April , 2010

Social Media

Social media can no longer be ignored in today’s world of online marketing. From presidential campaigns to computer sales, they are having an impact like never before. People are using social media globally to debate important social issues and they are becoming a recognized source of breaking news. Just look at the recent events in Haiti and the flourish of activity through Facebook and Twitter.

Tip: Keep in mind that social media applications are all about building relationships.

Many small business owners don't see how Twitter can help them market their business. But many major retailers have already gotten the hang of the Internet's fastest-growing and most talked-about social media site and are using it to their advantage.

Promoting your Business

Promoting your business name is important but it is a mistake to use your Meta tags and page Title element for branding. Instead use the keywords you wish to be found for. Search engines no longer give much value to the Meta tags but the page Title element is still very important. They insist that you get to the point and tell them what you are all about concisely and right up front. In general, a search engine gives value to the first 50-75 characters of the Title element, so it is important to place your best keywords at the beginning. Commonly the company name is inserted here or even worse, the word “Home.”

Tip: Unless your company is already a household name and people are searching for it in large numbers, don't waste your best SEO real estate on it. For example, if you are the ACME Coffee Import Company of America and your target keyword phrase is "fair trade coffee in Fresno" then don't insist on putting your company name first in the Title element. Search engines will interpret this to mean that the keyword phrase you wish to compete for has little to do with fair trade coffee in Fresno and that you actually would rather compete for your company name – which, by the way, no one is searching for.

Take away: In the page Title element, concentrate on promoting your best keyword efforts rather than on branding. Although branding is an important aspect of marketing, save your branding for your web page content itself