So I just started a new a month ago.  My title is SEO Specialist, and a co-worker sent me this someecard… I thought it was too funny not to share.

The post You must be an SEO Expert…. appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

Check it out.

The post Google Places for Business appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

Here’s the outline:

Online Marketing has changed drastically in the last several years with the rise of social media sites and mobile technologies. As a leader take control of the information search engines know about you. Make a plan for your online presence and know how to implement it. Learn which social media sites are appropriate for your ‘brand’ and best practices for utilizing them.

Your Online Presence. Control Your Brand.

Goals of Presentation

The number 1 goal for this presentation is to create awareness.   I want to give young women the knowledge to control their own online presence.  That includes social media profiles, websites and search engine results.  I would like to provide the tools and information for others to be in control of their own ‘brand’ (online).

Outline of the Presentation

1. Why does my online presence matter??
2. How search engines work.
3. Google Me, I dare you.
4. Having a Plan & Being in Control
5. Tools to use
6. Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)
7. Answers & Questions

Leadership for Today & Tomorrow

Your online presence can NOT be ignored this day in age.  Leaders, whether they be business owners, politicians, educators, activists or non-profit professionals, are taking advantage of a myriad of tools to reach constituents and prospects, from their websites to social media profiles to app.  If you don’t have an online marketing strategy (or you are not in control of the one you do have) you are not getting the most out of the online tools available.

The post They asked be to come back! appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

I didn’t read the article. 

~I know what it says.~ 

The answer is No. It doesn’t matter if your friends use it or not, unless your friends (specifically) are your target audience.  The long and short of it …Google + pages are a GREAT way to optimize your small/medium size business for search engines.  Social profiles, in general (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, etc), will always show up on the first page of SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages). Google+ in particular (mysteriously, right) seems to have extra search engine ‘juice’.

So claim your Google Place? YES. DO IT.

Put pictures on your Google+ page? YES. DO IT.

Fill out the resto of your Google+ profile? YES. DO IT.

Get reviews? Yep. That too….

The post Use Google + (Now!) appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

The other day my dog got really sick.  And because I just moved to a new city, I didn’t know where to take her.  There were a couple vets within a half hour of my house, but only one of them had all positive reviews.  Of course I went to that one!  They took great care of Daisy and she’s all better now, but while we were hanging out waiting for the doctor to come in I saw this sign on the wall.

Win an iPad! How to Win:

• “Like” us on Facebook
• Check in on Facebook while you are here
• Write a positive review and tell us about it
• Recommend us to a friend

So, this is pretty awesome for a couple reasons.

1. It’s helping them get more FB likes! And who doesn’t like more fans?  If your customers/clients don’t like your facebook page, there is no way they’ll ever see your updates!  So getting more likes is a great goal for your Facebook business page.
2. They’re increasing activity on their FB page.  By asking their customers to check in, they’re increasing the activity on their FB page, which will increase their reach (and Likes).
3. They’re boosting their SEO by asking for reviews! One of the best ways to boost your SEO and get more website traffic is to focus on your Google + page, which has a reviews feature.

There are several other ways to boost your local SEO, which I’ll talk about in another post, but I thought this was a great example of a way this veterinary clinic was boosting it’s SEO.

PS. If you haven’t followed it completely, those positive reviews got me and my sick dog in the door.  (Good Reviews = New Patients!)

The post Unique Idea for Getting Reviews (Boost Your Local SEO) and a Case Study appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

• Easy ways to engage others
• Learn about different groups
• How to create and distribute content
• Start a discussion
• Qnswer questions on the Q & A boards
• Show your expertise
• Get prospects to visit your website
• and more….

Not set up yet on LinkedIn?  This session is for you, too!

(Also see upcoming social media seminars “All About Facebook” and “All About Blogging”).

REGISTER HERE

The post All About LinkedIn: Social Media Lab for Small Business appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

Now, I will say, most of the posts I saw on the pages only feed was also in my normal news feed…. BUT I’m guessing there are a couple of things going on here.  1. That may change over time.  2. You still need to consider that facebook is picking and choosing which posts make it into your fans news feeds….

The post Your New PAGES FEED on Facebook appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

This is exactly what I was afraid of.  Now I have to pay $5 every time I want my fans to see one of my posts! ~Previously I just had to WORK MY ASS off to get comments and likes….

Well, I’ve been annoyed with FB recently, if you haven’t been able to tell, but it looks like they’re doing a couple other things that will be interesting.  Hopefully they won’t all ADD to my annoyance.

“Pages Only” News Feed Option in Facebook (more details on mashable)

So this hasn’t taken effect on my FB newsfeed yet, so I can’t show you how it will look, but  soon you’ll see a “PAGES FEED” option on the left hand side of your home page.

Communication about how to use technology is always a hurdle.

So we’ll see how it goes!

Also, Facebook is testing a couple new comment features (details here).

One, in particular ~ the ability to respond directly to a message instead of to the bottom of the comments feed, will be nice.

The post “Pages Only” News Feed Option in Facebook & Ranked Comments appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

Home Instead Senior Care finds incredible value in belonging to the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce.  Networking events like the Business After Hours and Women in Business groups allow our business to interact with other local businesses and develop long lasting relationships.  Specialty programs like Leadership Rowan, carried out by the Chamber, allow us to learn more about and become an integral part of our local community and all it has to offer.  It would take us years of general marketing to build the level of relationships the Chamber puts at our fingertips with their variety of events.

Michael Debetta of Home Instead Senior Care:

Bob Setzer of F & M Bank agrees that for him, the top three reasons to be a Chamber member are:

1. Personal networking – ie: Business After Hours/Speed Networking
2. Access to 900 chamber members contact information
3. Direct marketing/advertising inserts in newsletter that showcase your company

The post Hear from real Rowan County Chamber of Commerce Members…Why Join? appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.

Welcome to Facebook Offers

I’ve recently felt that Facebook has been making some decisions that are not in my best interest as a consumer.  Mind you, as a business I still think they are heading in the right direction.  For example, they’ve been testing paid ads in news feeds (consumer of facebook = bad, business on facebook = good).  They’ve also been improving their search feature with paid ads (Andy Beal wrote about this and I’ll believe him for now…).

Now they roll out offers!  Offers on Facebook are not new.  It’s one of the main ways retail businesses use (and profit) from Facebook.  These offers appear to be Facebook’s attempt to keep businesses (and their consumers) on FB in order to purchase.  No more need to send users out to a third party page to claim an offer! 

The process is pretty interesting, the business page owner can make the offer (a how to section is below), they post the offer (there’s always the option to ‘promote’ the offer) and then people who claim it will bring you a print out or show you on their phone the email they received confirming they claimed the offer.

You can set limits and terms, like number of offers available and when the offer expires.  And at every turn your consumer is able to SHARE the offer with their friends (also a nice ~ but not new ~ feature that can help) .

Here’s what I suggest>>

Facebook offers make coupon set up pretty easy on your part.  No need to set anything up on your website, or with a third party.  No need to have any payment information.  Customers will just walk in and  show you they have the coupon.  I’m guessing offers will work well for retailers and b2c businesses in general…. (b2b businesses can harness the power of fb in other ways, but shouldn’t expect to make money using it)

So let’s take a look at offers.

Here’s what your Facebook Offer will look like (~with your picture and details~)  in the timeline of people who like your page.

Facebook actually takes you on a nice little tour, telling you to add a picture, add a headline, add some copy and they even warn you to let your staff know that people will be showing up with this offer to redeem (a nice little touch).

Then you POST your offer.  Choose to PROMOTE it if you want (which will charge you)… but posting the offer itself is free.

This is what your Business Page fans will see:

When your fan chooses to “GET OFFER”, they’ll see this pop up saying “OFFER SENT”.  An offer confirmation will be sent to their email address and they will be able to print out that email or use their smarty pants phone to show you the email confirmation in person.  (How easy is that?)

This is the email confirmation your customer will receive when they claim your offer on Facebook.

And that’s it. I’d really love to hear how this pans out for people.  Especially in different industries.  My guess is that it will be AWESOME for retailers and restaurants. 

The post Facebook Rolls Out Offers [How to use Facebook Offers for Business] appeared first on Bare Bulb Marketing.