Content is King
You’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase before. And it makes perfect sense when you consider that your content is the thing that attracts your customers to your product or service, and then retains their attention. With clear, concise and compelling information about your company, your products and your services, presented in the most effective and efficient way, you hope to move the visitor to view your offering in a favorable way, and then take action as they make their purchasing decision.
Obviously the primary goal of your online content should always be to drive these key purchasing decisions and responses, since after all, this is the reason you’re in business, right? But there is an added benefit to having great content online. You are also affecting future inquiries and sales by virtue of improving your online search engine ranking, or SEO (search engine optimization) results when you have great content.
The algorithms used by Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. are far too complex and have too many variables to be discussed in an article of this length, but suffice it to say that the quality of your content - meaning the inclusion of keywords that are relevant to your product category and the frequency of their use - as well as the number of external links from other online sources to your content AND the frequency of your web updates or postings are all quite important for creating a good SEO ranking for your website. And the higher your score, the more likely it is that you will be found in “organic” search engine results and be higher up on the list of results – which means more visitors to your site, and which also means more business for you.
There are a number of effective ways to create and share your content online. The most important categories are:
E-NEWS
E-Newsletters, or email marketing, are one great way to share valuable information, advice, special promotions and offers with your customers and prospects. This method is dependent on you having a good list of email addresses, of course. (If you do not track email addresses for your customers or business contacts, now is a great time to start! This list is one of your most valuable resources for future business.)
There are a number of tips and tricks that you can employ to increase the “open” rate of your email newsletter, and then the “click” rate, or those that actually take action after reading your message. Most distribution vendors also provide valuable information not only on open and click thrus, but also things like email address bounces and unsubscribes. Other details such as the subject line, the use of graphics, and keeping important links “above the fold” in your message can increase your readership and your response rates.
PROFESSIONAL BLOGS
For those that do not have a viable list of email addresses for their customers, a professional blog is another way to communicate with the masses and get the word out about your service or product. A well written blog can establish you as an expert within your business category, a “trusted advisor” that readers will consult before making their purchasing decisions.
Promoting your blog is vital. Not only should your official blog be prominently featured (and hosted) on your website, but also social media sites and other online venues. (Why host on your website, as opposed to a blogging site like blogger.com? Because you want the “juice,” or the boost in SEO score, to apply to YOUR website, not the website of an external entity. We have the capability at Hat Trick Associates to install a WordPress blogging script and interface within your website, to generate the additional web content benefits for your own site and not someone else’s.)
One of the many great aspects of a blog is the ability to receive comments back from your readership, which creates a more collaborative and interactive environment for your communications. This type of feedback is vital to understanding the changing wants and needs of your customer base, and responding appropriately.
SOCIAL NETWORKS – FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN
Social networking sites can be another important and growing tool in distributing your content online. Facebook fan pages, Twitter feeds and other networking sites such as company pages on LinkedIn provide a great platform not only to connect and communicate with your customer base, but also gives them the opportunity to provide feedback and spread the message about your organization to all of the other connections they have on these social media sites. And the usage of these sites is rapidly increasing, and not just among the younger generations. The fastest growing segment on Facebook you may wonder? Women over the age of 55.
HAT TRICK ASSOCIATES: WE. CREATE. CONTENT.
Hat Trick Associates specializes in the creation and distribution of web content. Whether it be a custom E-Newsletter template and unique content researched and written every month for each issue; a professional blog created for you, with 100% original blog posts researched and written for you and published on a pre-determined schedule; or a social networking account such as a Facebook fan page or Twitter feed set up and content-managed for you, Hat Trick Associates can help!
We also create web page copy and can build a new site for you from the ground up, from the creation of an original sitemap to the content and links needed for every page within your new website.
Not only do we offer top-notch research and writing capabilities for web content, but the Hat Trick Associates team also includes an expert and award winning graphic designer, with many years of agency Art Direction and expertise. We offer complete web design, development and hosting services, including our new Content Management Made Easy website option. To see our demo website please visit: content managed websites.
We also have a resident SEO specialist with years of extensive search engine ranking experience, knowledge and expertise to help with more detailed initiatives, like major link-building campaigns and submissions to thousands of web directories.
You will also find our pricing structure to be quite attractive for content of our quality, especially for those that have utilized expensive (and these days, less effective) traditional print advertising or marketing and sales collateral in the past.
Please visit www.hattrickassociates.com for more information about our services and your many content options, and for access to our official blog and Twitter feed.
Showing posts with label Social Networks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Networks. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Fun Facts About Email
By now you've certainly read or heard about the incredible statistics that surround social networks. Social networks and blogs are the 4th most popular online activities, and 67% of global users visit member communities daily, and 10% of all time spent on the internet is on social media sites. Another interesting fact is that 80% of companies use, (or are planning to use), LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees this year and into 2010.
Impressive stats for sure. But what about social networking's older brother, the venerable email? What are some fun statistics that you can throw around at your next cocktail party? Well, how about:
If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined.
247 billion emails are sent each day. That's one email every 0.00000035 seconds.
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, some 20 million emails entered cyberspace.
Every second, the world's email users produce messages equivalent in size to over 16,000 copies of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (assuming a 30KB average email size).
13.4 billion: the number of direct marketing dollars forecast to go on email in the US in 2009.
$583 billion: the return from that investment if you use standard figures on email marketing ROI. That's four times the market value of Microsoft.
181: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to buy one share in Microsoft.
83,689,738,832,367: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to pay the US National Debt.
Impressive stats for sure. But what about social networking's older brother, the venerable email? What are some fun statistics that you can throw around at your next cocktail party? Well, how about:
If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined.
247 billion emails are sent each day. That's one email every 0.00000035 seconds.
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, some 20 million emails entered cyberspace.
Every second, the world's email users produce messages equivalent in size to over 16,000 copies of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (assuming a 30KB average email size).
13.4 billion: the number of direct marketing dollars forecast to go on email in the US in 2009.
$583 billion: the return from that investment if you use standard figures on email marketing ROI. That's four times the market value of Microsoft.
181: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to buy one share in Microsoft.
83,689,738,832,367: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to pay the US National Debt.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
15 Reasons that Email Isn't Going Away Anytime Soon
So we have all been talking a lot about social networks, and how they are fundamentally changing the way that we communicate. But while it is certainly true that these networks are becoming more and more vital to reaching your customers, clients and members, that doesn't mean that email marketing has lost its importance too.
In fact, the two communication strategies can co-exist nicely, and address different needs for reaching out to consumers. Here are the Top 15 Reasons Email Isn't Going Away Anytime Soon.
1. People still send hand-written letters via snail mail, even though they could instead make a phone call, send an email, text message, or status update.
2. Nearly all sites on the web that require registration still require an email address. Some are starting to integrate social media into this process (through things like Facebook Connect), but that is still a small fraction, and they typically still allow for email information as well.
3. Email notifies you of updates from all social networks you are a part of (provided your settings are set up that way).
4. Email is universal, and social networks are not, at least not yet. Nearly everybody on the web (while there are no doubt some exceptions) has an email address. Most places of employment give employees email addresses when they begin working there. Meanwhile, some of them are restricting workers from accessing social networks.
5. Email is still improving. It hasn't screeched to a halt with the rise of social media. There is still innovation going on, and integration with social media. Look at the new Yahoo Mail, and how Google is constantly adding new features to Gmail.
6. Even social networks themselves recognize the importance of email. Never mind that they update users about community-driven happenings via email. MySpace, still one of the biggest social networks, even launched its own email service recently.
7. More social media use means more email use. Look at these recent findings from Nielsen. The people consuming the largest amount of social media are also the people consuming the largest amount of email.
8. Twitter and Facebook are fantastic products and companies; but that's what they are, companies. Even though email is host to 279 million users vs. 301 million users of social media according to Nielsen, email isn't going anywhere so on with many companies offering it as a service. Twitter and Facebook are just two companies that likely make up most of the social media users.
9. Your email recipients are still going to use business email for business purposes. They'll not likely let their boss know that they've finished the spreadsheet and are ready for the meeting now by posting to Twitter. If they don't use their business email address they probably also have a personal email account that they like to receive your email-only specials.
10. You can't easily segment your friends and followers to do targeted marketing in Twitter & Facebook for the optimal response.
11. You can't tell who clicked on a link with some social media outlets so that you can follow up with them again because they might be interested in your content. That said, since you also can't tell who didn't click on the link so you can follow up with them with a different message trying to get them to take action.
12. You cannot size your graphics or use more than one in Facebook. You can't use them at all in Twitter. Graphics can help tell a story.
13. You can't track how many clicks you got on your links in Facebook unless you use a third party URL shortener.
14. You are limited to 140 characters in Twitter, leaving it impossible to put multiple messages in one Tweet.
15. You almost have to have separate social media accounts for your business and your personal life. Some customers might not care about that vacation you took where you...let's just say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
As far as online marketing is concerned, email is still a great channel of communication, as many companies continue their search to find the right social media strategy to suit their needs.
There have been a significant number of studies released in recent memory, indicating that email marketing is doing quite well. Epsilon shared some findings about how email marketing is driving offline purchases. The same firm also found that email open rates increased for the fourth quarter in a row (up 18% YoY according to the most recent study). Forrester Consulting and ExactTarget found that email marketing is the most popular channel for consumers. Earlier this year, Forrester Research reported that email marketing in the U.S. alone was expected to reach $2 billion by 2014.
Is the email landscape changing? Yes, without a doubt. Social media has become a very large part of the online lives for many Internet users. Earlier this year, social sites were even said to have surpassed email in usage. That said, Facebook has come significantly close to matching Google in terms of unique visitors, but that doesn't make Google any less important does it? The two can co-exist, and so can email and social media. They are co-existing.
So email marketers are facing new challenges with an increasingly social and mobile web, but we are meeting those challenges too, and continually finding effective ways to connect with consumers with email.
In fact, the two communication strategies can co-exist nicely, and address different needs for reaching out to consumers. Here are the Top 15 Reasons Email Isn't Going Away Anytime Soon.
1. People still send hand-written letters via snail mail, even though they could instead make a phone call, send an email, text message, or status update.
2. Nearly all sites on the web that require registration still require an email address. Some are starting to integrate social media into this process (through things like Facebook Connect), but that is still a small fraction, and they typically still allow for email information as well.
3. Email notifies you of updates from all social networks you are a part of (provided your settings are set up that way).
4. Email is universal, and social networks are not, at least not yet. Nearly everybody on the web (while there are no doubt some exceptions) has an email address. Most places of employment give employees email addresses when they begin working there. Meanwhile, some of them are restricting workers from accessing social networks.
5. Email is still improving. It hasn't screeched to a halt with the rise of social media. There is still innovation going on, and integration with social media. Look at the new Yahoo Mail, and how Google is constantly adding new features to Gmail.
6. Even social networks themselves recognize the importance of email. Never mind that they update users about community-driven happenings via email. MySpace, still one of the biggest social networks, even launched its own email service recently.
7. More social media use means more email use. Look at these recent findings from Nielsen. The people consuming the largest amount of social media are also the people consuming the largest amount of email.
8. Twitter and Facebook are fantastic products and companies; but that's what they are, companies. Even though email is host to 279 million users vs. 301 million users of social media according to Nielsen, email isn't going anywhere so on with many companies offering it as a service. Twitter and Facebook are just two companies that likely make up most of the social media users.
9. Your email recipients are still going to use business email for business purposes. They'll not likely let their boss know that they've finished the spreadsheet and are ready for the meeting now by posting to Twitter. If they don't use their business email address they probably also have a personal email account that they like to receive your email-only specials.
10. You can't easily segment your friends and followers to do targeted marketing in Twitter & Facebook for the optimal response.
11. You can't tell who clicked on a link with some social media outlets so that you can follow up with them again because they might be interested in your content. That said, since you also can't tell who didn't click on the link so you can follow up with them with a different message trying to get them to take action.
12. You cannot size your graphics or use more than one in Facebook. You can't use them at all in Twitter. Graphics can help tell a story.
13. You can't track how many clicks you got on your links in Facebook unless you use a third party URL shortener.
14. You are limited to 140 characters in Twitter, leaving it impossible to put multiple messages in one Tweet.
15. You almost have to have separate social media accounts for your business and your personal life. Some customers might not care about that vacation you took where you...let's just say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
As far as online marketing is concerned, email is still a great channel of communication, as many companies continue their search to find the right social media strategy to suit their needs.
There have been a significant number of studies released in recent memory, indicating that email marketing is doing quite well. Epsilon shared some findings about how email marketing is driving offline purchases. The same firm also found that email open rates increased for the fourth quarter in a row (up 18% YoY according to the most recent study). Forrester Consulting and ExactTarget found that email marketing is the most popular channel for consumers. Earlier this year, Forrester Research reported that email marketing in the U.S. alone was expected to reach $2 billion by 2014.
Is the email landscape changing? Yes, without a doubt. Social media has become a very large part of the online lives for many Internet users. Earlier this year, social sites were even said to have surpassed email in usage. That said, Facebook has come significantly close to matching Google in terms of unique visitors, but that doesn't make Google any less important does it? The two can co-exist, and so can email and social media. They are co-existing.
So email marketers are facing new challenges with an increasingly social and mobile web, but we are meeting those challenges too, and continually finding effective ways to connect with consumers with email.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Social Networks Are Fundamentally Changing How We Communicate
Although I quote or cite research all the time here on my blog, I don't often include direct links to other content, other than my company www.hattrickassociates.com. But I came across this on Twitter and thought I would share.
The title is 5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Daily Lives, and I think that it speaks to both the things we are doing now at Hat Trick Associates, but also the way that individuals will be communicating for the next 20 years!
One of the things I really liked about this article is that it begins by asking you a question: How is the way you communicate with your social network, connect with business partners; get most of your news; find new employees, entertain yourself; etc. etc. different now as compared to just 5 years ago?
The differences are HUGE for myself personally, and I'm sure for most of you as well. There has been a shift in how we send and receive information. When selecting a company to do business with, I am FAR more interested in the customer service experiences or opinions of friends or colleagues that I see online than more generalized or "generic" ratings...and now I can get them from everyone, quite easily - instantaneously!
We have very quickly gone from simply knowing email or IM addresses of our friends, family and coworkers, to now being completely interconnected with them on services like Facebook or LinkedIn. And we can let the world know exactly what is on our mind the second we think it on our social networks and on microblog sites like Twitter.
So it's really no surprise that 80% of all Tweets are actually sent from mobile devices. Imagine all that is being said about YOU as your customer, client or member is walking out your door after having a GREAT customer experience.
Or, what do you think happens if they have had a BAD one??
And how can you take advantage of this new opportunity to connect and interact with the people who matter most to the success of your organization? From a business standpoint, those are certainly thoughts that your company should be pondering, and answering, right now...
Here is the article: http://mashable.com/2009/10/16/social-media-changing-lives/
And please comment if you have thoughts on this topic, or any of the other topics that I include in my blog postings.
The title is 5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Daily Lives, and I think that it speaks to both the things we are doing now at Hat Trick Associates, but also the way that individuals will be communicating for the next 20 years!
One of the things I really liked about this article is that it begins by asking you a question: How is the way you communicate with your social network, connect with business partners; get most of your news; find new employees, entertain yourself; etc. etc. different now as compared to just 5 years ago?
The differences are HUGE for myself personally, and I'm sure for most of you as well. There has been a shift in how we send and receive information. When selecting a company to do business with, I am FAR more interested in the customer service experiences or opinions of friends or colleagues that I see online than more generalized or "generic" ratings...and now I can get them from everyone, quite easily - instantaneously!
We have very quickly gone from simply knowing email or IM addresses of our friends, family and coworkers, to now being completely interconnected with them on services like Facebook or LinkedIn. And we can let the world know exactly what is on our mind the second we think it on our social networks and on microblog sites like Twitter.
So it's really no surprise that 80% of all Tweets are actually sent from mobile devices. Imagine all that is being said about YOU as your customer, client or member is walking out your door after having a GREAT customer experience.
Or, what do you think happens if they have had a BAD one??
And how can you take advantage of this new opportunity to connect and interact with the people who matter most to the success of your organization? From a business standpoint, those are certainly thoughts that your company should be pondering, and answering, right now...
Here is the article: http://mashable.com/2009/10/16/social-media-changing-lives/
And please comment if you have thoughts on this topic, or any of the other topics that I include in my blog postings.
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