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Recent Blog Posts
The Four Most Popular Search Engines
While you may not be familiar with the term “genericized trademark,” you probably use them every day. When you have a cold, you may ask for a Kleenex, despite the box being labeled as Puffs. If you cut yourself, you will probably go find a Band-Aid, and maybe take an aspirin for lingering pain. Hook-and-loop fasteners of any type you likely know as Velcro. Now, the same concept is being applied to the world of digital technology, and especially online searches. Not all that long ago, it was relatively common to direct someone looking for information on a particular topic to Ask Jeeves, referring to a search engine launched in 1995. You can probably see where this is headed; today, hardly an hour goes by where you do not hear the phrase “Google it,” or “I was Googling something…" Despite Google's stranglehold on its search engine competitors, it is important to recognize that alternatives do exist and may actually be more popular than many realize.
How Clients Find Lawyers in 2015: Understanding the Need for Online Legal Marketing
For decades, a prospective legal client in need of representation had very limited avenues for finding a lawyer. In most cases, he or she would start by digging out the trusty, old phone book and scanning the yellow pages for a firm that looked decent—if the firm was successful enough to spend the extra money— in a two-inch square advertisement. The potential client could also ask friends or family, which, depending on the legal matter at hand, could often be embarrassing or not easy to explain. Beyond that, much was left to mere chance. If a person was lucky enough to stumble upon a good lawyer, great. If not, it was sometimes difficult to tell before the damage was done.
Evolving Consumer Options
Fortunately, the communication age and the rise of digital technology is changing all of that. Do you remember the last time you opened a phone book? Do you even know where to find one? Similarly, modern consumers are also less likely to rely solely on the advice of friends and family without doing a little checking around for themselves. If you were in need of some type of service—say, a good auto body shop—would you ask a friend, then immediately call the shop ready to make an appointment? Maybe, but probably not. More likely, you would get the name of the business and find out what you could about the shop online. You would read reviews, see how they present themselves, and understand how they compare to similar options. Depending upon what you find, then you may be ready to trust them with your car.
A Content Marketing Metaphor, Continued: Get Out There and Play
Recently on this blog, a previous post drew a comparison between a successful football program and an effective content marketing strategy. It discussed the importance of detailed preparation and intense focus as you and your team prepare to launch a new campaign or an update to existing one. With football season now fully underway across the nation, it is time to take the analogy a step or two further: now, it is game time.
Start With Fanfare
Think about a high school or college football stadium just before kickoff. Is it quiet? Does the team subtly sneak out of the locker room and over to the sideline? Absolutely not! The band is playing, the crowd is going crazy, and the players burst out onto the field, barely able to control their enthusiasm. The launch of your marketing plan should be handled in the same way. Take steps so that the public is aware of your existence and your efforts. Issue press releases, allow your excitement to be felt on social media, and get your team fully invested.
A Content Marketing Metaphor: Training Camp and Pregame
Around the country, football season is getting underway. The nation’s most popular sport takes center stage each fall, as athletes as young as 5 and 6 years old take to the gridiron—non-contact, of course—to experience the thrill of competition. At higher levels, including high school, college, and beyond, the game of football is a year-round endeavor requiring dedication, hard work, and constant attention to ever-changing rules and challenges. In many ways, a successful football program shares many similarities with an effective content marketing strategy. While, as a business owner, you may not risk physical injury on the field of play, a casual, unprepared approach to marketing can leave your brand bruised and beaten.
No Off-Season
The analogous comparison to football is not exact, of course, as your marketing efforts are not primarily focused on a single season. Your business and online presence requires your attention every month of the year. However, just as a football team continues to workout, study, improve, and prepare during the off-season, you and your marketing team should be doing the same, no matter what campaigns are currently ongoing.
Facebook Drives One Quarter of All Internet Traffic
A generation or two ago, the world was a different place. We checked newspapers for sports scores and movie times. We learned about current events from Walter Cronkite and, later, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw. We gathered information about businesses from friends or neighbors, then looked in the phone book for a number to call. Today, virtually all of the same information and infinitely more is available with a few clicks of a mouse or a few taps on a touchscreen. The internet has become an unimaginably vast resource with limitless possibilities, yet research suggests that nearly one third of internet traffic is driven by social media sites and apps. If you want users to find your company’s website, a presence on Facebook, Pinterest, or Google Plus is more important than ever before.
Despite Digital Amnesia, U.S. Internet Users Feel Better Informed
Without looking your cell phone, what is your neighbor’s phone number? How about a different question: Do you know your checking account number? If you having trouble recalling pieces of information such as these, you are not alone. According to a recent study, there may be direct correlation between the availability of information on the internet or stored on cell phones and an increasing failure of people committing that information to memory.
Google Effect and Digital Amnesia
The study was conducted by Kaspersky Lab, an international software security group, whose reach includes nearly 200 countries and territories around the world. Kaspersky Lab looked to build on previous findings from 2011, in which Harvard-based researchers, along with those from other universities, identified what they referred to as "the Google Effect." The Google Effect was meant as a description of how younger people’s method of remembering information is changing; specifically, they retained fewer distinct pieces of data but could easily remember where to find it online when needed.
Niche SEO Professionals May Offer Better Return on Your Marketing Investment
Consider a business owner who is looking to build an entirely new location for his or her office. The land has been purchased and now it needs to be cleared, leveled, and excavated. The foundation must be laid, the structure built, various utilities installed, and countless other projects must be completed before the new building can open for business. Would you expect to see a well-rounded general contractor operating a bulldozer this week, pouring concrete next week, framing walls the week after, and wiring the building for electricity a month later? In construction, a single person, no matter how skilled, would rarely take on a number of such specialized roles; instead, the general contractor will bring in subcontractors to handle each area with precision and specific expertise. The same principles can apply to increasing your company’s online visibility, as a team of niche SEO professionals with individual areas of strength can be much more efficient and successful than a single, SEO “general contractor.”
Off-Page SEO: A Commonly Forgotten Part of Search Engine Optimization
There are countless internet resources available to help business professionals create engaging websites to tap into the digital marketplace. A web developer with rudimentary skills can create a webpage with a sleek and modern look that provides your prospective customers with the information they want. A visually appealing website, however, is just the beginning; prospective customers must be able to find you. Enter the concept of search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO lets you harness the power of the internet and massive search engines to increase your online presence. While you may have heard of SEO, and possibly have incorporated some if its techniques into your website, off-page SEO is a major factor in generating traffic to your company’s site.
The Surprising Benefits of Negative Reviews
At the risk of overusing an already ubiquitous cliché, pleasing everyone all the time is simply not possible. As a business professional, you undoubtedly have seen this principle in action in your own company. You may have a customer-satisfaction rate nearing 98 percent, but the remaining two percent will frequently be very vocal about their displeasure. Those unhappy clients are also much more likely to take to the internet with their frustrations by leaving negative reviews on Google or Yelp. While such reviews may seem like an obstacle for your business to overcome, research indicates that your disgruntled customers may actually be doing you a service.
Over the last few years, several studies have found that there is little to fear from occasional negative online reviews. In fact, many businesses may even realize a variety of benefits from such opinions, when properly handled and addressed. It may be surprising, but it is true: negative reviews can actually increase trust in your company which, in turn, may increase your bottom line.
Do Not Forget Twitter in Your Marketing Strategy
When you are looking to build your brand and grow your business, you want to explore every possible avenue for success. Your current customers may understand that you provide high-quality services and are committed to their satisfaction, but in today’s world, that is only the beginning. Building an online presence is vital to attracting new clients and helping them to understand why they should be doing business with you. Effective use of social media should be a large part of any strong digital marketing campaign, and, while Facebook may be the world’s largest social networking site, Twitter may offer a number of advantages as well.
A Brief History of Twitter
In 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the world’s first tweet: “just setting up my twttr”, and the service was born. Originally designed as one of the first truly mobile social media platforms, Twitter was intended to be SMS-based meaning it was to utilize the same Short Message Service technology as text messaging. Twitter’s 140 character limitation is a creative holdover from its SMS-based design, but the constraint has been credited as the inspiration for the emergence of one of pop culture’s most recognizable icons, the hashtag (#).
