Social Media
Internet Marketing is Obsoleting Traditional Media Advertisers
Jan 23rd
Advertising via print and radio has been in steady decline for the past few years and very soon we will see internet marketing surpass television as well, possibly in the next year or two.
What does this mean for traditional media advertisers? Well, it means their job is becoming obsolete. (more…)
Google’s “Search, Plus Your World” Personalizes Search Results
Jan 16th
Last week, Google launched its latest update to web browsing, called “Search, plus Your World.” The purpose is to grant easier access to personal search results, because Google believes that these results should hold equal weight with their recommendations. The new search function combines worldwide and personal searches. (more…)
Google News
Jan 10th
Google penalizes Chrome & Google+ rapidly rises in popularity
I have written about Google in the past, but the number one search engine has been in the news again lately, for both good and bad publicity. 2012 appears to be a monster year for Google, as it continues to develop and market new products, challenging Facebook, Apple, and Internet Explorer along the way. Here are the recent transgressions and progressions that have affected the technology giant. (more…)
Twitter Claiming Title of Best Internet Marketing Tool
Jan 4th
There are many ways for your business to get publicity on the internet and to reach the customers base who would be interested in your product. There are so many, in fact, that it can be difficult to determine which ones are golden and which one are garbage.
Facebook is the current standard for social media internet marketing, with numerous users, a well-developed platform, and a history of longevity. Recently, I have discussed how to utilize YouTube to get viewers back to your website and how Google Plus is taking strides in social networking. But one other social website is becoming the most unlikely of champions: Twitter. (more…)
How YouTube Drives Traffic to Your Website
Dec 28th
Most people think that YouTube is just a place where you can find videos of people getting hurt, singing new renditions of popular songs, and performing other wacky and creative endeavors. But have you ever thought about using these videos to drive traffic to your website? (more…)
The Future of Internet Marketing: Social Commerce
Nov 23rd
Let me look deep into my crystal ball and make some predictions about the future of internet marketing. I see…
Okay, so there is no crystal ball, or other form of hokum to predict the future. But through word of mouth, internet hype, and intriguing rumors, it is possible to guess how the internet marketing landscape could be changed in the coming months and years.
Web MallAs a teenager, one of my favorite hangout spots was the mall. Even if my friends and I didn’t buy anything beyond an Orange Julius or a Wetzel’s Pretzels, we still had fun kickin’ it and looking at all of the new merchandise. When we did have money, following Christmas or a birthday, we would quickly spend it on new shoes, video games, clothing, DVDs or whatever fad item was trending that week.
Today, I can do most of my shopping from home. Although it is impossible to try on shirts to make sure they fit, for the most part this is a more efficient way to purchase stuff.
Except I miss out on the camaraderie.
While I won’t deny that I’m miserable when a trip to the mall with my girlfriend for new socks turns into a five-hour affair More >
Google Plus Brand Pages Could Fix Problems of Facebook and Twitter
Oct 24th
Google recently announced that they were implementing brand pages for corporate advertisers on their social media site, Google Plus. As Facebook is still developing tweaks to their system in order to raise user enjoyment, Google Plus will hopefully begin with a system that does not necessitate any additional changes in the future.
Amongst the issues that Facebook and Twitter deal with is the layout of their pages, which do not allow for much adjustment. Large companies, like Coca Cola or Disney, can only do so much to organize their pages within the strict guidelines of Facebook and Twitter’s programing code.
Facebook, for example, allows for a main picture on the upper left, content scrolling down the center, and that’s about it. No designing backgrounds, no customizations, and no overriding the website’s programing.
In addition, companies cannot choose which advertisements appear on the right side of their own pages. Hypothetically, a Pepsi ad could load onto the Coke’s Facebook page, creating a conflict of interests.
But hopes are high that Google will solve these issues before the launch of their brand pages.
Ad agencies are already starting to develop brand pages for Google Plus that work with its rigid formatting that is somewhat layered, but still More >
Implementing Exclusive Content On Facebook For Fans
Nov 10th
Trying to boost the number of people that like your Facebook page? Try giving users a reason to like you by offering a special only to those that actually ‘like’ you. Facebook allows for you to deliver different content on FMBL Custom tabs between users that are already connected to your page and users that aren’t.
Facebook offers the “visible-to-connection’ tag that shows the contents within the tag to those who like a page, and can show completely different code to those who haven’t liked your page. This allows you to make your FBML Custom tab exclusive to those who are a fan and great for marketing the following:
- coupons
- trials
- samples
- exclusive events
- sneak previews
- sales
Here is a great example of how you can use the ‘visible-to-connection’ tag on your Facebook tab with a sale/coupon code offering:
Go to the actual Facebook Page to see the code in action.
Early this year, we recapped a an example of a promotion that ski shop featured the “visible-to-connection” code to leak their new skis for the 2010 season. Those users that were not fans were shown a blurred out image of the skis and those that were fans were shown a micro-site with all of the new skis for the season.
Here More >
Social Media Marketing: A Step-Ladder for SEO Services
Oct 1st
One of the latest weapons in the arsenal of online marketers is social media marketing. Many Internet marketing companies will offer social media marketing services, but as a client and business owner, what does that really mean? Most business owners and people in general know social media as just that—an avenue for interacting with friends online—so what’s the benefit for the business?
While there are a few obvious answers (and many that are not so obvious), there is one particularly useful benefit of social media marketing for businesses that have just launched their website: It serves as an excellent step-ladder to your search engine optimization services and can win you instant customers while you’re waiting out their effectiveness.
To illustrate this, let’s first sum up the basic value of a social media presence to a growing or start-up business. Having social media accounts for your business on avenues like Facebook and Twitter basically allows a free method of developing a mailing list of interested customers and also lets you communicate with them.
Plus, your profile page serves as an appealing extra web presence for your business that requires little to no graphic design efforts. It also serves as a large online business card that More >
$3 Million Super Bowl Ads Becoming Overrated
Feb 10th
This year’s Super Bowl ads seemed to disappoint viewers (although that seems to happen every year). After ads being banned and soaring costs (about $3 million for a 30-second spot), we still saw the same tired commercials (wow, look, Go Daddy girl is ripping her shirt off again while Danica Patrick gawks at her for the umpteenth time) and the familiar brands Coke, Budweiser, et al. With the increasing popularity of social media and viral marketing, I am hoping major brands will start moving away from the exorbitant costs and scrutiny that comes with Super Bowl advertising and take their branding and marketing campaigns online. Not to mention they will get better results for $3 million investment.
Pepsi has already made the shift. A few months ago they announced that, for the first time in 20 somthing years, they were not going to advertise during the Super Bowl, electing instead to focus on social media marketing. I think it’s a smart move since $3 million is going to go much farther online than in a one-time 30 second ad, especially when most of us have DVRs and streaming video. With social media marketing, Pepsi can tweak its messaging to cater to different More >
How Local Businesses Should Capitalize on the Influx of Traffic from the National Political Conventions!
Oct 17th
The Democratic National Convention came and went, and now its time for the Republicans to have their chance. So who where the losers and the winners? No I don’t mean in politics, this is a CityWaboo Blog. The local businesses in Denver and Saint Paul should have capitalized on the tens of thousands of visitors that were hungry, sleepy, and wanted to party. Well maybe not party.
Most of the delegates that are at the convention are from out of town, so to find a place to eat, sleep and even find a local cleaners will undoubtedly result in a search for restaurants, hotels and cleaners in Denver or Saint Paul.
Here is where local businesses need to capitalize on the large amount of traffic that major search engines like Google and Yahoo, and local city guides such as CitySearch.com and CityWaboo.com receive. Just thinking ahead for couple of months can result in great short term business; which can translate into a positive long term reputation.
There are influencers in any arena, as I was flipping through the channels, I caught a glimpse of one of the local political reporters doing a story on what and where the delegates are eating and they were More >
6 ways to promote your business for under $100 per month
Oct 17th
Lately I have been speaking with many of our customers, and the general consensus is that times are tough. Coming from a small business entrepreneurial background I can feel their pain. They are seeing money going out in every direction and customers just are not buying as they were a year ago.
So what is a business owner to do? They have to start cutting the fat, and usually the first thing that they look to cut is the advertising budget, not realizing that the customers that are trickling in might just be due to the advertising and that those customers may even disappear if the advertising budget is cut.
What I propose to our clients is to ride out the tough times and instead of canceling or cutting their advertising budget in full, try instead to streamline and optimize their campaign and look for free or low budget campaigns. Here are few suggestions on what and how to get started. Most of these are online, but do not require extensive computer or internet knowledge.
- Free local listings on major search engines and directories. This has been talked about extensively in many blogs and forums. Here are some popular sites you might More >