics of your website so you can reproduce successful campaigns, and scrap failing ones.

It is possible to be smarter and spend less while building a website that attracts traffic and converts new customers. This can be achieved by abandoning old concepts of marketing and adopting new techniques designed to work with the way people now work, live and shop on the internet. For more information about redesigning your website download our free e-book: Website Redesign for Small Businesses and Sole Proprietors: 7 easy steps to make your website more effective.

Photo Credit: IMLS Digital Collections & Content

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/73519/Redesign-Your-Website-for-Inbound-Marketing

Should You Redesign Your Website?

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Small businesses often spend a lot of time and money redesigning their website only to be frustrated to find that web traffic does not increase and they do not get new customers. In fact many are alarmed to discover that web traffic actually goes DOWN after their website has been redesigned and their ranking on web searches dramatically DECREASES. Many businesses discover that their fancy new flash intro to their website does not increase conversions and the new logo does not seem to attract new customers. A big reason for the disappointing results can be found in the reasons why a business determines to redesign their website in the first place. Making an ugly website pretty does not automatically make the website more effective. The first question you need to ask is why do you want to redesign your website?

Wrong Reasons for a Website Redesign

We have to have a new look and feel.
It’s been 12 months since our last redesign.
The boss wants to do it.
The old site is ugly.
The site looks too static, we want moving graphics and flash to attract people.

Right Reasons for a Website Redesign

We want to get found by more prospects.
We want to convert more prospects into leads and eventually customers.
We want to improve our branding. (This is only appropriate if oriented around one of the previous reasons.)

Most people are soon disenchanted with their new website redesign.

The excitement you will have from a complete renovation of your website will be short lived.
Once you have visited your site repeatedly, the excitement of a new website will turn into boredom.
Complete website renovation is even worse for users.
Users are accustomed to the constancy of the old website.
Users need time to adjust, causing them more confusion.
Links to your website will be broken and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your old site may be lost causing you to not show up on search results.
Search engines do not “see” beautiful sites they only “see” content
No one will notice how beautiful or fancy your site is if they can’t find it.

Misguided reasons for redesigning your website are driven by the thought that the freshness and “wow factor” of a new website will increase excitement over your brand. The main motivations behind website renovations should be to improve the performance of your website. A beautiful website, although intriguing and aesthetically pleasing, is secondary to a functional traffic and lead generating website.

For more information about redesigning your website download our free e-book: Website Redesign for Small Businesses and Sole Proprietors: 7 easy steps to make your website more effective.

Photo Credit: The Library of Congress

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/73443/Should-You-Redesign-Your-Website

Vocalyze Your Blog with Text to Speech Technology

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Recently I added the Vocalyze widget to my web site. This is a bit of text-to-speech streaming technology that translates my written blog into an audio stream. You can see it on the right side of this page, it’s the little toucan icon under the words “Vocalyze It.” Give it a try; just click the link that says “Listen to blog articles.”

I was a bit skeptical at first. I thought it may sound too robotic. I thought if I was going to have an audio version of my blog I should just record my own blogs and post the audio files. I thought I didn’t have time to install and deal with one more thing on my website. But then I got a message from my friend Sindi Lindberg telling me that I should try Vocalyze, that she listens to blogs in the car and it is great. So I thought I would give it a try and this is what I learned.

Easy installation: I use HubSpot for my website and Vocalyze is one of the standard widgets. All I had to do was choose Vocalyze in the App Marketplace then cut and paste some HTML code into a content module. The instructions were very clear and straight forward and it took just a few minutes and it was done. You can visit the Vocalyze website to get the HTML code for the widget and install it on your website. If you have Wordpress you can download the Vocalyze WordPress plugin here.

Easy to use: If you are listening to this now you already know how easy it is to use. A reader just clicks the link and the player is launched. Not only that but all of my blogs are now ready to play.

Sounds Good: All right, I don’t think I would want to listen to Shakespeare on Vocalyze, but I’m not Shakespeare, I’m just a blog, and the voice-to-text, while a little mechanical, sounds great. The voices used alternate between and man and a woman’s voice to give some variety while you are listening.

iPhone and Android Apps: Listeners can download apps for their mobile devices and listen anywhere. They can add your blog to their favorites and listen to new material whenever you update your blog. Download the iPhone App here, or the Android App here.

Variety for Listeners: I doubt if anyone would install an app just to listen to my blog. However, when they install the Vocalyze app they can choose content from over a dozen categories including News, Sports, Business, Technology, Food & Wine and the Weather. The content sources include CNN News, Mother Jones, The New Yorker, the Onion, Sports Illustrated, NY Times Business, Huffington Post, Mashable, National Geographic, Food Network, CQ and hundreds more.

Listen to Twitter: You can even program your favorite twitter streams to listen to Vocalyze while you are on the go.

The fact is that I was never going to get around to recording all of my blogs and even if I did no one would have taken the time to download my audio files and put it in their playlist between Martha Steward and the Wall Street Journal. Now maybe they might. Try it on your blog and give it a test. If you don’t have a blog then download the app or go to Vocalyze and find out more. You can add Image Media Partners’ blog to your favorites list at Vocalyze Content Suggestions.

Tell me what you think in the comments section below; I’ll be interested in hearing what you think.

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/72256/Vocalyze-Your-Blog-with-Text-to-Speech-Technology

Why we do Inbound Marketing instead of Outbound Marketing

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Regular readers of Partner Views Blog know that we are proponents of Inbound Marketing as opposed to Outbound Marketing. In fact a major part of what we do with our clients is helping them set-up and manage the different aspects of Inbound Marketing. We do much of this through the HubSpot inbound marketing platform, managing social media and mastering new technologies such as QRCodes and mobile web pages. One of the main reasons we do it is because inbound marketing cost 62% less per lead then traditional outbound marketing. It is something a small business or organization can master and succeed at without a large upfront budget and it is easy to track success and manage.

Recently Voltier Digital published a great infographic illustrating the difference between Inbound and Outbound Marketing. This chart outlines if a few illustrations why I think inbound marketing is so valuable for any business. Take a look and let me know what you think.

If you would like to know more about Inbound Marketing and what Image Media Partners can do contact us for a free inbound marketing evaluation. Let us know what you think of the infographic in the comments below.

Contact
Image Media Partners

for a free

Inbound Marketing

Analysis.

Learn about

QR Codes and

Mobile Web Pages

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/71766/Why-we-do-Inbound-Marketing-instead-of-Outbound-Marketing

The Social Mom and Mobile Marketing

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT

A recent study Nielsen did for Women of Tomorrow highlighted the growing influence women have on purchasing decisions. The fact that women control the majority of purchasing decisions in a household is not surprising to anyone who has ever been married but online marketers should pay close attention to this group’s online and social media habits. Nielsen defines a “Social Mom” as females with at least one child who actively participates in social networking, and they are quite influential.

Habits of the Social Mom

50% of all moms access social media via mobile devices. This is in comparison to 37% of the overall population in general.

Moms are 56% more likely to download coupons than general population. They are also more likely to purchase Consumer Package Goods (CPG) products online and 86% more likely to purchase cosmetics online.

Moms are 81% more likely to become a fan of a brand. Social Moms are very active online in social media groups and are 86% more likely to post a status update and 84% more likely to comment or post content online.

Message to online and mobile marketers

Social Moms are highly engaged online and use mobile devices such as smartphones to both do research and shop. 38% of Americans own a smartphone while 50% of Social Moms use their smartphones to access social media. Social Moms are twice as likely to download coupons than as the general population. When faced with such strong social habits it is clear why Macy’s invested so much into their Macy’s Backstage Pass campaign this past spring and fall. When shoppers scanned the QR Code inside the Red Star a :30 second video was delivered to their mobile phone with fashion inspiration, advice and tips by celebrity experts such as Sean “Diddy” Combs, Tommy Hilfiger, and Jessica Simpson. In addition shoppers also had a chance to win daily shopping sprees worth up to $500.

As businesses that depends on the purchasing decisions made by the Social Mom you need to seriously think about your marketing campaign. You need to have an online presence that includes Facebook, mobile ready web pages and deals and coupons that can be downloaded unto your customer’s mobile smartphones. You can reach them through instant text messaging programs and through QR Codes. When you do a QR Code campaign take a page from Macy’s play book. Don’t ask them to “like” your Facebook page, give them something valuable that will make them want to come back and get engaged.

Are you trying to reach the Social Mom? What are you doing to reach her? Tell me about your ideas and what you are trying to do in the comments section below. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Photo Credit: J. Walter Thompson

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/71765/The-Social-Mom-and-Mobile-Marketing

A 10 Step Guide to Making Your Own Google Map

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:00:00 GMT

In my last blog: Getting the most out of Google Business Maps I told you about some ideas for making a Google business map. Here are the nuts and bolts of what to do.

Sign up for a Google Account: I know this is a bit obvious but if you don’t have a Google Account set one up now, it’s free.
Select “Maps” tab: This should be in the upper left side of your browser.
Select “My Places” button: This is in the upper left just under the “Google” logo. This is where you also find your maps after you create them.
Select the red “CREATE MAP” button: Give your map a distinct title and description. This will be viewable by the public so do a good job. Under the description box you can choose to make the map “public” or “unlisted.” Choose “public” and select the “Done” button above and to the right of the “Title” box.
Edit the Map: Select the “Edit” button for the map you just made. In the upper left hand corner of the map you will notice 3 icons: The “hand” lets you navigate around the map; the “marker” pinpoints locations; and the “drawing tool” lets you make lines, shapes or draw along roads. This is great if you want to show directions.
Add Businesses: Search the map for locations and businesses as you would normally in Google Maps. To add a business to your map select one of the business on the left that resulted from your Google Search. When you select the listing a white box pointing to the business will show up on the map. Along the bottom of the box will be links for “Directions,” “Search nearby” “Save to map” and “more.” Select “Save to Map” and pick the map you want to save this location to from the drop down box. Then click “Save.” A blue location marker will now appear on the business location. Do this for as many business as you want on your map.
Add Locations: To add a location that is not a business click the blue location icon in the upper left and drag it onto the map and place it where ever you like. Once you have a location a dialogue box will open where you can give the location a title and a description. In the description you can enter the information in “plain text,” “Rich Text,” or “Edit HTML.” When you choose “Rich Text” you can format the letters and include URL Links. This is where you will have the opportunity to link back to your web site or to any URL you choose. You can also change the default “Location Icon” by selecting the icon in the upper right hand corner of the dialogue box. When you are finished select “OK” in the bottom right corner.
Edit Business Description: After you’ve entered in a business simply select the listing in the left hand panel while in the “edit” mode. You will get a dialogue box where you can change the title and enter in a description just as you were able to do in step 7. Again, you have the opportunity to ad in hyperlinks back to your web site and descriptions. On the bottom half of the dialogue box you will see “Place details.” By selecting “Edit” on the right you can edit the details of the business listing.
Finish: Simpley select the “Done” button in the upper left side and your work is saved.
Share and Post: In the upper right corner of your bowser you will see icons to print the map, e-mail it or link to it. When you select the link icon you have the option of selecting the URL, a short URL, or the HTML code to embed the map in your website like this:

View Weddings by the Sea Locations in a larger map

Once you are finished you will have a customized map for your website and a link like this: http://g.co/maps/5hcp7, that you can e-mail, post to Facebook or tweet to your followers. You can change it and update it when you need to and best of all its free courtesy of Google. If you want more information visit Google's Map User Guide.

What are some uses you can think of for this application? Let me know in the comments section below and send me examples of your maps.

Download your free copy of "Claiming your Google Places"

You can link QR Codes to maps. Find out more:

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/71364/A-10-Step-Guide-to-Making-Your-Own-Google-Map

Getting the most out of Google Business Maps

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:00:00 GMT

Most businesses now know that they should be listed on Google Places so they turn up on Google map searches. If you haven’t already claimed your Google Places you can download my guide: Claiming your Google Places. But that is not all you can do with Google Maps to help promote your business. For example you can make a map that pinpoints multiple businesses or locations, and then embed on your website, link to it on Facebook or Twitter, or send it in an email. The best part is you can edit the description of the map’s locations that can include links back to your website.

Why would you make a special Google Business Map?

I’ve been building Google Maps for a while but the full power of what can be done has only just started to dawn on me. While I realize that this may not be valuable for every business any business that operates in multiple locations or interacts with other businesses will find this useful.

Promoting Multiple Business Locations: If you have a business with multiple locations Google Places requires that you make a separate listing for each location. On a Google Map you can make one map that has all of your business locations. Embed this on your website so everyone knows the locations of all your businesses. I am starting a project with an amateur sports league and we will be building a Google Map with the locations of all the fields the league uses.

Multiple Location Events: Recently I was working on a fund raiser with a community health clinic where for one day over twenty restaurants and bars were donating their profits to the clinic. We made a Google Map that listed all of the businesses, then made a QR Code that linked to the map. This QR Code was then printed on posters and table tents so participants could get the map of all the participating locations on their mobile phone.

Working with Multiple Businesses: My newest client, Weddings by the Sea, performs weddings in Ocean Shores, WA but they don’t have a chapel. Rather, they perform ceremonies at several beach locations as well as at different hotels, resorts and inns around Ocean Shores. When I set up their map I pinpointed each location. In the description for each location I included important information, described what ceremonies they could perform and put links back to the website.

What makes this possible is that when you are in the edit mode you have the option of entering “plain text,” “rich text,” or “HTML.” Chose “rich text” and you can format the text and but in hyperlinks. This gives you an location on Google to connect back to your website while giving your customers valuable information about your services. In my next blog I’ll give some step by step directions for making Google Business Map for your web site. If you have some ideas or examples of your own maps tell us about them in the comments section below.

Photo Credit: Cohdra-MorgueFile free photo

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/71260/Getting-the-most-out-of-Google-Business-Maps

Does your QR Code go to a Mobile Site?

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:00:00 GMT

One of the frustrations that often come up concerning QR Codes is after someone scans the code the link does not lead to a useful page. Many people will link their code to their website, often their home page, while others will link to their personal contact information or to a social media page like Facebook. This strategy can be a bit limiting. For example, if the code only links to your Facebook page the QR Code serves no purpose after the person has scanned the code and “liked” you on Facebook. If the QR Code is linked to your home page what do you want people to do when they get there? Is your home page optimized for a mobile device? Even if it looked great on a mobile device it may not be an effective landing page.

Treat Your Mobile Site as A Landing Page

QR Codes are part of your total marketing plan and you should treat your mobile webpage like a landing page. Ask yourself what you want someone to do after they scan the code. At the same time ask yourself why someone would scan the code in the first place. For example we know from research on QR Code usage that 87% of consumers would scan a code to get a coupon, 63 % to enter a sweepstakes and 63% access additional information. People will not scan the code for the novelty of it.

Mobile landing pages are very similar to any landing page:

Make the call-to-action clear: Let people know what will happen if they scan the code. They can get a coupon, they can enter a contest, they can get information, or they can sign up for a newsletter. Be creative.
Make the mobile page clear and simple: People will be looking at this on their phone so this is no time to get fancy. Keep the text to a minimum and the graphics simple. Have clear, easy to navigate buttons that lead to the desired action.
The mobile landing page is a link: Normally landing pages serve one function such as sign up for this or download that. It may not be practical to make new QR Codes for each new function so keep your mobile landing page dynamic and flexible. It’s not too difficult to put a couple of functions on the mobile page, such as “Get Coupon,” “Click to Dial Phone,” “Like us on Facebook,” or “Play Video.” In this way you can update the coupon or the video without redoing the QR Code and building a new mobile landing page.

The important thing is to think what you want people to do after they have scanned your code. I have a few Mobile Web Page and QR Code Campaign examples I made on a new platform that is now available through Image Media Partners. If you don’t give people a reason to scan your QR Code they may not scan your second QR Code.

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/70431/Does-your-QR-Code-go-to-a-Mobile-Site

10 Ways to Use Mobile Videos with QR Codes

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:00:00 GMT

The main job of the QR Code is to bring someone, such as your potential customer, from the physical world to the online world. In my blog “30 or more Uses for QR Codes in Marketing” I talked about many of the ways you can use QR Codes. One very powerful tool you can use with QR Codes is mobile phone videos. You can link directly to a YouTube video for example or to a mobile landing page with an embedded mobile video or a link to a mobile video. The big advantage of linking to a mobile landing page is that you can update or change the mobile video when needed. Here is my list of what kind of mobile videos your QR Code could link to.

Real estate: The QR Code on a realtor’s sign or house listing could link to a mobile video or a slide show that showcases the house. Has the house been sold? Change the mobile video to highlight a similar house for sale in the neighborhood.
Movie and Play Poster: Link to the movie trailer. Local or community theaters could shoot a short scene or musical number from the play to feature for the mobile phone video.
Product Reviews: Has your product been reviewed by a video blogger online? Link your QR Code to the review. Online product reviews are very popular for wines, beers, restaurants, software, and technology products.
Bands: A QR Code on your poster can link to your latest music video or live performance. Your next letter to a booking agent can feature a QR Code linking to a mobile video featuring your band’s live performance.
How to Videos: Do you have a “How To” video for your product? Put the QR Code on the packing slip and link your customer directly to the video.
Fashion Show: Bring fashions to life in your mail-order catalogue or ad so potential buyers can see the clothes on live models.
Product Demonstrations: Use an in store QR Code that shows the buyer on their mobile phone how the product is used. Show the fly rod in action or the benefits of that nifty kitchen utensil.
Product Information: Present a video background of your product. Imagine if the QR Code on the bottle of wine went to a mobile video of the vintner in the field talking about the grape that made the wine you are now drinking. He could also make other recommendations for other wines. In another example the president of the company can give their personal guarantee for the product the customer is now holding.
Car and Motorcycle Dealers: Not only can you show the vehicle in action you can show safety and driving features as only a video can.
Cooking Shows and Recipes: Take advantage of the popularity of cooking shows and with a cooking show about your ingredient. How about a restaurant who’s chef gives cooking tips from a QR Code in an ad or on the menu?

Use the video to give information, add value or to close the sale. Be sure to give a call to action such as buying the product, visiting the website or signing up for more information. Reward those who watched the mobile video with a coupon or a special deal. Remember, the beauty of QR Codes is that you can update the information without changing the code as long as you link to a dedicated mobile landing page. Have you sold out of a particular product or made updates? Tell the customer about the new features or upgrade and direct them to take action.

It is best to remember that people will be watching the video on their mobile phones. Keep the mobile video short so it is easy to load onto the phone. Don’t make it too complex and keep the audio simple, they probably will not be watching this in their living room with a great sound system. Be sure the mobile video is optimized for a mobile device. A good starting point would be a 640 x 480 .mp4 or .wmv file. By all means test the video on several mobile phones and see how it plays.

How are you using mobile video and QR Codes? What has been the response? Tell us what you are doing and put some links below in the comments section.

Photo Credit: Rivera Gallery Artist

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http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/68503/10-Ways-to-Use-Mobile-Videos-with-QR-Codes

Riding the QR Code Technology Wave

Timothy Lorang — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Since I started blogging about QR Codes I am often asked how long will QR Codes last? This is usually followed by what will replace QR Codes? What the person usually wants to know is should they invest any effort in QR Codes? Why don’t they wait for the replacement for QR Codes? I don’t pretend to be a fortune teller and predicting the future of any technology is usually a risky business. Take for example IBM Chairman Tomas Watson’s famous missed prediction when he said in 1943, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” There are however, ways to look at a technology’s life cycles and make an educated guess on the potential of a new technology.

The Technology Lifecycle

All technologies have a lifecycle. They are invented or born, grow, mature then fade off and die. The lifecycle may be very long, for example the automobile is over 120 years old, while other technologies can be very short. The lifecycle of many technologies, especially those based in software, can be very short while some technologies never really get off the ground and never mature. The typical technology lifecycle, as defined by Everett Rogers, a sociologist who coined the term “early adopter,” has five distinctive life stages:

Bleeding Edge: When a technology is new and hasn’t demonstrated its value. Early adopters who pick the right technology can win big while those who make the wrong choice will lose. Everyone talks about how they wished they backed Apple in the early days while no one mentions Kaypro.
Leading Edge: The technology has proven itself and is rising in the marketplace. It may be difficult to find knowledgeable personnel and solutions to implement and support the technology.
State of the Art: This is the mature stage of the technology; it works and is accepted as the right solution. This is when most people are using the technology.
Dated: The technology is still good and robust but a replacement leading edge technology is readily available. The early adapters will abandon the technology for the newest thing while late adaptors will be hanging on.
Obsolete: The technology has been replaced by the new State of the Art technology and the only ones sticking to the old technology are the Laggards.

The Lifecycle of QR Codes

It is often hard to identify each of these stages until after the technology has become obsolete. In fact one of the dangers is for early adaptors to assume the exponential growth of the technology will continue when, in fact, it always peeks and declines. How fast this happens is different for each technology but it does happen. If I were to assign a stage for QR Codes I would say we were leaving stage one and moving into stage two. My optimism for QR Codes is based on:

QR Codes solve the problem of getting users from the physical world to the online world.
The technology needed to make QR Codes functional, Smartphones, is rapidly moving into the State of the Art stage.
QR Codes are platform agnostic, any QR Code Reader application can read QR Codes on iPhones, Androids or BlackBerries.
Once people and marketers learn to use them they are an easily deployed solution.

When I think of Technology Lifecycles I think of waves and a surfer sitting on his board waiting for the next wave to ride. By experience and intuition the surfer needs to determine if the next surge will turn into a wave that can be ridden or to wait for the next one. The surfer has to make a decision to catch the wave or wait. If they catch the wrong wave they will wipe out and may miss the perfect wave. If they wait for the perfect wave they may miss an opportunity for some perfectly good rides and if they are overly cautious the sun will set while they are still sitting on their board.

Where do you think we are on the QR Code Technology Wave? Are you going to be an early adaptor or wait for the next technology? I would like to hear what you think. Let me know in the comments below.

Photo Credit: flickr Creative Commons: Opals-On-Black

Download our FREE information sheet and quidelines for QR Codes.

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/68500/Riding-the-QR-Code-Technology-Wave

Beyond Google for Local Internet Marketing

Timothy Lorang — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:00:00 GMT

During the past couple of weeks I’ve been mining data from The Social Media Report, Q3 2011 by The Nielson Company. We’ve been looking at data that shows us why we should have a Social Media Marketing Plan, why we should pay attention to our Customer’s Profile, and some Hot Trends in Mobile Social Media. The report also shows us why we need to pay attention to our local internet marketing. According to Nielsen’s study 60% of Smartphone owners have downloaded Social Networking Apps and 55% have downloaded Map, Navigation and Search Apps. The most valued feature on a Smartphone is the GPS device. This means that Active Social Media Users are using the location tools in their smartphones to find local businesses and to tell others in their social networks about them. For example when an Android user selects the maps function and searches for “coffee” (one of six standard searches along with Restaurants, Bars, Attractions, ATM’s and Gas Stations) they get a listing of the coffee shops listed in Google Places near their location. When they click on the listing they can get directions, call, add a photo, rate and review it, share it or look for another business. This information alone should prompt every location based business to claim their Google Places but is there anything else they can do? As it turns out even though Google is the most popular search engine and Google Places very powerful it is not the only game in town.

Yahoo Local: This is a lot like Google Places in that it is tied directly to the Yahoo search engine but it is not connected to a local area map although it does show your business on a map. Yahoo has a basic free listing and an “enhanced” listing for $9.95 per month. In the free version you can list contact information, hours of operation and products or services. The enhanced version lets you add a logo, photos and a detailed description. Yahoo also integrates reviews from different social networks. To set up your Yahoo Local Business go to: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/. You will need to set up a free Yahoo account.
Bing Local: Bing is a lot like Google Places and is tied to the map feature in Bing search. You can claim your business or create a new listing. You can list categories and customize your listings with logos, photos and more. The listing is optimized for mobile phones and you can even create a mobile web site with a QR Code and down load a sticker to post in your business. You’ll need to create a free Windows Live account then go to http://www.bing.com/businessportal to set up your business.
Your Web Site: Don’t forget to optimize your website for local search. This means putting local references on your web site, in the page titles, meta descriptions, H1 and H2 tags and in the content throughout your site including in your blogs. This doesn’t mean to do Keyword stuffing, just don’t shy away from mentioning your location and local events in your blogs and website. It is a good idea to build links with other local businesses, associations and organizations along with local twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn communities.
Local Citations: Use local listings and other location based social media sites. Here is a list of some of some great places to get local citations:

Yelp – www.yelp.com

Foursquare – www.foursquare.com

Merchant Circle – www.merchantcircle.com

Yellow Book – www.yellowbook.com

Judy’s Book – www.judysbook.com

Magic Yellow Pages – www.magicyellow.com

Dex Knows – www.dexknows.com

Local.com – www.local.com

Info USA – www.infousa.com

City Search – www.citysearch.com

Kudzu – www.kudzu.com

Insider Pages – www.insiderpages.com

I would love to see how you are getting your business listed in local searches. Tell us about it in the comments below.

Photo Credit: John Jemon

You can download a free E-Book on Claiming your Google Places to get started.
Sign up for a free evaluation of your web site and how well your site is doing to attract traffic and get new customers.

http://www.imagemediapartners.com/blog/bid/67795/Beyond-Google-for-Local-Internet-Marketing

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Beyond Google for Local Internet Marketing

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