Search Engine Optimization – SEO or SEM?

When a company decides that the need a new website or wants more traffic to an existing website.  A common request is “I need Search Engine Optimization (SEO).”   How much does SEO cost? Well to be truthful it can cost as much as you want to budget for SEO.   SolutionBuilt has worked on projects from a $300 to $100,000 per month.

At the end of the day are you really looking for quick SEO of an existing website that may have dated content?  Or are you looking for Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

Proper SEM is about placement, frequency, Click Thru Rates (CTR) and most importantly Conversions.  A good CTR goal is in the 3% range with very excellent being in the 20% range.

To effectively get conversions you have to identify your target visitor.   You can even hire firms like SolutionBuilt which provides seo, user research and web design and portal development services.

Effective user research can help with audience segmentation, and use cases based on user persona’s to efficiently convert the user.

A usable website also helps with conversions.  Your website should be stimulate the user visually, and serve a function for your users – quickly and efficiently.

Upon the modification or creation of a new website you may want to engage quality assurance expert.  Testing has become more and more rigorous for the multitude of operating systems and browsers.  Especially as your website application becomes more and more complex.   You can use 3rd party consultants like SolutionBuilt to conduct bug audits and browser compatibility.

And finally, then it is time to open the flood gates to the users you have been waiting for.  Now you think like a user and have effectively launched your website to targeted users with targeted keywords.  Your website is running smooth, website inquiries are coming in, and you have orders to fill.

Twitter cheat sheet

Do you know what to tweet on twitter? How do you use it to market your brand? Use the commands listed below from your phone, or the web.

Fun Stuff: friends, favorites, and stats codes!

* @username + message
directs a twitter at another person, and causes your twitter to save in their “replies” tab.
Example: @SolutionBuilt I love that song too!

* D username + message
sends a person a private message that goes to their device, and saves in their web archive.
Example: SolutionBuilt want to pick me up a Fresca for me while you’re there?

* WHOIS username
retrieves the profile information for any public user on Twitter.

* GET username
retrieves the latest Twitter update posted by the person.

* NUDGE username
reminds a friend to update by asking what they’re doing on your behalf.

* FAV username
marks a person’s last twitter as a favorite. (hint: reply to any update with FAV to mark it as a favorite if you’re receiving it in real time)

* STATS
this command returns your number of followers, how many people you’re following, and which words you’re tracking.

* INVITE phone number
will send an SMS invite to a friend’s mobile phone.
Example: Invite 876 530 9000

I want to share a little secret. The internet is not a fad…..

I wanted to share a story to show how online advertising works. We work with a company that has been referral only. Due to the economy they started advertising for the first time. Spending more on advertising to take over the market share. They immediately came to us and wanted to start on their search engine optimization and sponsored listings on google adwords. We started their campaign, researched keywords, and key search criteria just as we have done for customers like Georgia Tech, Woodstock Outlet, etc. Our Online Marketing Coordinator, Shane Goodwin updated their website, page content, and primed it for the search engines and started submitting.

This is what we found:

Overnight they had a 1-3 position with their PPC campaign
Within 2 days they were the second listing on Google
Within 1 month they surpassed all of their competition

If you arent using one of the most cost effective mediums, then thats your loss, if you are looking to penetrate a new market there is no time like the present.

SolutionBuilt.com is in its sixth year (a lifetime in our business) of providing website and search engine marketing solutions to small business owners, chief marketing executives, ceo’s, cto’s etc. We understand our customers business needs and have the knowhow to make your branding efforts thru websites and other mediums work.

If you would like more information on how SolutionBuilt.com can help you, contact us today.

Communicate more effectively though email newsletters and one off emails.

Whether you are email marketing to promote your business or drafting a one off email it is important to communicate effectively. Many people myself included use email regularly and forget how they can be misleading. Below are some tips for writing effective emails, that do not offend people.

Email newsletter.

1. Only send emails to people that you have collected their email personally, and have permission to email.
2. Less is more. The emphasis is to put quality over quantity.
3. Send HTML email newsletters no more than every other week.
4. Sending email newsletters
5. Send HTML welcome emails to you new clients.

Communicate more effectively though one off emails.

1. Start with a strong subject line. Your subject line is like the headline of a news article. Make sure your subject line relates to the message content.
2. State the most important things first. Follow with supporting details.
3. Keep paragraphs short and easy to read. Sub-heading are a good idea for lengthy emails.
4. Subtle implications are sometimes missed in email. Ask for action. Let people know what outcomes you desire. When in doubt, check it out. Use the spell check or consult a grammar/style manual.
5. Email is not always the best form of communication. Highly complex information, complaints/dissatisfaction, confidential information, and negotiations usually are better communicated by other means, such as a phone or face-to-face conversation.
6. Keep acronyms to a minimum. They can be confusing to your readers.
7. Do not use too much punctuation!!!!!! If something is important it should be reflected in the text, not solely in your punctuation.
8. In email there are no visual or auditory clues. Smilies can be used as a part of a good natured one-on-one conversation with someone with whom you are familiar.
9. The use of upper-case words (and red lettering) is equivalent of shouting in some one’s ear. Only use upper-case words when you are trying to make a strong point. Even at that, you should be careful with whom you are exchanging messages.

If you receive an unpleasant email, respond to it professionally.

1. Resist the temptation to fire off a response.
2. Read the original message again; you might be misinterpreting the message by the sender.
3. Draft a response and let to cool off for a time before sending it.
4. Break the cycle of message and response. A telephone call or personal conversation can do wonders for resolving difficulties.

Whats next?

SolutionBuilt can help you in the creative design, strategy, implementation and management of your marketing campaigns. Contact www.SolutionBuilt.com today for a complimentary consultation for email and online marketing.

How do you advertise in a down economy?

There are many items on the P&L report that a business owner reviews to try to cut cost. Typically the most costly is payroll, rent/mortgage, utilities, communications, and advertising. Owning a small business myself and having a business in which we build company brands we find that the trend is to cut items that aren’t a fixed cost.  Items that your business cant survive without: i.e. employees, and advertising.

There are numerous ways to cut cost such as renegotiating your rent, going green to cutback on utilities, using voip lines for communication, setting up internet conferences rather than incurring travel cost.

You can also cut cost on advertising, by having a consultant review your ad budget, optimizing the ad sources so that your budget works smarter and harder for you. You can also decrease the size of your ad placements, or place your company on services that differentiate your business from your competitors.

Before you by into the hype of the worst economic slow down get a free consultation of how we can help you. There are plenty of ways to promote your business thru web, mobile, and print mediums that dont break the bank. Take a look around there are still retail and online shoppers, and we arent at the soup kitchen yet….

Form or Function?

When building a website or application you have to insure that it speaks directly to your target audience, that it engages them (FORM), and that it functions. I have seen really sexy designs with very little on the back-end which was widely accepted because it was slick and easy to use. On the flip side, I have seen some of the greatest technology in the world, but without a slick and sexy interface it wasn’t accepted by its user base.

This is very true with a site that I have recently tried to place an order on for the past 2 days www.northface.com. The site employs ajax, flash, and IBM websphere commerce (which is very server intensive) as its shopping cart. From the front end it is a very nice site and it allows you to search for items, pick an item, view alternate colors, and zoom in on the product. These are extremely nice features, however its not done very well as there are to many moving parts on the back-end. The site is slow, it is riddled with errors.

Bottom Line: pick a design and features your customer will relate while not over utilizing technology.

You might wonder, “Matt why would you pass up extra hours for the build of the greatest looking site in the world?” Its just not worth it, as it will reflect poorly on the brand, and myself. So whats the point?

iPhone 2.0 upgrade / mail / home automation

I have been following the new release of IPhones 2.0 software update. I am glad that I waited after hearing nightmare stories from friends and them not being able to user their phone due to all the recent sales of IPhone 3g. The best update that I have seen so far is the update to the mail app. On the 2g Iphone you had to delete one email at a time. This was really laborious, especially when you get hundreds of messages a day. Also the old mail app would open the message when deleting. This was a big security flaw as spammers were able to pickup my email address when deleting mail. Even tho I have spam measures in place, I still like to know what is coming in so I can decide if its spam or not. I prefer spam in a can!

Now with the 2.0 software you can select all messages and do a purge. This is awesome!!

My next test is to see if they have updated quicktime (apple product) to work on the iPhone mail interface. This wil allow users that have voicemail forwarded to their email to listen to voice messages directly from the email message. I will let you know how it goes!

Then I want to try our microsoft exchange on iPhone, rather than having to synch my calender thru itunes. http://www.apple.com/iphone/enterprise/

Now if I can only get my phone to walk my dog. Wait no more, well actually tis cool app and x10 technology does almost everything other than walking the dog. With some additional x10 hardware you can change your home’s temperatures, adjust the lights or security settings, or view any supported security camera.

It can inform you of events such as the alarm system being disarmed or activated, a car entering the garage/driveway, or even if the wine cellar door or pool gate has been opened. You can also store music, movies, and photos. Check it out!

Stay tuned for more!

SB Big Push of the Week!

The SB Team has been working feverishly with some early mornings and late nites. We just launched 2 new websites!

Cobb County Schools

PICASSO Portal, Cobb County Schools

The first is the PICASSO portal for Cobb County Schools to allow teachers, parents, and students to plan for today and future education development:

http://picasso.cobbk12.org

Cobb ACES

Cobb ACES

The second is for a new program called ACES for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce for hip professionals in there 20-30’s. The site can be accessed via the web brower or your mobile phone: http://www.cobbchamberaces.org

I am very pleased with the outcome, and thank our team and clients for all of their hard work.

Welcome to SolutionBuilts Blog

Welcome all to SolutionBuilts weblog. We will be using this blog to share our thoughts on advertising, web design, application development, and mobile websites. Check back regularly for tips, tricks, hacks, and general information. Please feel free to post a comment or contact us!