Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

Some Business Directories matter ALOT – most, not so much.

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

Being listed on Google Places (Maps) is a requirement if you want your business to be found by someone with an Android phone – not a big surprise there, Google makes Android. But did you know – the local maps used by Facebook are powered by Microsoft’s Bing Business Portal?

These are just two examples, these days many of the top directories share their listings with multiple services. And these listings are often seen as a vote of confidence by the search engines, they show a business as having an established online presence.

Here’s a list to get you started;

And the rest? Specialty directories for your niche can be worth the time – but otherwise the return on your efforts quickly diminishes. Most of the smaller directories aren’t looked at by much of anyone, and the search engines actively ignore many of them.

Best of luck growing your business!

Posted in Marketing, SEO | Comments Off on Some Business Directories matter ALOT – most, not so much.

Social Media – robots like it too.

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

Guess who’s checking out your Tweets and reading your Facebook business page these days – Googlebot, the automated system Google uses for collecting information from the web.

Googlebot is looking at your posts and tweets to see what keywords you use, how consistently you communicate with your audience – even the friends and followers you have.

And Googlebot is not alone, other robots from other search engines are also looking at social media – and that includes other networks like Google+ and LinkedIn. These different channels are being considered when a search engine decides who gets the top spot for a search.
In fact, the network Google+ has received some attention recently because it’s postings seeming to have extra weight with Google searches.

TIP: Don’t get lazy! Posting the same thing to different social media sites is not the best idea.

Feel free to post about the same topic – but change the wording. Search engines like to see a variety of content and people (yes, we still care about people too) don’t like to see things that look out of place (like posting your Tweet to your Facebook page).

Happy Posting!

Posted in Marketing, SEO, Social Media | Comments Off on Social Media – robots like it too.

Facebook Fan Page Website Design

Friday, May 28th, 2010

You already know about Facebook, everybody does.

What you might not know are the Cold Hard FACTS about Facebook. Did you know, Facebook has over 400 Million users and Growing? Thats equal to the size of the entire population of the United States of America and Mexico. Combined!

And of those 400+ Million users, did you know that half of them log onto FaceBook EVERYDAY SINGLE DAY?

And that the Average Facebook user spends 13.3 hours per month, which is an average of 26 minutes per day!
And I can personally vouch for this seeing as I have a teenage daughter, who spends at least tripple this amount of time on Facebook.

So what are all these people doing while on Facebook? Well…

They’re connecting with their Facebook friends. They’re uploading and commenting on photos, status updates and videos. They’re creating and interacting with groups and events and they’re liking facebook Fan Page Websites.

So maybe you’ve already on Facebook and have a profile, but you might be asking… “What’s a Facebook Fan Page?”

I’m glad you asked.

A Facebook Fan Page Website or “Official Page Website” as Facebook has just renamed them is a page anyone can create for their local business, brand, organization or even an artist, band or public figure.

Just to get familiar, let’s talk about some famous and popular Facebook Fan Pages:

For example, the Official Fan Page of movie star Ben Stiller has over 1 million people who like his page. Yet, when you look at the navigation bar of this Fan Page Website there is nothing promoting his current movie, next movie, nor is there any interesting way to interact with him. It could be better, more interactive and much more profitable.

Another example is the Official Fan Page for the band Pink Floyd. They’ve got almost 3 million fans who “Like” their Facebook Fan Page, that’s huge. Yet there is NO way purchase their latest box set or buy products that promote this legendary band… Such a shame.

Then there is the Official Fan Page for the music artist Johnny Cash. Good ole Johhny has over 1.5 million fans, nice work Johnny! Yet, In the navigation bar there is no way for fans to sign up to get updates. They can’t buy the “Essential Johnny Cash” album or his “Flippin The Bird” T-Shirt. So… Johnny… call us and we’ll hook you up.

And lastly… the block buster Movie Titanic has an Official Facebook Fan Page that has around 3 million fans. Remember, this was one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. Yet, it has no way for fans to buy the 10th anniversary edition DVD or the 3-Disc special collectors edition. James Cameron is missing out on thousands of dollars in lost sales… right from Facebook!

Ok… So what is similar about each of these Facebook Fan Pages? Yes… they all have a HUGE amount of fans.
Yet… the thing I find most important and disturbing… is that… they all Look The Same!

If you put them all up on the same page, from that perspective… It’s almost impossible to tell them apart from one another.

Not only is this BORING… It’s bad for business because it’s NOT distinguishing, memorable or profitable.

Some better examples of professionally made custom Facebook Fan Page Websites from big brand companies you already know about include the Fan Page Website for Starbucks.

Starbucks is a company that GETS Social Media. They’ve made it so you can interact with and monitor your Starbucks account right on Facebook. You can Manage and RELOAD your balance from this Fan Page Website. Get it? Right from Facebook… you can send Starbuck MORE of your money. It’s a brilliant marketing strategy! Right?

There is another one that is even better… It’s the Fan Page for the Twilight Saga movies. They’ve made it so you can engage in live chat or watch a video preview. They’ve also got a quiz you can take, a poll to see what character you are and they’ve even got their twitter stream embedded directly into their Fan Page Website. It’s all perfect for connecting with the Twilight community.

So… what if you don’t have a $17 Million Dollar Marketing Budget like these Fortune 500 Big Brand Companies?

Not to worry.

Thats where Fan Page Websites can help. But before I tell you how you can easily and affordably have a Facebook Fan Page for your business or organization let’s first take a quick review of the facts about Facebook and why these facts are important to you.


• Again, Facebook has over 400 Million users, its growing like wild fire
• of those 400 million, 200 Million Users log onto Facebook every day
• and the average person is spending around 26 minutes interacting on Facebook, it’s astounding!
• What’s More, 100 Million people access Facebook directly from their mobile device, like their iPhone, Blacberry, Driod or iPad. and these numbers are ever increasing.
• What’s also important to know is that the Average Facebook User has around 130 friends
• and that they are connected to 60 Fan Pages

So… What this all boils down to…

Is 400 Million Reasons to get a Facebook Fan Page NOW! Before your competition does.

And we don’t just mean get just any Fan Page Website. You need to stand out in your crowded marketplace and be competitive and actually monetize Facebook. We’ll show you how.

What you need is a Custom Fan Page Website
• This is going to help your business have a Complete Social Media Marketing Campain in place
• One of The best features is that it can Generate Sales Directly on Your Fan Page Website
• It’s also going to help you Create and Capture Leads right within Facebook
• Which enables You to Build Your Email List or Newsletter with more subscribers
• A Custom Fan Page Website can also Drive Targeted Traffic Directly back to your Website
• And you can also engage your community with Videos, Polls, your Twitter Stream, Google Maps and almost anything you can imagine.

See it for yourself at our website. Just Google “Fan Page Websites”.

Take a look at our website and then ask yourself, “What Would Be Possible For My business with a Fan Page Website?”

I’d like you to find out how FanPageWebsites can help your business or organization

With a Fan Page Website
• You can sell your products and services directly from within Facebook
• Which is one of the best ways to Monetize Your Social campaign
• You get you Quality Internet Traffic from within Facebook
• While Building Your Email List for Future Marketing
• You’re able to Interactively Engage with your community
• While Building Brand Awareness
• And generating More Leads, More Sales and Ultimately… More Money.

It’s time you joined the New Media Revolution that’s taking place online Right Now.

FanPageWebsites.com will be there for you every step of the way with training, support and outstanding customer service.

You can contact us on our Web Page at FanPageWebsites.com

Or give us a call. Our Toll Free Number is 1-866-441-7235.

Find out how a Facebook Fan Page Website can help your business. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Website Design | Comments Off on Facebook Fan Page Website Design

SEO Best Practices

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

google-yahoo-bing

Optimizing your website or blog to get higher search engine rankings doesn’t have to be a mystery. While it’s true that this field changes quickly, there are a number of current SEO best practices you can easily implement now to help you get the readership you deserve, without trying to cheat or trick the search engines. Essentially, you want your website to follow the “rules” of search engines so they’ll be more likely to find your site when a relevant search is made.

In many cases, the following suggestions will only require minor tweaks to what you’re already doing.

First Things First

Before you write your page, decide what the main topic will be. This sounds like English 101, right? Here’s why this is important: Your main topic will be your keyword or keyword phrase, and the more closely related your page is to this one keyword or keyword phrase, the higher it will be ranked in relevance. Ideally, you want to write a full page based on one keyword phrase.

Title

This is really important, and just might be the hardest practice to implement well. Your page title needs to not only capture the attention of readers, but also be carefully constructed following these guidelines:

  • Include your keyword or keyword phrase in the title.
  • Place your keyword as the first or second word of the title, if possible.
  • Include no more than 70 characters in the title (or else it will get cut off in the search results).
  • If your brand is not well-known and you’re including it in the title, place the brand at the end of the title.

Body

Follow these guidelines in the body of your page:

  • The body should contain at least 300 words, ideally based on your keyword (or keyword phrase).
  • But … don’t be a keyword stuffer. Use the keyword three or four times, but definitely no more than ten.
  • Try to include the keyword in the first paragraph of the body, and bold the first occurrence.

Hyperlinks

Links make the webby world go ‘round. Here are guidelines for including links in your pages.

  • Include one hyperlink for every 120 words of content, and spread them evenly throughout the page, starting toward the beginning of the first paragraph.
  • Always set your links to open in a new window.
  • Make sure you link to pages that are relevant to your keyword or keyword phrase.
  • When linking to pages outside your site, link to a specific interior page (not a home page) that supports the opinion or position of your post.
  • Make the anchor text (the word/s readers click to follow a link) relevant to the page it points to. For example, if linking to a page about vitamin supplements, it’s better to make the anchor text: vitamin supplements rather than: click here.

Of course, there is much more to know about search engine optimization, but with just a little bit of extra attention to your web pages or blog posts, you can make a huge difference in your search engine rankings. Happy ranking!

Posted in Copywriting, Marketing, SEO | Comments Off on SEO Best Practices

More Leads For Less Money with Social Media

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

According to a recent article on eMarketer

The “2010 State of Inbound Marketing” report indicates that spending on lead generation is 60% less among companies that devote at least one-half of their budget to inbound marketing, compared with companies spending at least one-half of lead generation dollars on outbound tactics.

The average cost per lead from inbound marketing was also significantly less.


  • LinkedIn was most effective for customer acquisition.
  • The best results coming from Facebook, where nearly seven in 10 had found a new customer

It’s no doubt that Social Media Marketing is having cost effective results on turning prospects into leads for companies and small businesses that are incorporating social media applications like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Linkedin as part of their overall marketing strategy.

Our friendly customer service team will help craft an effective social media plan that is specific for you and your business.

We’d love to give you a FREE CONSULTATION on how to get started.
Call us at 1-866-441-7235.

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media | Comments Off on More Leads For Less Money with Social Media

Using Viral Video to Boost Sales To Your Website

Friday, February 12th, 2010

From a recent article on INC.com tited “Using Viral Video to Boost Sales”

When it comes to explaining what your company does, video often speaks louder than words. YouTube demos featuring seemingly mundane products such as blenders and mattresses have attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers online. And getting noticed doesn’t require slick production from a professional studio. Even a company on a shoestring budget, using just a basic camera and simple editing software, can produce an entertaining demo that reaches thousands of prospective customers.

read more..

Smartflex is a huge fan and implementor of using video for marketing and driving traffic to our website and our client websites. It’s a good idea to use numerous types of video to promote your service or product for marketing your website and getting results.

  • We like PowerPoint or Keynote Videos with a Voiceover like this one.
  • We also like Animated Photo videos with text like this one.
  • Of course, you could always make New-School Presentations like this one too.
  • Maybe even consider putting Yourself on Camera like this one.

The great thing about any of the above ideas is that they are EASY to do and cost very little to get started.

Need help getting up and running with Video for Marketing Your Website Profitably? Smartflex can help. Contact Us.

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Yoga Website Design & 10 Video Marketing Methods

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

We have just launched our new website dedicated to Marketing Yoga Professionals looking to market and grow their business online. Check out our latest promo video for the Yoga website below.

Would you like a Promo Video like this for your website and service? Your team at Smartflex Solutions will help you put together an original video marketing you and your service.

Here are 10 Video Marketing Methods that will help drive traffic to your website and generate potential sales:

  1. Put it on the Front Page of your website. It’s easy. We’ll show you how.
  2. Add it to Facebook and share it with your friends and community.
  3. Use it as an attachment in an email to your opt-in subscribers.
  4. Upload it straight to YouTube and watch it go viral.
  5. This makes a great item to link to from your Twitter Posts. Very cool indeed.
  6. Wouldn’t this be a great to have as a link on your LinkedIn Profile? We think so.
  7. If you’ve got a Flickr page, and you should, Flickr now allows you to up load video as well as photos.
  8. Simply do what we’re doing here and make it a post for your Blog Page… you’ve got a Blog don’t you?
  9. Maybe you could share it on your MySpace Account… if you’ve still got one and can remember the password.
  10. Now this next one is kinda Top Secret… have you heard of TubeMogul.com? Add this video to Tube Mogul and watch it go viral.

Contact us for more info on getting started with video marketing.

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Fitness Marketing Websites By Design

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Has your website not been updated since Bill Clinton was president? We’ve got some fresh new websites by design that are intentionally crafted to deliver the results you expect.

Smartflex Solutions | Website Design for Fitness Marketing

Take a peek at our latest designs for marketing fitness professionals and personal trainers. It’s got everything necessary (and then some) for generating leads and closing sales for your business. Below are 6 tips on how to get the most traction from your website layout. How does your current site measure up?

Branded Logo & Color Scheme:
Get a Text or Image and Text logo that is a good fit for your brand in terms of style and colors. What feeling do you want visitors to have upon seeing your overall design? Remember, when people arrive at your website initially you will never get a second chance to make that Immensly Important First Impression. We can certainly help you with getting a logo and design that has your prospects begging for more. Contact us for more info here.

Intuitive Page Navigation:
Your page navigation is standard across your entire website and needs to have as few tabs as possible in the header area to accomplish the goal of your website. That goal being Conversion to SALES! Did we mention that we’re really good at helping you get a website that converts leads to sales? Well… we meant to. Think long and hard about the most essential message you want your customers to hear and then craft header navigation pages that speak directly to those core needs. Take a look at what your competition is doing for brainstorming ideas and then mastermind with our world class customer service team who are pros at helping you weave your site together seamlessly.

Photos:
Use images that give your target market the feeling of how they ideally want to look and feel. Use the “20% over 30 Rule”. People over 30 generally want to look 20% younger than they are. So find images that show your end user in the best possible scenario.

Here are a few of our favorite places to find great images online:

BLOG:
Get a blog added to your website. This is a MUST. The search engines love regularly updated content. Adding a blog to your marketing mix is essential for capitalizing on your Social Media Marketing campaign.

Magnetic Headlines & Body Copy:
Use direct response headlines and body copy that magnetically attract your target market to read and respond to your website and blog. Your team at Smartflex can help you craft results-getting website copy. Here is a list of our copywriting services.

Lead Capture Forms:
Driving traffic from the internet back to your website is the purpose of your online marketing. Having an Opt-In Lead Capture Form on your website creates a funnel of leads for your business. I can’t stress this enough. Your website needs to have a purpose and that purpose is capturing leads and converting prospects to sales for your product and service. Let us show you how.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on our new website designs and also want to know what features you’d like added in our coming designs. Leave your comments below.

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Posted in Marketing, Photos, Website Design | Comments Off on Fitness Marketing Websites By Design