Social Media and Statistics

Posted on November 10, 2010 by eptoay

Social Media statistics prove the importance of companies using it

I was listening to a video recording about social media and it brought to light of why it is so important that companies (including local business owners) take advantage of it.   However, the Facebook numbers alone were so mind boggling that I decided to share them.   Not knowing when they were published,  I decided to go to Facebook itself and see what the latest posted numbers are.  What I found was that the growth is continuing to be amazing – that the numbers I had been given on the video are way too conservative.

Video Facebook Statistics

  1. The video said there were well over 400 million active users on Facebook. 
  2. The next statistic on the video was over 200 million of those users log on daily.  
  3. The average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook and has about 130 friends. 
  4. More than 5 billion pieces of content are shared every week.  That includes such things as photos, links, videos, statuses and updates.
  5. There are more than 3 million active pages and over half of those are local businesses.  That number is increasing all the time and will continue to do so.  More than 20 million people become fans of pages every single day.

Facebook statistics now according to the latest figures on the site

  1. there are now 500 million active users.
  2. About half of the active users log on daily which would bring that number up to approximate 250 million.
  3. All-in-all, people spend over 700 billion minutes on the site each month.
  4. There are 900 million different objects that people interact with
  5. More than 30 billion pieces of content are shared each month.  That would average a little over 7 billion per week which means it has more than doubled.
  6. Unfortunately, there was no update on the number of pages or the number of people becoming fans or "like" the page.

A few more statistics

  1. Over 70% of Facebook users come from outside the USA.
  2. More than 70 translations are available on the site
  3. There are more than 200 million active users accessing Facebook from their mobile devices
  4. People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on the site than those who don’t.

And to think some people consider using Facebook as a fad.

If you aren’t using social media sites such as Facebook for your business, then think of all the potential customers you might be loosing.  Isn’t it time you jumped on the the bandwagon? 

We can help turn that around for you.  Please contact us by filling out the form on the side or calling us at 800-517-7132 to find out how.

 

 

 

 

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Links – A Necessity to Your SEO

Posted on October 11, 2010 by eptoay

 

Anchor Text – A great addition to your blog and a SEO boost at the same time

When you are writing blogs, it is extremely important that you include anchor text.  The following is an explanation of what anchor text is and how you use it. 

Probably the best way to describe anchor text is to actually demonstrate how it is used.    Let’s say that I want to send you over to another post (whether it is mine or someone else’s) and the subject of that blog post is red roses – also the keywords have something to do with red roses.  One of the things I could do is to say -" to read about the health of red roses click here" and by clinking on those bold words  that would take you to an article on red roses.  Now the other way I can do it is for me to be writing about those same red roses but instead pick some keywords that relate to the other blog and make some of those words are a link. that would actually take you to that other site.  That last is an example of anchor text.

Anchor Text can help you get readers, subscribers or clients as it can make your site a lot more interesting and relevant.  However, when you are working with anchor text, be sure to check and make sure that the anchor text contains good keywords – otherwise it will not be that much of an advantage.  Remember also that the text around the anchor text needs to be compelling enough so that people want to click on it.

In my last blog I wrote about SEO and how it is enhanced by backlinks.   Try using my anchor text to take you back to that post and to see exactly where I placed them.

More Information about links

You will want to use links in your site as they will help make your website more relevant.  Being able to take your readers to other sites or posts within your blog or website or ,maybe even another author’s blog or website,  will help also make your website or post more credible as it adds authority to what you are writing.  However, make certain that you limit the number of links that you are putting in.  Just like keywords if you put in too many links, you are going to look like you are trying  to get the search engines to notice you.  That might be considered spam.

One other thing to remember is that if you have too many links to one particular author’s blog or website, you could give the impression that you are trying to build off the other site.  The author of that site may not appreciate your taking advantage of his/her work, and he/she may, in turn, decide to remove some, if not all, of those links.

Remember, using links in your posts is a great SEO strategy but it is better to be too conservative than to get carried away using them.

 

 

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SEO Basics – Improving Page Rank with Backlinks

Posted on October 8, 2010 by eptoay

 

Links – a Great Way to Improve Your SEO Page Rank

In my last blog, I went into the importance of good keyword selection in order to help get your site found by Google and other search engines.  That first step is extremely important but it is only part of the equation.    The next step is getting your site read and linked to by influential people who have material relevant to yours.

If you think about the internet for a minute you will understand when I say it is totally interwoven.  Log on to your computer, go online, start searching for information, and you will see what I mean.   Type in a search phrase and then look at the first page that comes up in the search engine.  Everything you see has a link to click on if you want to get information.  And the only way to get any further is by clicking on another link and so on. 

As I mentioned in a previous post about understanding Google, periodically Google sends out "spiders" to read material, index it and put that information on servers all over the world.  When an internet user goes online to do a search, Google already  has relevant material indexed (think of the index in the back of a textbook)  which is be pulled up very quickly.   Previous to that search Google has already determined the importance of that material – the first way by keywords and the second way is by who is actually linked to that page – also known as backlinks. 

So if people are doing SEO properly,  they are linking to the pages that they like and, in return, they are doing things to get other sites to link back to their sites.  These backlinks help determine how important Google determines the site to be.   There are ways to get backlinks when you are first starting – I will address that subject in another post,

There are good backlinks and there are bad backlinks.  That is determined by the reputation of the site that is linking to your page and also how relevant that material is to yours.   Links coming from very reputable sites that are relevant to your subject are considered to be great ones that will give you the best ratings.  Bad backlinks, on the other hand, should be avoided as much as possible as they definitely won’t help you with the search engines.  An example of a bad backlink could be one coming from a spam site.

Another thing you may have heard about are the terms inbound links versus outbound links.  Simply put, inbound links are the ones coming to your site from the other pages – outbound are the ones that are going from your site to the other sites. 

Another good practice to consider is using internal links.  Internal links actually connect pages of your site together.  If you look at the first and second paragraphs of this blog, you may understand a little more of what I mean as I have actually placed an internal link in each of those two paragraphs.  If you click on those, you will be taken to relevant pages of this site for reference.   Make certain you are using internal links in a way that makes sense.    Otherwise, you are just wasting your time.

I greatly appreciate any comments may that can enhance this material to the reader.

 

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SEO Basics – Keyword Selection

Posted on September 21, 2010 by eptoay

 

Search Engine Optimization and What it Means

As was mentioned in my last post about the basics of Google, Search Engine Optimization is the key to getting your website found.  If you don’t make the correct keyword selections, to put it simply – you most likely won’t be found.

When I first started blogging,I had no idea what I was doing.  My understanding of keyword selection was just the way it sounds – in each post I picked out several different single words and scattered those words throughout the blog.  I even went so far to bold those words but I doubt that helped at all.   I hadn’t done a lot of research and didn’t realize "I was missing the boat".    No wonder my first blog just sat out there gathering dust.  Several people found it but it was almost always by accident – they stumbled over it while looking for something else.  There was literally no way anyone could possibly the find material I was writing by looking for it unless they just happened to type in by accident the exact wording of some of my blog titles – how likely was that?

Several times a week, I would go into Word Press and look at the statistics just to find out that Google didn’t even know I existed.  So what I was actually doing was pretty much writing for myself.  To this day, that blog needs work as I have been so busy I haven’t gotten back to it.  Someday I probably will as it is a diary of an American military family living in Iran during the last seven months of the Shah – a personal and rather fascinating experience.

Unfortunately, what happened to me has also happened  to a great many others.    Many just decide they want a website or blog, pick out a theme, put what they believe to be interesting information up and hope for the best.   And they don’t realize just because a web designer did the site that it might not be well optimized.  Web design and SEO are two entirely different things and a lot of us don’t know how to do both.

Keyword Selection – What to Pick?

Keyword Selection is extremely important to Google and can help determine whether you will be indexed or not.  It is not the only factor but it is a very vital one. 

First of all, there needs to be proper research into what keywords to use.   There are some really good tools out there that can help out in the direction.  One is a free Google took called Wordtracker.   What to look for is some really good strings of two or three words that are being searched for but do not have a great deal of competition. Build your writing your writing around those.  Once I determined that it was smarter to pick out the keywords first and then write the material around them, it started making my writing a whole lot easier. 

The next step is make sure when picking your keywords try to get into the mind of the people who are going to be searching for your material.   It doesn’t matter what you think they are searching for – it all boils down to them and what they want.   Consider what types of phrases " they" would type in the Google search box when looking for the information?   Don’t think that just because  you think a phrase or a term sounds good that everyone else is going to be looking for it.

Google wants the keyword selection to be relevant to what the blog or website is about.  Your material may be well written and informative, but as I am still learning – that doesn’t mean a thing if the keywords and the content don’t tie together.

So to sum it up, think about keywords that are relevant to the material that you are writing about.    Secondly, consider what people will be typing in the search box when looking for your topic.  That’s a good start. 

 

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Google -A Simple Explanation

Posted on September 19, 2010 by eptoay

Google in Nontechnical Terms

Learning Web 2.0 can be an overwhelming and time consuming task.    There are so many different aspects of it from the social media sites to websites to blogging.  I have been working on it for over a year – the hardest concept I have had to learn yet is understanding Google and how to get found on that amazing site.

I am not bashing Google – in fact, I am fascinated and amazed  to think that  there are people in this world that are brilliant enough to come up with the idea.  Had world advancement been dependent on someone like me, we might still be rolling boulders away from the cave door and rubbing sticks together to get our fires going. 

Recently, I have finally started to get a much better comprehension of how Google actually works.  Not algorithms or the real technical ins and outs – but the overall basics.  Hopefully this blog will help you understand it a lot faster than I did.

What exactly is Google?

As most of you likely already know is: Google is a search engine.   People log onto the internet, go to Google (or one of the other search engines) and find whatever information they are looking for.  Since well over 70% of all web traffic uses Google,  this is the search engine you will want to show up on.

Google is in business to make money.  It obviously doesn’t make money from any of us going into the site, typing a phrase in the search box and getting the information we want.  So how does the site make money?

Google actually makes its money from people or businesses that pay to advertise.   So, next time you go into Google look at the initial page you land on.  Over to the right hand side of the page you will see a list of results that are what is known as "Pay-Per-Click" (PPC) advertising -   every time someone clicks on one of those links, the advertiser pays Google a predetermined amount.  

Google’s main purpose is to not only keep those advertisers happy but to get more paying clients.  Therefore, it wants to make the results of any searches relevant to what people are looking for.  Otherwise, why would people keep going back to do searches on Google if they weren’t finding the information they want?

So how does Google list things?

Let’s go back to the search results for a minute.  If you look on the left hand side of that same page of search results, the listed links are what is know as organic results.  These organic results are not paid advertising – Google is listing that material for free.  So how does Google decide what material should appear there and in what order?   Remember there is a huge amount of material out on the internet.

On a regular basis Google sends out "spiders" (not the nasty live  things that spin webs) out on the web to look for and store information in its index (think of an index as a large catalog like you would find in a bookstore or a library).  The indexed material is then stored on large servers all over the world.   When someone is doing a search, Google’s software actually goes out to the servers and looks for information that is considered to be the most relevant to that particular search.

In future blog posts, I will break down some of  the different criteria that Google looks for when trying to decide what sites are the most relevant – such thing as SEO, keywords, backlinks and all the other things that make up helping someone be found in this world of Web 2.0 and beyond. 

 

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Online Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing

Posted on September 8, 2010 by eptoay

 

Sales and Marketing Strategy – Why would one pick one type over the other?

Marketing products and services is not new.  With the advent of technology and the social media platforms, the way marketing is being done is rapidly changing.   However, the overall goal is still  to get  word out to people in hopes that they will become a customer.  So if you are doing things correctly, the end result should still be the same, shouldn’t it?

One to Many Sales and Marketing Strategy

When I  younger, marketing was done in a "one to many" manner .  Companies got out their messages out to the consumers – whether it be by TV ads, billboards, magazines, etc.  The consumers could only listen in return – then make the decision as to whether to buy or not.   The consumer really had no choice but to accept the word of the advertiser – they had no way of talking back or asking questions.  Every once in awhile negative word got out (take the Edsel for example).    So often we listened to women who were dressed like June Cleaver who wore  little white aprons and pearls, perfectly styled hair and fresh makeup, tell us about her unspotted the dishes or silverware or how heavenly her home smelled after certain deodorizers were sprayed around the room.  How I would laugh when I saw how perfect and fake the women in ads looked – as a mother of four  – the oldest and youngest being  less than seven years apart, I NEVER cleaned a house in high heels or had every hair in place when my husband walked in the door after work.  But I think that most of you, especially those of you who are older, know exactly the type of ads I am talking about.   That type of advertising  worked for years.

Unfortunately, even now there are people that still seem to believe that is still the way sales and marketing should be done.  Even though they are using the social media platforms, they are still using the old traditional ways of marketing.  Instead of developing relationships online first, they go on to to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to push their products and immediately start pushing their products. 

Think of it like this.  Suppose you are at a cocktail party or a backyard barbeque, enjoying yourself and someone you’ve never even met before comes up and immediately starts shoving his product or service down your throat.  Wouldn’t you want to just turn and walk away? 

Well that is what is often happening online.  Many people on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are not getting involved in a two way conversation like they should be.   And that type of marketing turns many people off.  Nowadays we are supposed to be sharing knowledge – not jamming messages down someone’s throat.

Many to Many Sales and Marketing Strategy

Technology has changed the way things are being done and the younger generations, especially, are using the internet to find out about products and services.  Social Media sites are now where you will often find the buyers and sellers.  And these sites are extremely important.  To use Facebook for an example – Facebook has enough members that if it were a country it would have the third largest population in the world.  On that site, as on others, people are sharing their information about products and services. 

The consumer is finally being heard and has no problem sharing both good and bad experiences about a product and service.  If you and your company have been around awhile, your name is out there and people are talking about you and/or your products and services whether you like it or not.  TV and print ads are being ignored – Statistics now show that 76% of people trust their peers" recommendations on the internet more than they trust companies.   The young people don’t do things the way we older people did – I don’t believe many Gen Yers even know what the "Yellow Pages" are, and the mute button on the TV remote is very easy for any age to push

The great thing now though is that small companies can now compete with large companies to get business.  The days of having to have a huge marketing budget are gone.  What is important is how good your product is and how well you treat your customers.  Word spreads very quickly over the internet – especially if someone has had a bad experience.

Isn’t  it time you joined 21st century in your sales and marketing?.

 

 

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Social Media ROI by Eric Qualman

Posted on August 30, 2010 by eptoay

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Using Your LinkedIn Profile to your Advantage

Posted on August 20, 2010 by eptoay

 

Your LinkedIn Profile should work for you!

The way you put your LinkedIn profile together can really help determine how you are going to come across to your readers.   Of  course, you want to put it together in such a way that they get a good idea of your brand and the person behind the brand.  But, don’t make the same mistakes that a lot of people make – they throw  in a lot of words and hope something will stand out to the reader.  You work hard putting a resume together -  spend that kind of time on your profile – it’s that important.   Remember though your profile is not your resume so you don’t want it to sound like one.

Take some time and think through what you want out there.

Here are some tips to keep it mind when putting your profile together:

  • WHY are you on LinkedIn?
  • WHAT are your business goals for using this site?
  • WHO do you want to connect with?
  • Are you looking to acquire new clients or are you looking for someone to partner up with in your business?
  • Are you looking for a job change or are you looking for new employees?

Make sure that everything that you include in your profile is there to help you achieve your business goals.

Your LinkedIn profile will be indexed by Google so you want to make certain that you include some specific keywords that will help you get found.  And, when thinking about those keywords consider something else – do those keywords match your business experience?  As most of us know, every industry has their own buzzwords so you make sure you are including them.  Very often your potential client or business partners will use those buzzwords when looking for someone to connect with.

Also, be certain to include the full name of your company – not a nickname or just initials.   Include the college you went to as this might help you link of up with people that you knew back in the past or make an impression on a possible client or business recruiter.

Remember people will just scan your profile so don’t get too wordy – omit the unnecessary information but, at the same time, make certain to include the necessary details.  There is a fine line there -stay on track.

Be Professional

LinkedIn is not a site where you want to delve into your personal life – think of this site like you would a professional meeting where you are looking to make business contacts to network with.  Feel free to add a few details that make you appear a little more human but, by all means, keep away from the cutesy things that you would put on such sites as Facebook and MySpace.

Be Sure to Check Your Grammer and Spelling

Nothing detracts more from looking professional than bad grammar and stupid spelling mistakes.  If you have a question about how a word is spelled,  use your spell checker or do the old fashioned thing and get out your dictionary.   Ask someone else to critique your profile before you post it.  All of us are guilty of reading what we thought we wrote instead of what is actually on the page.  One last idea idea is read it out loud to yourself.  It is amazing what mistakes you will find when you do.

 

 

 

 

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LinkedIn – A Tool to be Added to Your Marketing Kitbag

Posted on August 17, 2010 by eptoay

LinkedIn is a site that should be taken seriously by professionals

If you aren’t familiar with LinkedIn and are looking for a good way to increase your visibility online and to network with others, you really owe it to yourself to join . It doesn’t cost anything unless you want to upgrade, so you certainly have nothing to lose.  One of the purposes of this blog is to introduce you to the site and  to give you an idea of why joining LinkedIn could be a very valuable resource for you.

 LinkedIn is not a social site like Facebook and MySpace -  instead it is considered to be a professional networking site that can be used as a tool to help you expand your network.  As always, you will sometimes come across people trying to push their products and services, but that is somewhat rare and  that was never the intention when LinkedIn was founded.  That strategy is also frowned on by other users.  The purpose of LinkedIn is to be a place oline where people come to develop relationships that can be beneficial to them professionally.  So plan to add this tool to your marketing kitbag.  However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that using this site will replace all your other networking – this is just another great way to increase your internet presence and to get your presence known on the web.  It is also a great way to connect to people you would have never had the opportunity to otherwise.

One of the great benefits of LinkedIn is that the developers put in controls as to who you can connect with.  You are only allowed to add connections that are already on LinkedIn (or someone who decides to join after receiving your invitation).  Anyone you want to connect to you has to agree that, they too, want to be connected to you.  In a later blog I will go into how the connection thing works. But the real benefit of that is that it keeps spamming to a minimum.

Why would you want to be on this site?

  1. It is a great way to get to be known by others who are doing networking.
  2. It offers you another great way to be found.  Remember it is always advantageous to advertise yourself along with your strengths and weaknesses.   LinkedIn actually allows you to upload your entire resume on to the site.
  3. It helps you find others who you might be interested in connecting.
  4. It has a wonderful component called Answers that allows you to learn and share information.
  5. It offers you the ability to join groups and network with others in yours or related businesses.  Being part of a group also allows you to expand your network.

 Who uses LinkedIn? (to name a few)

  1. Recruiting managers and job seekers.
  2. Professionals who want to search for potential clients at the same time they are developing their reputation.
  3. Small companies and individuals who are interested in establishing their identity and establishing a reputation.
  4. Individuals who are looking for a way to meet and develop business partnerships.

In future blogs I will add ways to take of advantage of using LinkedIn to its fullest.  For those of you who are already using the site, I would love to have you contribute some of the ways LinkedIn has helped you expand your business.

 

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Why Doing Good Online Marketing is SO Important

Posted on August 16, 2010 by eptoay

Many companies, both large and small, are still reluctant to dip their toes into the ocean called Social Media. 

Why are many companies so reluctant to start using Social Media?  After doing some research,  I have come to the conclusion it is because of the age old fear that most of us go through - the fear of change.  Many companies believe the old ways have worked for years – why should they change now?  A number of people have told me they don’t have the time and/or they don’t want to waste their time on this "fad".  Many have no idea what the different sites have to offer. 
 
To use an example, a lot of people know about Facebook profiles but they have no idea about Facebook Pages.  Consequently, they think Facebook is just a site where people share stories and pictures about their families, play games, talk about what they ate for breakfast or other things just about as mundane. 
 

The Old Ways of Marketing

Until recently, people have thought that the only type of effective marketing is what is referred to as static marketing.  The concept of this type of marketing is what many call "one to many".  The mediums used with this type of marketing are TV ads (often where someone is screaming at you about the product  – think of Billy Mays or Joe Isuzu) .  Billboards – those lovely large signs that litter up our beautiful landscape.  Print advertising is effective – that type of advertising goes back for years..

The problems with that type of marketing are as follows:

  • TV remotes and DVRs.  Nowadays just about everyone has a remote so we often just push the mute button – especially when an obnoxious ad comes on.  If a show is recorded, most people fast forward through the ads. 
  • Short term -  has to be done over and over for people to become aware of the product and/or service.
  • Very impersonal.  No relationship is build and no loyalty is developed.  People will go elsewhere if they feel they can get a better deal.
  • Expensive – the cost  is prohibitive.  It really limits who can do it – companies have to have deep pockets.
  • Random – no way to track who is getting the message and how effective it is.

The New Way of Marketing

Social Media is here to stay – it is not just a fad.  Marketing online is a two-way conversation and is about communicating with others instead of  "preaching to the choir".  People are now going online to check out  products and services long before they buy.  They want to know what the product or service is going to do for them.

Recently I read an article about how many companies are missing the boat.  The author used an example of about looking for a car that he and his wife were planning to buy in about six months – they were in no hurry -  just wanted to know what was out there. 

He went onto the sites of several  large automotive companies.  Everything he found was very cut and dried.  He then decided to browse some of the different dealerships in his town.  All he could find was information about financing deals if he was willing to bargain within 48 hours.  There was literally nothing personal on any site or anything to make him want to stay on the site.

What if instead, he had gotten information on different cars, had learned about the people in the different departments and had read some personal stories of customer satisfaction?   Or what if there had been a landing page where he could have downloaded something of value.  How about some blog postings about the inner workings of the dealership or tips about how to prolong the life of your car.  Wouldn’t this interest you more and make you more willing to bookmark the site for future visits?

This is what the new marketing is all about.  If you are not embracing the idea, you had better think twice.  Otherwise, one day you could find your inventory is high and your client base is low.  

We all want to feel we count – that is what the new way of marketing is all about.

 

 

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