dBase Media's Blog » PPC

Focusing on Business SEO

nicola — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:51:09 +0000

Two decades ago very few people anticipated the current state of online marketing. The advertising and marketing industry as a whole has experienced a fundamental change at the root level to accommodate the growth and prevalence of online marketing. The primary focus for most online advertising is SEO (Search Engine Optimization), whereby website owners and their designers make their websites as search engine friendly as possible so they can achieve good rankings when users perform searches.

Practically every business in every industry relies in some fashion on their internet presence. Even businesses that do not have a website and those that do but never actively do anything to it have an online presence. Being listed by search services, business listings and other sources is quite commonplace.

In today’s fast paced, technology-driven global society consumers and businesses simply cannot do without the internet. Even in the remotest corners of the planet, people are getting on the internet for everything including but not limited to shopping, online education, staying in contact with their friends and family, job hunting and general research. It behooves businesses and organizations to make themselves available to the public.

It is important for you to continually develop your online marketing campaigns to keep your business current in a very competitive world.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

The Best Advice You Ever Had

nicola — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:15:59 +0000

The best advice you may have received in a long time is this – buy Facebook stock as soon as possible. While this may not directly impact your SEO and other online promotional efforts, it is a good investment tip considering the anticipated $5 billion filing. Once the company is public there is no stopping the future growth. Some industry experts expect a valuation of close to $100 billion. These are incredible numbers for any business and will no doubt set more records in the dot com world.

Now is the time to kick your social media marketing campaign into full gear. Things will probably not change too much initially but you can bet investors and developers will be expecting big things from the social networking giant. Businesses should also be sure to utilize other socials media platforms to get their brand and their message out there.

There are tools to coordinate and synchronize multiple social networking platforms so new posts propagate to these different platforms simultaneously. This is a real time saver and will help propagate your messages to a wider audience. Signing up for the multiple social networks is typically free and many offer some sort of business-oriented options and features.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

For Internet Users, Results Count

nicola — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:10:30 +0000

The average internet user neither knows nor cares about SEO, analytics, PPC or any of the myriad of other terms and phrases that relate to the inner workings of online marketing and web development. What is more important to most internet users is that they can find what they are looking for fast. Speed and relevance are the name of the game when it comes to pleasing users. A pleasant visual experience is also appreciated but tends to come with the territory.

For decades developers, designers, advertising professionals and the businesses that hire them have been searching for the best methods of delivering what consumers want – before their competition does. To achieve this task, there are a number of things that will come into play. businesses also have to avoid putting consumers off by over-selling and/or subjecting them to information overload. It is a delicate balance to obtain good search engine ranking position and an even more demanding chore of keeping and improving that position.

For most consumers, anything that comes after the first search engine results page does not exist or matter. Even for companies that make it to the first page, it can be hard to stay above the fold (the point at which one is required to scroll to see more information or results). Online marketing is a tough, evolving task, that is why most companies at some point enlist the services of an experienced, professional online marketing specialist or company.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

Online Advertising Without Google

nicola — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:48:28 +0000

Believe it or not there are numerous techniques and methods for advertising online that do not require Google, Bing or Yahoo businesses services. Granted, each of these search engines offers some free tools to help businesses with their online marketing efforts but there are also other ways to promote your brand.

For starters, your website should be tweaked for organic search engine optimization. The content, keywords and keyphrases you use on your website should be geared towards producing the best search engine results. Things like your metadata and image alt tags will also play a factor.

Social networking has had a huge impact on internet usage and how people communicate and share information online. As a result, it is no surprise that social media marketing has had such rapid acceptance. Businesses and marketing professionals are tapping into the tremendous potential social networks provide.

Mobile marketing has also experienced a meteoric rise in activity. With the number of mobile device sales in the millions and the fact that users are almost always using them, makes for a ready-made marketing pool. Mobile marketing campaigns can be scaled to meet the needs and goals of the individual businesses that use them.

Blog marketing is another way to attract attention to your business and build your online reputation. By providing a non-sales oriented place for businesses and consumers to find out about your company and what you do is a win-win situation. Your blog can include news and updates about your company and industry as well as introduce your products and services. Blogs can also allow for customer feedback to help you improve your services.

These are just a few ways companies can promote themselves without needing a paid search account with the major search engines.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

Microsoft Advertising adCenter

nicola — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:19:11 +0000

The Microsoft Advertising adCenter for businesses has several features in place to make the experience of using it more intuitive and simpler to navigate and use. Some of the newer features include faster access to bulk management and campaign tools. Users can also view and compare impression share data.

Microsoft Advertising adCenter allows companies to manage their mobile search ads, content ads, keyword optimization and a number of other tools and data fast and easy. adCenter is a capable alternative for businesses to Google’s Adwords. Some businesses use both to make sure they optimize for both.

Microsoft Advertising adCenter offers what it calls Vertical Insights, tips to help your business succeed in their online marketing goals. Users can even become accredited through the Microsoft Advertising Accredited Professional program which is currently free. Not only will you be trained as a professional Microsoft Advertising specialist, upon completion of the training program you will also be listed in their find A Pro directory.

For businesses that want to diversify their online marketing portfolio, the adCenter is the perfect choice. You get all of the analytics and metrics you need to have a successful campaign.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

Going Local

nicola — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:57:22 +0000

Delving into the world of online marketing should not be taken lightly if you plan to succeed. There are numerous online advertising methods and techniques in use today and some work better for some than others. Depending on the industry your business is in and the particular products and services you offer, you may want to focus more on certain methods than you do on others.

Local advertising is really big right now and for brick and mortar businesses that get most of their sales from foot traffic it makes more sense to focus their online marketing efforts on local online marketing tools. Both Google and Bing have great services for advertising locally.

Businesses can also benefit from the fact that most consumers prefer to search online for products and services and typically, they look for places nearby where they may be able to pick something up instead of waiting for items to be shipped to them.

Companies can also combine their traditional and modern advertising by including a link in mailers and referencing the company website on all other print, video and digital media they use for advertising. QR Codes are gaining popularity for this reason since consumers with smartphones can scan them to access promotions and special events.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

Impending Privacy Woes

nicola — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:21:57 +0000

In a rather bold move, search engine giant Google announced some major changes in its privacy policies. The announcement was emailed to all Gmail users and pops up on the Google homepage, citing that the changes will go into effect on March 1st, 2012. This gives users and businesses ample time to review the new policy. On the FAQ’s of the new privacy policy, Google states the reasons for the change as follows:

“First, we’ve rewritten the main Google Privacy Policy from top to bottom to be simpler and more readable. The new policy replaces more than 60 existing product-specific privacy documents. This all should make it easier for you to learn about what data we collect and how we use it.

Second, the new policy reflects our efforts to create one beautifully simple, intuitive user experience across Google. It makes clear that, if you have a Google Account and are signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we can treat you as a single user across all our products”.

In theory, the new changes should make it easier for consumers and businesses to connect with each other as well as with other individuals and businesses. Businesses may be wondering how these changes will affect their search rankings and for many, that remains to be seen.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

Picture Perfect Websites

nicola — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:17:26 +0000

There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. With online marketing, this old adage is still true. Internet users of all types are invariably relying on their visual skills to search, identify and decide on the products, services and information they wish to find.

With that in mind, business websites should be visually appealing but still have informative, relevant content on their websites. There are many opinions out there on which colors and layouts work the best to capture and retail the attention of website visitors and these trends change from time to time.

Overloading the website with images can be distracting so if the pictures you want to display aren’t necessary, just choose a few that will have the most impact on consumers. The attention of website visitors can be fleeting so keeping their attention will be challenging.

Many businesses are also including videos on their websites. These videos, like images, will catch the viewer’s attention immediately. Videos also give businesses a way to deliver their message quickly. Just think, if a picture is worth a thousand words, how valuable is a video?

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC)

nicola — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:24:28 +0000

The 2012 Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) is underway. Under this program Google allocates a $250 budget for students to use to experience and develop marketing strategies in a real world setting.

The GOMC has involved approximately 50,000 students from over 100 countries. The object is for the students and their instructor/professor to come up with an online marketing strategy using Google Adwords that helps a business or non-profit organization. Winners get to visit the Mountain View headquarters of Google.

Past winners include global winners, regional winners and others. Teams of 3-6 students must be registered with their instructors or professors to be eligible to participate. It is an interesting exercise to say the least. Registration for this year’s GOMC ends May 1st, 2012 so registrants

Presumably Google hopes that these student participants will find new and innovative ways to help improve Google Adwords or, at the very least, show how using Adwords effectively can help increase traffic for the businesses and non-profit organizations selected for the project.

Google Adwords has been a huge, industry changing tool for businesses and organizations. It provides the unprecedented capacity to analyze, measure, compare and record all types of data related to the efficiency of websites and the performance of their keywords and keyphrases.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing

A Few Benefits of Online Marketing

nicola — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:29:37 +0000

There are more ways than one to improve your search engine rankings and online reputation. Good website design with proper organic SEO (search engine optimization) as well as paid search tools can and will help get you on the right track. Having a professional online marketing company work with you is also a good idea.

Mobile media marketing is on the rise and will continue to grow and develop as more and more consumers purchase smart phones and tablets. Social media marketing is also gaining popularity and worldwide renown. Businesses ranging from Fortune 500’s to mom and pop establishments are finding out about the value of social marketing.

Never before have so many businesses had so many effective, inexpensive advertising tools at their disposal. You have many options and choices and combinations to work with so be prepared for some level of trial and error until you find what works best for your company.

Investing in online marketing has literally turned companies around. Following the economic downturn, companies have to look for any and every edge they can get over their competitors. By utilizing the available online marketing tools and techniques, these businesses can improve their brand recognition, their online presence and their profits.

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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing