Tag: Onsite Marketing

Google Instant – Speeding Search Results with Predictions

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On Wednesday  Google unleashed their latest upgrade to the world of instantaneous answers: Google Instant.

Claiming the ability to shave up 2 to 5 seconds off of search time, this new feature predicts terms as you’re typing into the search bar, providing grey text you can easily click on to narrow down and speed up type-time.

Until now, Yahoo! And Microsoft have run neck and neck with Google in terms of search strategies and provided results, but Google Instant provides a combination of front-end user interface with back-end work speeding up the amount of time it takes to get the exact results you’re looking for.

Many are wondering how these new changes in the Google interface will affect their online presence. Will this new interface effect their ranking, or how often their pages turn up in results while users are searching? Google engineer Ben Gomes claims users may actually see an increase in impressions due to quickly Google will now provide results.

Your current rank will play a huge role in how fast your results appear on the front page, which means your marketing strategies need to be more aggressive than ever and the quality of information your providing must be top notch if you want to stay ahead.

On the other hand, this could adversely affect ad impressions, which will now be recorded when a search engine seeker stops in mid-type for three seconds or longer. This means if you’re an advertisers to who pays by Impression, you may want to change your strategy to pay-per-click to get the most actual exposure for your dollar. It may also be wise to find ways to take advantage of rival search engines who are behind the game to gain more exposure as they strive to catch up with Google.

In the fast-paced and ever-changing world of technology and marketing, those of us who are passionate about this business must always be on our toes and developments like this have to be accounted for when you are planning your marketing and SEO strategies.

It may not be easy, but it’s essential to your online survival.

More deets at: Google Instant

Preparing For Online Holiday Retail Success

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According to both the June, 2010 Manufacturing ISM Report on Business and the Non-Manufacturing ISM Report on Business the overall economy continues to grow, joblessness is decreasing  (somewhat), and growth is happening albeit at a slow rate. So what effect can we expect this to have on online holiday retail?  And what do we need to do to get ready for the online selling season?

In an interview with AdAge at the end of the holiday shopping season last year, Phil Rist of Big Research stated, “Whether they were saving on shipping or using an in-store coupon, shoppers dug through every avenue of potential savings before choosing to commit.”

Finding ways to help consumers still have what they desire while realizing what they save may be even more important this year in stimulating consumer spending online. By starting with targeted email campaigns to loyal customers for savings on items you already know to be of interest to them, you are attracting their attention to your brand.  Follow up emails and search engine marketing initiatives with highly targeted landing pages focused on the ways in which they can save will work to maintain that attention throughout the holiday shopping.

Something to keep in mind is women are typically early shoppers looking for bargains while most men are procrastinators who don’t really enjoy holiday shopping and end up spending more money at the eleventh hour. That’s not to say, necessarily, that men don’t like saving money.  Focus your efforts where you are sure to garner the attention you need to get the ball rolling.

Consider solidifying the attention of your loyal customers first, particularly women, who are the early shoppers, and solicit them to use word-of-mouth to help you get new customers. Here’s where social media plays an important role. Get the conversations started early enough so shoppers know to go to you to find not only the quality and selection they are after but most importantly the deals.

Now is the time to start planning and scheduling your online initiatives for the holidays. The best approach online is going to be cross-channel in order to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the search engines, email, your website, and social media. A well-coordinated approach that delivers the right messages to the right audience at the opportune time puts you in the best position to ensure your online holiday retail success.

Beware of Harmful Phishing Emails

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With the volume of email that manages to make its way into your inbox, it is especially important to know how to detect those that can cause harm to you, your business or your family. I want to let you know about a type of scam spam that has resulted in both identity theft and the loss of data by harmful computer viruses.

Phishing emails look like they are coming from your bank, your credit card company, an online payment service, or even a government agency.  The subject line of the email may read: “Unreported Income Tax Account No. 668875432” or “Account Update Required.”  The intention is to lure you into clicking on a link in order to gather credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords or other sensitive information. The scammers set up a website that looks like a trusted source such as Amazon, eBay or CitiBank in order to convince you that their request is legitimate. Next thing you know they have your mother’s maiden name, your social security number, and a brand new credit card thanks to you!!

If you receive a suspicious looking email there are several things you can do. First, do not click anything or copy the link into your address bar.

You do not want to follow the link but you do want to learn where it is pointing to. Scroll over the link and look in your web browser to see what the url says. You can almost bet it is not going to say Amazon.com!

You can also search the link in Google. Enter a portion of it into the search box only. Chances are it is going to show up on a message board or some other reporting tool identifying it as a phishing scam.

Apart from keeping your computer updated with spam filters, anti-spyware and anti-virus software, and a good firewall, forward suspicious emails to spam@uce.gov.  You can also contact the Federal Trade Commission’s ID Theft Clearinghouse at 877-438-4338 to make a report, learn how to put a “fraud alert” on your files at the credit reporting bureaus, and for information and advice for ID theft victims.

Spread the word.  Phishing emails can cause real harm. Talk to your kids, particularly your teenagers.

For more information visit the following resources:

Free to Low Cost Business and Communication Tools: Part 6: Google Voice

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Not to be confused with Skype, the VoIP phone service (see Part 2: Skype), Google Voice has taken an innovative approach to voice communications by providing you with the ability to aggregate all your disparate phone numbers into one, easy to manage place. Just as an email alias allows you to forward email from one email address to another without the sender’s knowledge, Google Voice, with a Google phone number, allows you to manage all aspects of voice communications. The feature-rich application lets you:

Manage all your phones: a single number that rings them all, or those you select

Free SMS: send, receive & store text messages online

Block calls: send unwanted callers straight to voicemail

Record calls: record phone calls and store them online

Conference calls: join several people into a single call

Screen callers: hear who is calling before you pick up

If you don’t want a Google number but prefer to use your established number you won’t get the features mentioned above but you can still enjoy these features:

Google voicemail: voicemail that works just like email

Voicemail transcription: read what your voicemail says

Custom greetings: vary voicemail greetings by caller

International calling: low cost calls to the world

Notifications: read voicemail messages via email or SMS

Share voicemails: forward, embed, or download voicemails

There are many more features available with this robust and easy-to-manage suite of voice communication tools from Google.

It’s pretty cool.

Visit YouTube to watch short videos that demonstrate Google Voice features. Visit Google for a brief introduction to Google Voice. Before you can download Google Voice for mobile you have to have a Google Voice account already so you first must make a Google Voice invitation request.  Once you have been assigned your Google number you can sign into Google Voice using your Google Account (or gmail address and login, which, as you know, links you to all the Google apps and features you signed up for).

Have your people call my people :)

Web 3.0 – The Web As Your Personal Assistant

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How May I Help You Sir?
How May I Help You Sir?

When Tim Berners-Lee wrote his proposal in March of 1989 for what would become the World Wide Web could he have anticipated the direction it would take?  Since the summer of 1991, when the World Wide Web was first made available to the public over the internet, the concept has evolved from an information sharing vehicle made possible via a complex hyperlinking system over a series of servers to an interactive, customizable experience that can be “taught” to anticipate your wants.  WOW!

Corporate and industrial marketing initially regarded the World Wide Web as a great channel for posting their product and service brochures as web pages.  As the trend moved into online requests for quotes (RFQ) and sales, tracking and reporting of user behavior led to the development of Web 2.0 and a more user-centric online experience.

Content coupled with technological innovation has driven a wealth of actionable, interactive websites which in turn have had an effect on the continued development of search engines as they move to identify and serve each user.

Today, with services like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a variety of other social media sites, the World Wide Web facilitates a conversation among users far more profound than first expressed by its developers.

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