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Video: Dance Addicts Burnaby

One of the many videos on display we have done for one of our clients in the last little while!

Brand Push via Facebook

You have a reputable brand that deserves to have a following… what do you do?

Facebook has been allowing businesses to market online for a few years now; but have you been an innovator or laggard in adapting to this marketing opportunity? If you have been slower on the adaption curve then others, no fear, there are a few options that you have when marketing your company on Facebook.

1. Facebook Page
2. Facebook Group
3. Facebook Profile

Now, would you use a Facebook page, group or profile to market your company online? Well that depends!

Facebook Page

In most cases, if you want to be the voice for your brand, you will want a Facebook page.  Facebook pages are created specially for self-promotion and brand building. A Facebook page gives your company a custom/memorable URL, gives the administrator insights about the page and allows for social advertising. Some recent updates with Facebook pages are…

-       Notifications are sent to the administrator when fans interact with a page or post

-       Photos are now showcased along the top of the page

-       A news feed

-       Like and Post on other pages

Essentially, a Facebook page is the best option if you’re pushing your brand!

More importantly, Facebook Pages are better for your SEO. External search engines index your company’s Facebook page because pages are visible to unregistered user thus easier to find! Facebook groups are not SEO friendly because they are closed to unregistered users thus making it harder for search engines to find.

Facebook Group

If you want to create a community, you will want a Facebook group. Facebook groups are a closed community; people have to be approved to join.

For example, I am a member of the RRU Professional Communications Course – 2008 group, at University we used this group to share ideas and updates about the on-campus communication courses at Royal Roads University in 2008/2009. This group was specific to the University, Program, Cohort and Year. It became the go-to resource for our small community at RRU.

Stick with a Facebook page when interacting with your customers. Use a Facebook group when you need to build a community and rally around a cause, initiative, course or program… keep it specific!

Facebook Profile

A Facebook profile is for personal use. No ifs, ands or buts here! Creating a Facebook profile for your brand is just silly, especially when Facebook has created opportunities for you to market your company other ways.

In summary, whatever your purpose for marketing on Facebook, be smart about your approach. Understanding you tools is a crucial first step. Don’t move until your confident and ready with the tool you will be using.

Utilizing Images for Online Marketing Purposes

Images have been used as a method of marketing since the world of advertising and marketing has existed. As technology has advanced, we tend to think of methods used in years gone by as being outdated or no longer valid. If this is true, then why are images still so widely used in marketing to this day and what is it about them that makes them so effective? Whenever we think about any kind of marketing or advertising, images and pictures are always a part of our thought processes and design desires. Images are at the forefront of online marketing and advertising strategies, so when thinking about using pictures and imagery to promote or market online, it’s important to understand why you should use them, and also where to source the right images, and how and where to display them.

There is a long list of great reasons as to to why you should include images in your online marketing strategy. The first, and most common reason, is that images create a simple visual interpretation of what your product/service/company is or is offering. Using images that are related to what you are marketing is a no brainer, but this is not the only thing you should consider. An image should communicate on a deeper level than just a picture of your product or service. Engaging the consumer in the correct manner is more likely to keep their attention, which ultimately leads to revenue. Using images that mirror your target market is a great way to communicate the right message to your audience. Think about all aspects that encompass your target market, and use them in your online imagery. A basic way of interpreting this theory is, if you are marketing auto insurance for senior citizens, you wouldn’t show an image of a teenager sat in a sports car. The more your mirror your target audience in your online imagery, the more they will be engaged. So what if you’re just listing products and the images you have to show are of items you’re going to be selling? It’s always a good idea to have very clear, high quality images, from different angles. The higher the quality, the more detail the consumer can observe. You might opt to have a product set against a background which relates to it, a beach umbrella, for example, might be best displayed being used at the beach. This method does not always apply, if your products key selling points are detailed in nature, you might want to think about a blank background, so they key details of the product are it’s main focal point. If it’s an advertising image such as a banner or thumbnail link, bear in mind that usually the dimensions of these are small in comparison to regular images online. While you want to keep them visually striking and have them stand out, you also need to ensure key, relevant information is easily displayed and presented in such a way to entice reader into wanting to learn more. A feature often not thought of with online images, is their ability to promote you through the ranks of the popular search engines. Having the ability to add keyword tags (also known as meta data) to your images, all counts towards search engine optimization (SEO), and as the main source of information on the internet, it’s good business practice to ensure you utilize every part of search engine optimization possible.

The internet is a seemingly endless source of images, you’ll struggle to find an image related to what you’re looking for online. But this by any means doesn’t make it a free source of imagery for your marketing. Most images are copyright to their owners or businesses. Even though the internet is a huge marketplace and source of information, if you use an image which you’re not given permission to use, it’s generally easy for the owner to track the use of their images. So apart from taking pictures yourself and uploading them to your website, you’ll need to know what other options are available to you for sourcing imagery. There are tonnes of websites online which host a great deal if images categorized for ease of access. These websites offer memberships, some free, some paid, which allow the user to download and use their images without fear of copyright retribution. While these sites are great, and probably sound like exactly what you’re looking for, care should to be taken to review images to ensure they are allowed to be used for commercial purposes. Most images on the web are protected under the creative commons license, which dictates their ownership and usage information. There are also many talented freelance designers and companies that will create the perfect image for you, to your exact specifications.

Once you have your images, what should you do with them? There are many different ways you can use images online to promote or market your product, service or business. The most common use is on your website. Making use of the customization benefits or having your own website means you can choose the perfect place to display your imagery. Your website front page is a good place to start, but they should run through your entire website on almost every page, where applicable. Advertising space can be bought or sometimes traded with other websites so you can display your thumbnail links or advertising banners, imagery should be utilized in these cases, as it’s simple, effective and can portray more than just a few lines of text in a short space. Websites, blogs and online forums that focus on your type of business or service are a great place to utilize advertizing or affiliate space. Not only websites, but the rise in popularity of social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter makes them a fantastic place to utilize images, and the viral marketing capability of social media websites is an impressive marketing tool.

Using images to market online will play a key role in your ability to engage your target market. With the amount of information we’re presented with online, it’s only natural that we seek a quick summary of what we’re looking at before we commit our time to seeking further information. Images are a great way to do this. An uncommon factor to also take into consideration, is how easily pictures can be updated to make sure your image and business presentation is fresh and innovative. Whatever method you choose to market online, images will always play an important role in your ability to do so effectively

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Inbound Links for Online Marketing and SEO

An Underrated Social Media Tool. Think Outside the BOX!

The world wide web is in so many ways an unsolved and untapped market.  As a form of communication, a body of knowledge and a technological platform of infinite potential the internet has fast become one of the most integral parts of today’s society.  Constantly offering up innovative content and a means to reach out to family, friends, acquaintances and clients the web is a hot bed of social media potential.  Although people are repeatedly testing the boundaries of social media and looking for new avenues to spread their voice it is often habit to fall back into the old tried and true methods of social media, internet marketing and search engine optimization.

Social media stalwarts like location based social media such as Foursquare, real life update networks such as Facebook and Twitter and publishing facilitators like Word Press and Blogspot dominate the current online social outlets.  Utilizing many of the fore mentioned tools is a must for those that want to keep stride with the online social media experts.  What can often happen in a world filled with a steady bombardment of new social gizmos, gadgets and trinkets is that there is little time left to explore alternative ways to use social media to our advantage.  Within this blog I would like to briefly touch on one social media medium (as one of many examples) that is not widely talked about but is exactly the type of additional social media tools we need to add to our arsenal of sharing weapons to stay one step ahead of the pack.

The social media angle we will consider involves an increasingly popular communication application and platform that has not caught on near as much as it should.  Even with about 25 million users online at any one given time Skype is still a relatively under concentrated social media market.  As a software that lets you video chat, instant message, make long distance phone calls, transfer files, post status alerts, track location, create virtual address books and telephone directories among many other valuable and tantalizing features Skype is a social media masterpiece.  At times overlooked and cast aside because it deals almost exclusively with private information Skype is not seen as a completely viable social media vehicle.  In many cases it is simply that people are still uniformed about the power of Skype.  If we truly delve into the many facets of Skype there is much to be learned and gained in the way of social media.  Skype is a social media accessory that we will soon be unable to ignore.  Portable across a variety of computer types and scaled and funded correctly Skype can keep people connected at a fraction of the cost and with double the benefits of old world methodologies.  Skype builds relationships, encourages staying in touch and allows its users to reach out to many that would otherwise be unavailable due to location or cost of service.

The real exercise of this article is to begin to get us to think outside the normal social media ties of facebook, Twitter & co.  Anybody who is trying to maximize all the social media links available on the web will always be thinking about social media twists and trying to think outside the typical social media boxes.  If you are looking for fun and productive ways to jump start your business then shoot me a message or call.  Every business is unique and my passion is helping companies and individuals solve social media and search engine (SEO) optimization complexities.  Work with me to think at new levels and success should be right around the corner.  Hopefully we will be bumping into each other on Skype soon! I will add Skype to my email signature. Will you?

10 things you should avoid when using Social Media

Millions of people are using Social Media and no matter what your intentions are (promote yourself, your brand or your business…) you cannot afford to not evaluate this trend!

This blog is designed to help you to avoid a few of the top mistakes people make when engaging in Social Media. Take some ideas, pass them on, and leave a comment. Whatever you decide to do with it I hope reading this will be well worth your time!

1. Not having a clue

If you do not have a clue (also known as a Social Media strategy or roadmap) you will get lost. You will become frustrated and you will likely have a hard time to define success. If nothing else sit down with your team before diving into the world of Social Media and figure out a) what tools do you want to focus on and why and b) what your measurables are going to be and how you can monitor them.

2. Spamming people through facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other Social Networking tools

Whatever you do, do NOT spam people. People that constantly post about themselves are lame and will be asked to ‘move on’. It is nice to be able to introduce something special once in a while just don’t overdo it!

3. Over automating your Social Media accounts or not automating them at all

Automation to a degree is fine and it can save you plenty of time and make your Social Media presence more consistent. If you know you are going to be away for the afternoon but you would like an update to appear on your profile go for it! Totally fine! However, drip feeding tweets and lining up quotes or jokes that end up being out of context is not really going to give you any credit.

4. Using Social Media because everybody else is

Embrace Social Media to a degree don’t jump on every trend! Get involved with a few tools and exploit them to their full extend over time as your experience and presence in the world of Social Media grows. Do not just create a facebook group and a LinkedIn group as a nice to have or me too thing. It would be a way more favourable approach to actually focus on one of these tools that aligns with your target audience. Also take advantage of add-on tools like Tweetdeck for Twitter for example. You will be surprised how useful Twitter can actually be!

5. Commenting on your own blog articles with different identities

This is common practice especially at the beginning of a blogs life. It is also very tempting but it is better to be truthful and do your best to generate traffic to your blog. Or if that doesn’t work: Think about if what you are posting is relevant enough to justify a blog…

6. Not managing your time commitment

Jumping into Social Media head over heel is not going to cost you an arm and a leg but what it will cost you is time. Lots of it! There is so much noise (distractions) and the Social Media landscape is constantly changing. Find someone with a good understanding of Social Media to help make your first steps more successful and less frustrating. Tip: Use a tool like egg timer (http://e.ggtimer.com/)

to manage the time you spend on Social Media tools.

7. Stealing content and/ or not passing on credit

Stealing sucks! Stealing means taking something without permission… To be straight here: sharing his highly encouraged and one of the basic principles of Social Media. But: give people some credit! Mention the author and source pass on that inbound link!

8. Getting spiders or robots to create inbound links for you

Yes, they are out there programs (so called spiders or robots) that promise to create inbound links for you which are a very important component of SEO! Don’t use them. Google has gotten smarter and can actually distinguish between a quality and a spam inbound link! 10 good inbound links from pages with a good page rank are going to do you more good then 100 low graded inbound links. In fact the latter might actually harm your rankings!

9. Not letting go…

If you are a control freak Social Media is not for you. If you are constantly scared that someone may say something negative about your services or your company don’t use Social Media! Social Media is all about dynamic content creation from multiple and often independent sources.

10. Being inconsistent across different profiles

Let’s say you have gotten to a point where you have Twitter, LinkedIn and even facebook… Try to convey an at least similar message across the different media! Be consistent and do not risk your credibility by being all over the map. It is OK to promote different aspects of your business on different platforms according to your target market definition and where they hang out but it should be a company umbrella approach so that your social Media presence does not confuse prospective customers!

I could go on and on but this should do for now. Don’t do these 10 things and you’ll be better off. I guarantee it!

Keyword Research PLEASE!

Since its inception the internet has largely been based around words and verbiage. Swirling around among the billions of characters dispersed and distributed online are keywords and phrases that provide commonalities and connections among both humans and computers. When it comes to human wants, needs, curiosities, knowledge levels and desires there are certain keywords that standout and reverberate with emotion and understanding. Much stronger and more universal particular combinations of dictionary delights hold a wider ground and audience then others. Since the world wide web is such a vast amount of space it is often these type of global trends and ties such as keyword usage that allows people and computers to find what they are looking for. The internet is about searching, discovering and organizing. It is about efficiency and expandability and it is keywords and language that make much of this possible. It does not matter if you are a search engine junkie, a simple business man, a college student, a web crawler or spider, writer, artist, computer software or program, SEO expert, social media user or casual web surfer in some way or another when navigating the online world keywords will provide an assist in some form or another. For SEO, social media, advertising, marketing and search engine professionals keywords are an important focus. Keywords provide a breadth and depth of knowledge that is currently unmatched on the internet. From meta tags, to articles, to sales copy, to advertisements, to product descriptions to topic prevalence and relevance keywords are what often unite the minds and fingers attached to keyboards worldwide. In this article we will look at some of the ways the search engines view keywords and how to research them and then some of the ways we can do a little homegrown keyword research on our own.
As most people use search engines to ping around online we must place a lot of stock in what the search engines have to say about a words characteristics and value. Google being one of the most important players in the search engine industry has a great deal of insight into keyword value and strength. What is cool is that since companies like Google use keywords to maximize advertising revenue and search effectiveness they are very encouraging and open when it comes to keyword research. Here are free Google keyword tools I use often to find out which keywords others are searching for, whats trendy and what words are found in similar categories:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#

http://www.google.com/trends

Another search engine power house is the search engine Bing. Part of Microsoft’s latest creations and business ventures Bing is being hyped as the most advanced search engine online and as a worthy competitor to Google. Although Bing and Microsoft are still trying to figure out their place and direction in regards to keyword exposing and expanding it is still worth it to try to remain abreast on there latest keyword developments and a good place to start is the Bing community here:

http://www.bing.com/community

Once you have tackled and reviewed how a few of the major search engines process and view keywords it will be time to venture out with your own ideas and keyword tools too assure you are maximizing your keyword efforts. If you want to optimize for more then one search engine it is not enough to focus on only a couple of keyword outlets. Different search engines will use different algorithms and different search engine groups will follow different trends and phrases so it really is a good idea to keep your keyword search engine optimization (SEO), keyword social marketing and keyword advertising broad and diverse.
When conducting alternative keyword research there is a plethora of other free avenues to take to increase our keyword prowess. One way is to study and dissect the keywords involved in the top ranked sites in your specific niche or industry. Look at those that are doing the best in keyword implementation and search engine ranking and takeaway from there keyword treasure chest. Using a browser tool like Firefox’s SEOQuake ( http://seoquake.com/ ) or Firefox’s and Google Chrome’s SEOMoz ( http://www.seomoz.org/seo-toolbar ) which allows you to dissect and analyze keyword parameters for almost any site on the web. Also going to places like craigslist where keywords are placed at the bottom of ads or popular blogs where meta tags are displayed in the open is another successful method used to collect and build your own database of keywords tailored to your specific needs. Finally do not overlook all of the other really valuable FREE keyword tools on the internet. With free keyword tools available like the below there is little reason why your keyword powers should not be phenomenal.

https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

http://www.wordstream.com/keywords

http://searchanalytics.compete.com/

http://tools.digitalpoint.com/tracker.php

It is important to realize that the keyword landscape is complex and constantly evolving. It truly takes a dedicated and talented search engine optimization (SEO) professional or diligent, hard working and internet savvy individual to really grasp all that the keyword has to offer.
When it comes to keywords and search engine optimization (SEO) there is always much more then meets the typing and it is about digging around and constant testing and tweaking. The most optimal keywords will only reveal and flex themselves after a lot of careful and knowledgeable work is done. Even used extensively in pay per click advertising campaigns (PPC), market research and detailed web analytics and metrics, keywords can go far beyond search engine optimization (SEO). From the domain level to the URL level there are many tiers and layers involved in effective keyword management and deployment. Pay close attention to what the search engines and people are typing and thinking and you should remain one step ahead of the game. Staying on top of other keyword concepts such as top related queries, vertical results, searcher intent, potential relevance, social media activity and long tail identification is essential to becoming the best when it comes to keyword evaluation and integration. If you are having trouble with your keyword strategies or with the direction your keyword work is going give me a buzz and I would love to help. Even if you do not have the time or energy to deal with all the little details that come along with keywords and there online presence shoot me an email as I can provide cost and time effective keyword solutions. I wish you all the best in your keyword hunting, deriving, drilling, data mining and distinguishing. May the best possible keywords find there way to the online links you are trying to establish, maintain and purport.

Video For Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media

Not long ago making a movie or filming a product commercial was reserved for the rights of people like Steven Spielberg and companies like Toyota.  As what usually happens with all things technology based components became cheaper, faster and more accessible to the general masses.  Video equipment that was once only available to wealthy production houses has now found its way into the hands of the average person.  Film editing, production, content and distribution are all constantly evolving over time making each category more cost effective and efficient.  This means that people who never dreamed of making a video advertisement to sell an item or thought they would be capable of spreading their message through a video blog are now taking these types fantasies much more seriously.  Once impossible video ideas are now turning into realities and even viral internet sensations.  Slow, choppy and costly are not words usually associated with movies and video marketing anymore.  Smart phones, electronic personal assistants, laptops and home computers are all now very capable of streaming and processing video and manipulating image encoding making this type of media, art and communication format very available to the average consumer.  With very little time and effort marketers and entrepreneurs can now become more social and express their message to search engines and clients using exciting and visually stimulating video mediums.  In this blog I want to discuss how video and film can help in our search engine and social media campaigns and how we may use video to our advantage in the future.

I am sure we have all heard of YouTube and this is the perfect example of social video media’s strength.  Web and internet enthusiasts all over the world who were incapable of finding an audience now had access to millions of potential fans, friends and business partners.  With new tools such as small high definition video cameras, high speed transfer links and superior editing and content management and connectivity systems video uploads and messages are now a part of everyday life.  Humans have always been very visual creatures and those that are able to reach out through the lens of a video camera are quickly becoming the more noticeable properties online.  No longer is it enough to write a few words or post a few pictures.  Web surfers are now salivating for more video content.  Video is a very powerful form of communication and those that harness its abilities can prosper on the World Wide Web.  Video mediates interaction on a much more intimate and personal level which really appeals to human senses.  The internet, intelligent video businesses and online social video media outlets have now made video communication so affordable and convenient that it is foolish not to start investigating the subject.  Video is a social media possibility that goes far beyond the confines of simply reaching out to people through motion.

Another benefit of video that only professionals in the fields of web development and internet marketing really think about and consider is how friendly video is to search engine rankings and acceptance.  Video illuminates an entirely different platform for a website or individual subject matter and search engines such as Bing, Google, Yahoo and Ask are very receptive to the characteristics of video and what it has to offer.  One of the best aspects of video is that it can encourage a vast amount of search engine pleasantries.  Video commenting, business inquiry, keyword and article association, press releases, link exchange and advanced marketing techniques can all stem from and be a result of solid video presentations or film creatives.  Those that are not using video to expand their internet effectiveness are missing out on a considerable opportunity to further shine in the eyes of all of the search engines. Video draws more attention and when some of the allure transfers over to search engine databases it is only a good thing for any web founded endeavor.

Social and marketing based video media is one of the latest and most innovative tools people are utilizing to capture the attention of internet audiences.  Although creating a script, directing the action and spreading the message may seem like daunting and pricey tasks in the in the realm of video media with the software, expertise and distribution channels available most would be surprised at how truly cost effective and emotionally drawing digital media can be nowadays.  If you are struggling with your understanding of digital video and how it relates to the internet give me a call or shoot me an email and we can discuss some of the methods and tricks I am using for my campaigns.  Video internet media consulting and strategies, I can assure you, are worth every penny invested.  Grab some popcorn, sit back and relax and watch video media bring you all the traffic and business you can dream of.

Social Media Season’s Greetings

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients and associates for a very successful 2010.

We are looking forward to whatever 2011 holds in store for us.