January 8, 2012
Traffic is critical to the success of your website. You have to keep an ongoing process of traffic generation for the life of your website, so doing it effectively and finding free traffic will be ideal. Here are 10 ways to get traffic without spending a penny:
-SEO: The right search engine optimization techniques will give you the chance to create the ideal amount and type of traffic that you want for no cost. You can use specific keywords to get noticed on search engines, driving traffic to your site.
-Updates: If you update, they will come back. People don’t like to visit a website and find the same information all the time. Update regularly for better traffic.
-Social Bookmarking: Digg, Delicious, and other bookmarking sites can help you generate traffic with ease. You have to learn how to use them accordingly, but that’s generally a simple task.
-Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites are going to drive a lot of traffic to your website. People use these sites regularly, and when they see businesses on here, they feel more personally connected to them.
-Links: Use backlinking to put your links on other sites, but make sure that you have quality links, regardless of the quantity. Having 5 top-quality links is better than having 500 mediocre ones according to any search engine.
-Free Promotion: classified ads, directory submissions, and other free promotional tools will help increase interest and traffic for your site. You can pay for listings and ads, but you should always take advantage of the free ones first.
-Free Stuff: If you give people something that they can use, they will come back. Articles, tips, and information are great, but people really love free stuff. Give them a free service or product and they will likely visit more often and check out the rest of your site.
-Viral Content: Anything that is so interesting that it catches like wildfire will definitely get you visitors quickly. When people see content they like, they send it on and it travels like a virus. You want content like this.
-Offline Tools: Yes, you can promote your website offline for free. You can have the URL put on your business cards, post your business website on community boards, and more.
-Signature URLs: When you create a signature in your forums and emails, you should have your URL in it. That way, people can click through to your site to learn more about you.
To schedule a free consultation with Connecticut’s leading online marketing firm, please visit www.allaccessunlimited.com or call our Stamford, CT headquarters directly at: 203-276-9812
April 13, 2010
March 18, 2010
Nowadays, there are plenty of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) firms to choose from on the internet.
However, we feel the entire SEO industry in general has fallen far from the marketing tree. Most companies measure their success by the number of “hits” they get you.
We believe hits are important. But for us success means netting you more qualified eligible prospects…and then converting those prospects into paying customers with a stronger, more convincing marketing message.
Remaining loyal to the fundamentals of good marketing, our Stamford, Connecticut SEO (Search Engine Optimization) firm provides a complete array of organic SEO services based on a proven methodology and carried out by a team of search engine-trained specialists.
Connecticut SEO Services (CT)
Our goal is simple—to multiply your return on investment, generate more leads, make more sales, and earn you higher profits. Our Comprehensive, Step-by-Step, 9-Point Plan is designed to attract throngs of new web traffic and significantly increases your leads and sales, while at the same time keeping you in the drivers seat while limiting your work and effort
# 1 Initial Consultation
#2 Competitor Analysis
# 3 Keyword Research
# 4 Website Redevelopment
# 5 Content Creation
# 6 PPC & Link Development
# 7 Search Engine & Social Media Submissions
# 8 SEO & Analytics Reporting
# 9 Customer Service
Let’s flesh these out a bit:
# 1 INITIAL CONSULTATION—What Is Your Optimization Vision And How Can We Realize It?
We want you to consider us your firm’s Web Marketing division—your highly-effective, self-managed, cost-efficient, self-contained Internet solution.
So from the start we invest the time to understand your unique business priorities, assess your challenges, and learn your Web marketing objectives. We then work hand-in-hand with you to customize an SEO campaign that’s the best fit for your company, providing you with a menu of options to choose from. We patiently explain whatever you need to know, and we go over the pros and cons of every strategy, as well as the costs.
With almost seven years of SEO experience, chances are we’ve worked in your industry, so you’ll benefit from the wisdom, expertise, and counsel that we’ve accumulated successfully managing search engine marketing campaigns for firms just like yours.
From the start we do our best to show you that our service is consistent, personalized and dedicated, and that our recommendations are designed to deliver outstanding, industry-leading results.
# 2 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS—Who Are You Losing Business To, Why, And What Steps Can We Take So You Come Out Ahead?
After our initial consultation, we perform extensive marketing research, fully understanding your industry and accurately identifying your competitors. Our goal is to better position you in your market.
We also find out what your competitors are doing to obtain prominent rankings in the search engines—their PPC listings, targeted keywords, linking strategies, website messaging, search engine rankings, meta data. Then we develop counter-strategies to compete against them effectively.
Maybe your competition is targeting keywords that you’re not. Maybe they’ve gone after web markets that you’ve forgotten. We do everything in our power to prevent them from out-ranking you and succeeding in your place.
We also identify methods of attracting new and qualified traffic, highlighting untapped revenue opportunities, maximizing the return on your SEO investment dollar and adding value to your company.
# 3 KEYWORD RESEARCH—What Are Your Industry’s Proven Keywords?
After thoroughly analyzing your competition, we use manual searches and custom research software to study and uncover your industry’s top phrases and keywords.
Learning this up-to-the-minute marketing information—what specific language your target market uses to search for products or services like yours—has a tremendous impact on the bottom-line results you get from your online marketing campaign.
We replace guesswork with our scientifically-proven methodology, designed to encompass every keyword or phrase used throughout your target audience’s entire research/buying cycle.
Before implementing any keywords, we consult with you to choose the best matches so that you feel completely comfortable with our selection.
# 4 WEBSITE REDEVELOPMENT—What Layout Will Attract Others & Empower You More?
Before improving your website by enhancing your content, we provide a functionality assessment, reporting from the visitor’s perspective on your site’s accessability and usability. We also consider new ways to engage your online customer, with the aim of improving your visitors’ experience and increasing their time on-site.
We then analyze and evaluate your site’s underlying code, architecture and content placing, redefining and enhancing it so that your site is returned more prominently in natural search results.
We do this by optimizing every inch of your site, including architecture, meta tags, alt tags, graphic text, internal link structures and sub pages, so that your site is spider friendly, optimally attracting search engine algorithms
# 5 CONTENT CREATION—What Message Will Better Sell Your Products/Services?
Once we’ve formulated a plan to redevelop your site’s architecture, we improve your site’s navigational structure—harmonizing your site’s content with words most used by search engine users to look for your products or services—to make your site more appealing to search engines.
Sometimes website content interferes with search engine indexing, which results in lower search listing, or even no listing at all. More importantly, we arm your site with powerfully persuasive copywriting techniques, focusing on finding new leads and converting prospects into paying customers. We shoot straight to the heart of your site’s presentation, enhancing visitor experience and sending home your sales message.
Search engines look for layout and length of copy on each page of your site, so it’s critical that your content be formatted properly to rank highly on your most important keywords.
They also look for the amount, position and frequency of target keywords, so we stay one step ahead of your competition by continuously analyzing and adjusting your keywords within your content.
# 6 PPC & LINK DEVELOPMENT—Where Is Your Target Market And How Can We Reach Them?
Search engines use “link popularity” to gauge the importance of your website, and to determine where it should rank among their search results. Sufficient link popularity maximizes your visibility within these engines. Google, Yahoo and MSN measure not only the quantity but the quality of links on external sites that link to your site. So your aim is to gain external links from websites that contain similar themes, subject matter, content, phrases and keywords.
We provide an initial benchmark report determining all sites that link to your site. Then we create a plan to increase the quantity and quality of your “inbound” links. We also continuously measure and validate the value of each indexed link.
Social Bookmarking and Social Media Marketing plays a key role here. Getting inbound links from the Social Media sites is very important these days, and can improve your rankings dramatically.
Along with link popularity, PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is another Search Engine Marketing tactic similar to link building. PPC allows you to pay a small fee every time a potential customer clicks to your website from an ad you’ve placed in a search engine’s results. You decide how much to pay per click for a specific keyword and the stronger your ad the more prominently your site will rank in the paid search results. PPC programs are becoming more competitive and more expensive, so it’s becoming more critical to have an effective PPC management strategy in place.
We find out exactly what keywords and phrases to target and at what price though the most effective Pay Per Click programs on the Web. We also know when to rely on natural search engine optimization, when to buy rather than optimize, and when to do both.
# 7 SEARCH ENGINE & SOCIAL MEDIA SUBMISSIONS— Where Is Your Target Market And How Can We Reach Them?
To ensure your site is seen wherever your prospects are looking, so you can provide them with information about you, your brand, your products and services, we submit the pages of your website to search engines and directories, so that they are properly indexed in all the major search engines and are returned prominently when qualified prospects and potential customers query search engines using your keywords and phrases.
We also create a customized submission program aimed at skyrocketing your exposure on social media websites, social bookmarking sites, blogs, ezines, local and new sites. We only use manual submission techniques, steering you clear of link farms, submission portals and other dubious methods.
Submitting to search engines can be tricky, and if done improperly may result in your being banned from search engines. If you repeat a keyword too many times, engines may think you are “spamming” or using tricks in an attempt to fool the search engines.
Also, because each search engine has its own algorithm for rating and ranking webpages, each uses different criteria to judge the relevancy of your site’s content with regards specific search terms queried by search engine users. Instead of using automatic submission software, Organic SEO Expert submits your site to search engines manually, which allow you to achieve more prominent rankings.
# 8 WEB ANALYTICS—What Is Your New Ranking & How Rapidly Are You Rising Up The Charts?
Optimization is not a one-time deal, but an ongoing process. Language, terms, slang, and so on, are continuously changing, and your site needs to keep up. Also, SEO itself is constantly changing, so that what was considered a significant factor for ranking highly yesterday, may no longer be important tomorrow.
So after our initial optimization, we measure and analyze your results, and then help you select ways to improve your web presence, maximizing the return on your online marketing investment.
We monitor your site for keywords that may not be pulling their weight and remove them, which helps lower your PPC costs. We also periodically implement and test new keywords and phrases.
We also run ranking reports every thirty days, checking on the progress of your website and keeping you updated on results. We also run weekly search engine monitoring to verify that your site has not been dropped by any of the major search engines.
# 9 CUSTOMER SERVICE—Are There Any Up-To-The-Minute Issues That You Need Addressed?
We measure and analyze…And we’re available 24/7/365….If there is any problem or issue after hours, on the weekend or during a holiday, one of our team members can make changes or launch a new campaign.
To schedule a free consultation with Connecticut’s leading Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm, please visit www.allaccessunlimited.com or call our Stamford, CT headquarters directly at: 203-276-9812
March 15, 2010
We got a phone call this morning from a friendly old chap named Bill.
He owns a local Stamford, Connecticut website design company.
He was referred to us from a friend, one of our SEO clients.
Bill works mainly for start-up mom and pop shops, businesses just getting started that need a simple site.
Bill asked us point blank, “Hey, can you guys help me dominate my competition?”
We thought it was funny how he used that word “dominate” because our Marketing Manager, Richard Cagney, gave a speech at a Manhattan SEO conference last year about how to “dominate” your online competition.
So we pulled out the speech and read him the highlights right over the phone. Kind of goofy, but we had fun and he enjoyed the free consultation too.
The speech basically said that anyone can make millions starting and running their own successful business, online or offline, if they knew one simple trick.
Actually, online or offline isn’t really a determining factor because they are both just communication mediums. It’s really more in the marketing angle that you take which will determine whether you are successful or not. And that’s the trick.
The marketing angle we’re talking about is, first and foremost, you have to learn how to sell yourself. This is of the utmost importance because if you do it properly, then you will attract customers to you automatically.
Everyone wants to work with the best—-plain and simple.
Everyone would rather work with Stamford, Connecticut’s best realtor or doctor.
Everyone wants to go to the city’s best marketing firm or plastic surgeon.
Everyone wants to invest their money with the best financial planner in CT.
Everyone wants to eat at the best restaurants, and have the best fitness trainers.
You see, when you’re looked upon as “the best,” your prices are no longer relevant. You can charge twice as much as your competition.
Do you think Donald Trump regularly slashes his prices to compete with the mainstream market in order to make the deal? Does Mercedes? Of course they don’t!
Now, if you think you’re good, even VERY good, but perhaps not “the best,” then in fact that doesn’t matter as much as you might think it does.
You don’t really need to be “the absolute best,” because that is just relative and stems from opinion—whether it’s the opinion of your customers, or your opinion of yourself!
One way to “sell yourself,” and position yourself as “the best,” is to give without want. This simply means giving away valuable high-quality information to your target market.
When you do this, you are positioning yourself in your industry.
So, with this in mind, we told Bill that he should start writing articles describing “tips” on how to build a good website for cheap or perhaps explain the “top mistakes” people make when selecting an affordable Stamford, CT website design company.
We then suggested he optimize these articles with the right keywords (“Stamford, CT website design company” and “Connecticut web design company,” for example) and then submit them to all of the web article submission resource sites.
Now, when someone searches using Bill’s keywords, his articles rank high, providing readers with valuable information and suggestions.
Bill then mentioned he wanted to send potential clients a physical ad in the mail. He wanted advice on that.
We told him that if we were planning to do something like that we would not promote our prices or rates as the lead-in to the piece.
We might mention these in the ad (as many people may be interested in purchasing that day and would want to know the prices) but they wouldn’t be the primary focus.
Rather, we would promote our online Newsletter or perhaps some kind of FREE “Ten Top Tips For Small Businesses Who Need A Good Website For Cheap” Report.
The key is to sell “insider information” on the front end, which puts your company into the “sphere of influence” of your prospects. Doing so, you position yourself as the “go-to team.” Eventually you can sell your product or service on the backend.
We know that local small business owners are always looking for good information on a local Stamford, CT web design company that will keep them abreast of technology and help them make the best decision they can.
If Bill becomes the author of this information and links his articles to his website, then he automatically positions himself as the local expert in the arena. This will land him the calls.
Now, you may notice that we gave Bill this 100% free lead generation strategy right over the phone. Lots of marketing firms charge high fees for a consultation like this—but we gave it to Bill for free.
Make no mistake about it, he was grateful to us for all the free information we gave him. So grateful that he wanted to pay us to perform keyword research, write optimized content-rich articles for him, and post them online for him for the next 3 months. Bill also wanted 3 Press Releases.
Even better, he said that many of his clients—local Stamford, Connecticut business owners—wanted SEO services, and have asked him recently if he knows anybody he might recommend.
We told Bill we would provide him with top references from half-a-dozen SEO clients we are working with right now, all local, if he wanted to recommend us. He said absolutely.
See the value that giving away free information holds in business?
March 3, 2010
Does your website suffer from “Revolving Door Syndrome”?
That’s when visitors come but don’t stay, browse but don’t buy.
Once they leave, you never hear back from them again.
For a conversion-savvy web design company like ours, this is totally unacceptable.
To begin with, it’s easy to find out how many visitors your website is getting, as well as other important info like how long they are staying, what pages they are visiting, and much more, through even the simplest Analytics tools.
Now, if your site is not being measured by analytics—and most local businesses with a website aren’t, according to a recent (unofficial) poll we conducted—then how are you gauging your website’s effectiveness?
As more website users get increasingly savvy, they are consciously spending less time perusing sites they come across.
The average person stays on a site for 6 seconds before deciding to click away (which is the more popular choice).
Studies show that often only one in every 400 – 500 visitors takes action—which is completely unacceptable to a web company that promises results (like we do).
Imagine if you had a brick and mortar clothing shop and only one in every 400 people who walked through the door bought anything, without really even paying too much attention to your clothing! Wow!
It wouldn’t be long before you went out of business, right?
So what steps can you take right now…today…to stop the “Revolving Door Syndrome” on your website?
One way is by giving your visitors a reason to interact with you—and I’m not talking about a “Contact” form either.
Actually, thinking that your “Contact” form covers a whole lot is one of the biggest mistakes small business owners make.
In fact, the “Contact” page is one of the least visited pages, according to most analytics measurements. And this is true for just about every industry.
Why? Because when visitors are first evaluating your company, they’re not interested in contacting you yet.
They’re reading your copy and looking at your overall site.
Contacting you is the last thing they’re going to do. What, then, is a good way to get these potential customers/clients to interact with you and your company?
The answer is, by offering a FREE GIVEAWAY that has high-perceived value.
That’s right, even though the word “FREE” has been abused to the point of hysteria these days, it’s still the most effective word in marketing.
Give your website visitors something free—something of value; something they came to your website looking for in the first place.
Think about it. What “Top Ten” list would your target audience find interesting? What tips, insights, resources would help them achieve their goals successfully?
Whatever the answer write the article or create a one or two page PDF Report, and offer it as a free download on your website.
Make sure you ask for an email address so you know where to send it.
By creating a platform that will allow you to email to your prospects, you are going a long way in jumpstarting interaction, creating leads, and laying the ground work for a future between you and your website visitors.
This can cut your 1-in-400 contact ratio way down, and put you on the right road to increasing your leads, sales and profits.
We offer these and many other profit-building techniques at All Access Unlimited, because when we build you a website we care more about just color, content, and design—we care about building your business.
Contact us today and let us help you stop Revolving Door Syndrome on your website: 203-276-9812
February 26, 2010
As a high-end web site design and online marketing company located in Stamford, Connecticut (and serving all towns in Fairfield County and beyond) we get calls almost daily by local Connecticut business owners asking about the extent of marketing services we provide.
The answer is, we can provide anything and everything you need—a vast wealth of PR and online marketing services at affordable prices. (We do offline marketing also).
Many of our clients are amazed at the wide range of PR and online marketing services we provide.
Here is a small sample. This is by no means an exhaustive list:
COPYWRITING
DIRECT MAIL
E-BOOKS
EDITING
EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
FACT CHECKING
LINK BUILDING
MAGAZINE ARTICLES
NEWSLETTERS
PAY PER CLICK ADVERTISING
PRESS RELEASES
PROOFREADING
RESUME & COVER LETTER WRITING
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
SPEECH WRITING
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
COPYWRITING
SELL YOUR PRODUCTS AND BRING CREATIVITY TO DIRECT MAIL, ADS, BROCHURES, WEBSITES AND OTHER MARKETING
Sometimes, you don’t have the time to provide the content for advertisement. A copywriting service will offer you a professionally trained service that can provide content for your website, mail, brochures, and other marketing tools that will assure you the advertising you desire. You will improve your return on marketing investment with ease when you let trained professionals tell others about the services or products that you provide.
DIRECT MAIL (FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION)
PINPOINT YOUR SPECIAL OFFER AND SEND YOUR MESSAGE HOME
Direct mail campaigns can be time consuming, and it may be hard to determine a layout for your direct mail. Hiring a service to determine your layout can save you time and hassle, with trained individuals showcasing your special offers, products, and services in an attractive layout. Don’t waste time collecting supplies and trying to build a design – let a hired service drive home your message with quality design.
E-BOOK CREATION & PROMOTION
POSITION YOURSELF AS THE RECOGNIZED LEADER IN YOUR FIELD
One of the most popular marketing tools these days is an E-book. An E-book can provide information on you and your business in an attractive manner, right on the web. No longer is it necessary to email brochures to explain the history of the business or the proucts and services provided. With a service taking the time to build your E-book for you, clients can easily access and download the information they want to know about you and your business.
EDITING
POLISH YOUR FINAL DRAFT FOR ACCURACY AND STYLE, ENSURING YOU GET RESULTS
Never worry again about grammar, capitalization, punctuation, or any other problems you may have with the written English language. Build your draft, and let trained editors review your work, making the necessary corrections so that your materials, website, speeches, and all other written documents appear and sound professional.
EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
DELIVER TARGETED INFORMATION TO TARGETED MARKETS
Let our service set up your next email campaign, advertising and informing the customers most likely to purchase or use your products and services with targeted information. Don’t use your valuable time to collect email addresses and set up the automatic emails; invest in a professional service that has experience building email campaign templates that get the job done and increase your return on investment.
FACT CHECKING
ENSURE YOUR WRITING IS ACCURATE AND PREVENT EMBARASSING MISTAKES
Before publishing information that could be faulty or include inaccuracies, especially when dealing with specific facts or statistics, why not enlist the help of professionals to verify your information? If you provide inaccurate information to potential clients, they are not likely to trust your brand. This is easily prevented, insuring that you do not waste time publishing inaccurate information that could be detrimental to your profits.
LINK BUILDING SERVICES
BRING IN TARGETED TRAFFIC, INCREASE YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS AND MULTIPLY YOUR SALES & REVENUE
Creating links that can be displayed on alternate related sites can help increase conversion rates, guaranteeing that the potential customer is already interested in a similar topic prior to entering your site. This will also place information about your site on other sites, multiplying your exposure so and assuring that your site is more prominently and frequently brought up by search engines. The more often your site is seen by searchers, the more likely you are to make a sale, meaning that revenue and overall profit are sure to increase.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE WRITING & SUBMISSION
CAPTIVATE READERS AND BECOME THE RECOGNIZED VOICE OF CURRENT EVENTS IN YOUR INDUSTRY
Collect the facts and data needed to produce an informative article and enlist the help of writers to add the finesse you need to wow your readers. Magazine articles are a great way to get your name out there so you can be recognized within your industry as the source of knowledge and events. With assistance in writing, editing, and laying out your articles, you’ll see the difference in reader reaction and level of satisfaction, as well as increased trust in your facts as well as your opinions.
NEWSLETTERS
CREATE INFORMATIVE REMINDERS TO CUSTOMERS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS
While you may not have time to contact your customers without a specific purpose, hiring a service to provide a newsletter to your clients will let them know that you haven’t forgotten about them. It will also assure that they do not forget about your business. Newsletters can be used to inform clients about new services or products, as well as changes to your website or other information that can attract them back for another look. Newsletters are a great way to increase customer loyalty.
PAY PER CLICK
BE SEEN WHERE & WHEN YOUR MOST ELIGIBLE PROSPECTS ARE LOOKING
Pay per click advertisement allows you to choose what keywords will be associated with your site, guaranteeing you the client base and interest that you desire. It will also help minimize advertisement costs, since your website will be pulled up on search engines based solely on the keywords determined by you and never show up in searches that are unrelated to your site. Then, once your site is prominently displayed, you only pay a predetermined amount if the searcher clicks onto your site. Pay nothing if the searcher doesn’t enter your site.
PRESS RELEASE CREATION & SUBMISSION
GET YOUR COMPANY, PRODUCT OR SERVICES INTO THE HEADLINES COST-FREE
A professional press release is the cost-free way to let the world know about your business and its products or services. Hiring a company that has experience in writing these releases will allow you to increase exposure of your business at a low cost, increasing the chances for conversion and high profitability by leaps and bounds.
PROOFREADING
MAKE SURE YOUR WRITING SKILLS APPEAR PROFESSIONAL
Don’t be embarrassed by careless errors in your print, like a missed comma or reversed letters in a word. Proofreading services carefully dissect your writing, looking for the smallest mistype or clerical error so that your final copy comes out professionally perfect. This will leave a lasting impression on the customer as to your level of detail orientation, giving them a warm, fuzzy feeling about how well they will be accommodated by your service or product.
RESUME & COVER LETTER WRITING
ELOQUENTLY SHOWCASE YOUR EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE, AND HIGHLIGHT THE RESULTS YOUR EFFORTS GENERATE
Though individuals can find templates all over the web for resumes and cover letters, hiring a professional to provide these important documents allows you to add finesse and eloquence. Resumes and cover letters should showcase your history and talents, but at the same time, the attractiveness of the presentation and the speech used within the document can sell your labors just as well as your experience. Having these documents generated for you increases your chance of hire, as well as the possibility of higher pay!
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
IMPROVE YOUR RANK IN SEARCH RESULTS, INCREASES YOUR LEADS, AND GET FREE TRAFFIC
Search engine optimization has become the quickest way to advertise your site on the internet. With SEO, searches for keywords will bring your site to the top of the search return list and deliver free traffic to your site. This service will not only increase the exposure of your business, but also increase visits to your site by creating leads and offer the opportunity for higher sales and profitability.
SPEECHWRITING
RALLY TEAM MEMBERS AND BRING AUDIENCES TO THEIR FEET
Writing a speech isn’t always fun and games, and getting your point across while engaging the audience can be difficult. Hiring a trained professional to put together a speech offers the experience necessary to not only keep your audience from nodding off, but also to energize and enthuse them, making sure that your speech is not easily forgotten and that your points are well taken.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
CREAT BUZZ THAT CAN HAVE RAMIFICATIONS ACROSS THE WORLD
We know how to use social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Some of the common social networking sites we use are Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and Youtube. For example, we can create buzz by producing and marketing a video and posting it on some of the video sharing sites like YouTube.
For more information on our professional Stamford, CT online marketing and offline marketing services, please don’t hesitate to email us or call us at 203-276-9812
February 9, 2010
We’ve been getting more calls and emails lately than ever before by businesses interested in marketing themselves on the Social Networks.
We’re hearing questions like:
What are all the Social Network sites that everyone is talking about?
How do we create an account—as individuals or as one company?
What exactly should we say once we’re on there?
When do we say what we’re supposed to say?
How much do we post and how often?
Can we sell anything or not?
Our answer to the newbie is always the same.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s better to hire an experienced company to provide consulting, at least to get you started (yes, we do that here).
However, if you don’t have a budget, and you would like to try it out on your own, then the best thing to do at first is to watch and absorb—start with one or two social networks only. Be yourself. Try to have fun and interact. Don’t initially worry about selling.
While you’re on there, keep track of what other businesses are doing, what they are saying. Decide what you like and what you don’t like.
Once you feel comfortable, you can wade in slowly. Think touch and go—NOT media blitz.
Here are just a few social networking sites you may wish to start with:
Twitter: The big site right now, next to Facebook. As described by Twitter themselves: “The timely bits of information that spread through Twitter can help you make better choices and decisions and, should you so desire, creates a platform for you to influence what’s being talked about around the world. Search results spread across Twitter and in other ways across the Web so you can discover what’s happening on and off of Twitter.com, wherever you prefer.”
Squidoo: The world’s most popular site for building free, single pages about whatever topics you’re passionate about. Highlight books, videos, blogs, online shops, or just spread the word about what you love most. An added bonus is that you can raise money at the same time (even for charity). It’s fast, free, and simple to use.
Facebook: Here you can join networks organized by city, school, workplace, and region. The goal is to link up and interact with other people. You can also add friends and send messages, and update your personal or business profile. You can be successful if you provide useful and interesting content here, and if you interact in a fun and exciting way.
StumbleUpon: An online community that allows users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos. Web pages are presented when the user clicks the “Stumble!” button on the browser’s toolbar. StumbleUpon chooses which Web page to display based on the user’s ratings of previous pages, ratings by his/her friends, and by the ratings of users with similar interests.
Digg: Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg shows the best stuff as voted on by users. You won’t find editors at Digg — they’re there to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content; this site is known for some of the nastiest remarks online. It’s not for the faint of heart. Submit links or vote on the ones there.
YouTube: Video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. Unregistered users can watch the videos, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Accounts of registered users are called “channels.” If you supplement your copy with images and video and place them out there, it provides linkage back to you for users who might not otherwise access your site.
Flickr: Almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. It has two main goals: 1) to help people make their content available to the people who matter to them; 2) to enable new ways of organizing photos and video.
Slashdot: A technology-related news website that features user-submitted and editor-evaluated current affairs news with a “nerdy” slant. Each story on the site has an Internet forum-style comments section attached. The summaries for the stories are generally submitted by Slashdot’s own readers with editors accepting or rejecting these contributions for general posting. Warning: if your content gets placed on Slashdot, make sure your servers can handle the traffic. Google the “slashdot effect” for more information.
Yelp: Yelp helps people find great local businesses like dentists, hair stylists and mechanics. As of February 2009, more than 20 million people looked up a business on Yelp in the past 30 days. Yelpers have written over 5 million local reviews, over 85% of them rating a business 3 stars or higher. You can use Yelp to find local events, lists and to talk with other yelpers. Every business owner (or manager) can setup a free account to post offers, photos and message customers.
LinkedIn: A professional community that was originally intended to act as a sort of job-reference site. The content you place here is all about you, so it can serve as a mini-resume to which (and from which) you can link. LinkedIn makes staying in touch simple, as you can find past and present colleagues and classmates quickly. You can discover inside connections when you’re looking for a job or new business opportunity. Your network is full of industry experts willing to share advice. Have a question? Just ask.
Technorati: The leading blog search engine, Technorati.com indexes millions of blog posts in real time and surfaces them in seconds. The site has become the definitive source for the top stories, opinions, photos and videos emerging across news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and business. Technorati.com tracks not only the authority and influence of blogs, but also the most comprehensive and current index of who and what is most popular in the Blogosphere. Founded as the first blog search engine, Technorati has expanded to a full service media company providing services to the blogs and social media sites and connecting them with advertisers who want to join the conversation, and whose online properties introduce blog content to millions of consumers.
Newsvine: Updated continuously by citizens like you, Newsvine is an instant reflection of what the world is talking about at any given moment. You can submit stories here, but make sure that they’re newsworthy and not just advertorials.
Helium: This is one of the best content sites. Too often content sites are used by first-time writers looking to “publish” their work, and by companies desperate to get links to their site who will throw up an ad or even a paragraph and call it an article. Helium is a lot of content in a lot of areas, and while it’s not strictly speaking fact-checked, at least an editor takes a look at the material. It’s a good place for your content to appear.
Sphinn: This is a pretty good content site with a social community for Internet marketers. There is a lot of good SEO and other web marketing information and opinions. Users have the option to “sphinn” the content found here.
Wikihow: Just as Wikipedia offers information, WikiHow is a how-to site/community made up of user-generated content.
Reddit: Social news website where you can post links to whatever web content you like. Other users may then vote the posted links down or up, causing them to appear more or less prominently on the Reddit home page. Users may discuss the posted links and vote for or against. When there are enough votes against a given comment, it will not be displayed by default, although a reader can display it through a link or preference. If you submit lots of interesting that gets “vote ups” you receive “karma” points as a reward.
If you want to try social media marketing, take a look at these and other sites (new ones appear daily!) and see which ones might work best for your company, your product, your service. Then behave responsibly.
Remember, in the social network marketing world, it’s all about trust.
At All Access Unlimited, we advise small-to-mid-size businesses and organizations, as well as entrepreneurs and individuals on how to use social media marketing (also known as social network marketing) to build relationships and deliver value.
December 29, 2009
Since 2006 – 2007, many companies have recognized that search engine optimization is the key to making money online. As a Stamford, Connecticut based SEO consultant, we can show you the steps to take in order to rank high for your keywords online. We can also help you implement those steps, if your budget allows.
SEO Consultant – Search Engine Optimization
Successfully marketing your company’s products and services online is said to be a very complex process that involves a variety of tools and techniques, a process that can be accomplished in a variety of different ways.
This certainly is true. However, in the end, it really all boils down to one thing—getting (qualified) traffic to your website, period. If you really want to make serious profits, then your task is just this. You need to get the numbers of people visiting your website up.
As an SEO consultant, we’ve spent the past several years instructing clients and prospects in Stamford, Connecticut and throughout the country and even the world that search engine optimization is where the money is. And that the top rankings that result from optimization are where the sales are.
Most people now realize this. They certainly want to implement an effective search engine optimization campaign. But few do it correctly. This is true even among the so-called “expert” search engine optimization companies, and SEO consultants. Instead, they spend months and even years working hard, but getting next to nowhere.
In even worse case scenarios, they pay SEO companies obscene amounts of cash only to be frustrated by the results. If this sounds familiar to you, then learning and understanding the “details” may be your light at the end of the tunnel.
Getting top rankings for your desired keyword phrases is all about paying attention to details. Get just one of the details wrong and you can spin your wheels in the rankings for years.
What’s worse, the big search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN change the way they rank sites. This means you need continuous advice from an SEO consultant who is on top of the ranking processes now, and who will keep watch and vigilance for you to help adjust your campaign in the future. And you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg getting that advice.
We recognize this, and so when we work with a client over the long-term, we make sure that our pricing is affordable for that client.
The focus of our firm has always been search engine optimization. It’s our bread and butter. As an SEO consultant, our goal is to make sure you understand and implement the precise strategy and changes you need to make to your site get the rankings you desire.
If you are looking for something more comprehensive, we can easily create and carry out a full optimization plan for your company and website(s), regardless of what industry you are in, and regardless of what items or services you are selling.
To find out more about how an SEO consultant can create the right search engine optimization plan for your company, contact us today for a free, no obligation consultation.
December 10, 2009
We’re going to get a bit psychological today.
No, not Freud or Jung psychological (—even though it’s mission-critical for you as a marketer to read and understand what these genius thinkers have to say about the unconscious mind).
No, today we’ll just go far enough to give you a quick tip that can help you get more clicks on your links, whether those links are in your email, on your website or at the end of the articles you post online.
Most marketers already know this, and you’ll hear them say it all the time:
Consumers LOVE to buy stuff, but they hate being sold to!
It’s a cold hard fact. No one knows exactly why this is, and it seems to apply more strongly in the West than anywhere else in the world.
Think back to the last time you bought a car. You knew the salesman was making a commission.
You didn’t hate him for it because, after all, we all have to make a living, right?
But it definitely didn’t make you feel good that a few thousand dollars of your hard earned money was going right into this man’s pocket just for being “lucky enough” to help you out that day (or, so we often think  ).
Now you may not be selling anyone a car. But if you are trying to sell something online, you definitely have an agenda. And in order for you to carry out this agenda, you need to get people to click on your links.
Let’s say you’re sending out an email to your list in order to sell an affiliate product, or your putting an affiliate link in your blog post.
Nothing screams “I want to sell you something” like a blatant link that looks something like this:
http/saleproduct.com/affiliate=30283H3
Most people today who see this know exactly what it means. And for them it’s a major turn off, so major that it can squash your conversion rate.
Why? Because right off the bat, a massive amount of people will dismiss your message outright, because it’s so blatantly obvious that you are trying to sell them something.
Now, what you need to do is to hide or “cloak” that link.
The main reason for hiding or “cloaking” your links is to make your links more enticing for people to click on.
Give them something like this:
http://allaccessunlimited.com/thiscanhelpyou
Our tests show that using a link like this will consistently double your click through rate, and thus your commissions.
By creating your own customized links, you’ll be doing a better job at creating curiosity, branding your promotions, and unconsciously earning the trust of your prospects.
And this, in turn, will dramatically increase your conversion rates.
Do your own tests and let us know what the outcome is!
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