Posts Tagged ‘blogging’
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
LocalDirective is working on a project that we are really excited about. We aren’t quite ready to announce it yet, but we wanted to go ahead and introduce a new concept – the blogsite.
Definition: Blogsite
The term “blog” is a short version of “weblog” which is an ongoing, frequently updated chronicle of information and links. Blogs were meant to allow for quick and easy publication of information. This is different than the traditional website. Updating a website requires technical skills which meant that the process to publish information was slower. However, the power and abilities of a website allowed for robust, interactive delivery of information. A blogsite is a combination of the blog and website where the delivery of information was fast and easy while still maintaining the power of a website.
Our Mission
We were approached by a company that wanted to create a community of like-minded people that facilitated the sharing of information. Since this was meant to be a community, they needed to be able to easily update and share information and allow for other members of the community to share as well. They also wanted to be able to deliver functionality that, due to its complexity, was traditionally delivered through a website. All of this community involvement was a key part of this company’s marketing program so in the end, this project was meant to increase brand recognition and consumer loyalty.
LocalDirective Takes The Challenge
The LocalDirective team carefully reviewed this goal and developed a list of requirements. Then it came time to determine what functionality would be used to build this community. What resulted is the birth of the blogsite.
Do You Need A Blogsite?
With today’s emphasis on businesses incorporating social media into marketing you should, if you aren’t already, be developing your social media strategy. At the heart of social media marketing is the concept of community. You can develop community using traditional social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others. Or, you could choose to build your own channel as was the case of this company. It is too early to determine whether the community will show the results that are projected, but early indications are that it will exceed expectations!
Tags: blogging, digital trends, Facebook, localdirective website development, powerful websites, SEO, smm, social media, social media marketing, website design, website effectiveness, website redesign, website revitilization, website target audience
Posted in Industry Spotlight, Social Media, Website | No Comments »
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
With the explosion of social media usage, businesses are frantically searching for ways to engage people where they are. And that’s online.
Here are a few facts:
• There are over 500 million active users on Facebook.
• By July 2010, 20 million messages (“Tweets”) were sent through Twitter.
• The change in social media use among Baby Boomers 55-64 rose from 9% in December 2008 to 43% in December 2010.
• Social networking site usage grew 88 percent among Internet users aged 55-64 between April 2009 and May 2010.
Companies are responding by building Facebook pages, setting up Twitter accounts, and developing corporate blogs. The problem is a lot of these companies are setting up the tools before they actually have a strategy in place.
It really isn’t helpful to simply set up a presence online. There’s much more to it than that. To make the most of social media, companies need to design experiences that deliver real value in return for their customers’ time, attention, and ultimately, their endorsement.
A good social media strategy revolves around the concept of building a community. The community would revolve around your brand or company. As the leader of the community, you will nurture existing customers and attract new ones through a process of ongoing conversation. Your strategy will define that process.
There is no “one-size-fits-all” for social media marketing strategies. Each plan should be tailored to your product or service and your customers. If you don’t have experience developing a social media marketing strategy this process can be outsourced. Just make sure to pick a partner who takes the time to know your company and your clients before you are thrown into the middle of the social media mayhem.
Tags: blogging, Facebook, mobile marketing, social media, social media marketing
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
If you’ve spent any time researching how businesses are using email marketing you may be confused. This is because you will find differing opinions on how often email should be sent, how the email should look, and what day of the week and time of day it should be sent. Through trial and error, email marketing tactics have been refined based on the preferences of customers. But customers differ from industry to industry so your email marketing needs to be modified depending on your customers.
But what is perfectly clear is that email marketing is very effective for directly communicating with your customers. People read email. Moreover, people use email to share relevant information within their social network. A study done in September, 2010 by Chadwick Martin and Bailey shows that close to half (49%) of consumers share content online at least once per week, with the vast majority sharing through email (86%).
So, there is no question about whether you should include email in your marketing strategy. Here are a few best practices to consider.
Relevance
Just like with any other marketing strategy you employ, you must know the wants and needs of your customers to do email marketing effectively. It is critical to provide information that is tailored and relevant to them. If the information you are providing is not important to them they will not read it and they certainly will not share it.
Consistency
You should send emails regularly. Deciding whether you should send information once per week or once per month depends upon your industry, but once decided, you must stick to the schedule and be consistent. If you show up when expected and provide relevant content, they will see you as their trusted advisor.
Design
Email clients such as Outlook, Google Mail, and Hotmail have different idiosyncrasies when displaying image-based email. This means that no matter how long you spend getting the colors, fonts, and image placement right different email clients will most likely alter them slightly. This fact, added to increasing number of people reading email using their mobile devices is leading toward a trend to keep email notes as simple as possible. Stay away from the tendency to “over-design” your email. Stick to a fluid layout that is as clean and simple as possible so that it can work with the wide variety of email clients and devices.
Social
Be sure to include links to social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to make sharing your information effortless. Facebook, for instance, comes in second to email for sharing content – 49% of adults share content there. So, by all means make this as easy as possible for them by adding links directly on the email.
The lesson here is that email marketing is important. If you are collecting email addresses from your customers be sure to use them. Giving them the information they are looking for will mean they will turn to your business when they are ready to buy.
Tags: blogging, email marketing, high rankings, social media marketing
Posted in Email Marketing | 2 Comments »
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
Seated in a not-so-well-known Florida community, Advantage Pet Center decided it was time to start competing with other pet boarding and grooming companies in nearby, better known communities. They came to LocalDirective with one request: help us compete in these markets.
As part of a comprehensive SEO strategy, we launched a blog for Advantage Pet Center and started developing content that would specifically appeal to their audience and help with bringing their Search Engine Rankings (SERPs) higher.
Blogging for SEO
Blogging helps with Search Engine Optimization in two ways:
- It creates fresh content to serve the Search Engines, which they love, and
- It creates additional links, when done properly, back to the site, increasing the authority of the site itself.
Writing For More Than Links
Search Engines really dislike content that is generated specifically for manipulating SERPs. Rather, they are most interested in delivering quality, relevant results to the user of the Search Engine. As such, when developing a blog as part of an SEO strategy, you must write with the intent of your content appealing to your target audience.
Advantage Pet Center has done just that, and with a unique twist. While some blogs attempt to stay general in their topic, Advantage Pet Center has taken the road of being very specific. Looking at the obstacles or pains a pet owner faces, both generally and at specific times of the year, we have helped them develop content designed to appeal to the target audience now…not in three or four months.
Here’s a sampling of topics recently discussed at the Advantage Pet Center blog:
- Controlling pet dander in the winter months
- Protecting your furniture from your cats claws
- Developing an exercise routine for colder months
- [Upcoming] Help Your Pets Survive Holiday Visitors
Moving Content With Gusto !
Aside from mere content development, thematic content is more powerfully leveraged when distributed to other content sites. Doing so increases the number of links coming back to your site, and increases the audience who will read and respond to the content.
Tags: advantage pet center, blogging, link building, Search Engine Optimization, SEO
Posted in Case Studies | No Comments »
Friday, November 12th, 2010
When thinking about Social Media Marketing (SMM), many entrepreneurs and marketing directors of small and mid-sized businesses see a time vacuum. In fact, SMM can drain a lot of time if you don’t know how to manage it. One of the vital keys to effectively leveraging SMM for your company is to develop a strategy for efficiently distributing your message and engaging your audience without having to log into a dozen, or more, different sites.
The key: L3 and Sync
When it comes to distributing your message, your blog can be a great hub for distributing your message, as well as engaging your audience through various other social networks. In a great article at Web Marketing Today, Lorrie Thomas suggests the L3 and Sync method:
- Link to your other social media – on your blog, be sure to provide links to the other social media outlets you leverage. These don’t have to be large images, but a simple icon linking to your profiles is sufficient.
- Link to social engagement tools – this is the re-tweet button, a link to your RSS feed, the Facebook Like button and Social Bookmarking tools. Simply, you’re giving your audience all the tools, effectively placed in your blog, to pass along your information to others, and help reach a wider audience.
- Link to other’s social media – Provide links to other blogs and social profiles your target audience may want to read and engage. The rule of thumb here is to point to people and organizations who will not take business away from you. Point to industry hubs, partnered vendors and complimentary companies, but not competitors.
- Sync your blog to your other Social Profiles – most social media outlets will connect to your blog (especially if you use WordPress, Typepad or Blogger). This allows you to produce one message, and then distribute that message across multiple channels.
The underlying key to Social Media Marketing is having a plan, goals, and a method of tracking your effectiveness. If you’re lost in how to put these three things together for your business, partner with an Internet Marketing Firm who specializes in quantitative Social Media marketing.
Tags: blog, blogging, smm, social media marketing
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
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