Search Engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing (the big 3 although there are hundreds)  can be especially finicky when it comes to indexing pages on a website. Sometimes, you have to yell (sort of speak), throw up a red flag and summon them back to your website for them to grab your content and make it appear in the search engines for potential prospects to see.

How Do You Do This?

Luckily, there is a more effective way to do this than glaring at your computer screen, screaming a few choice words and hoping for the best outcome.

Pinging your website is the on-line equivalent of waving a flag and yelling, “Hey! Over here – check this out!” to search engines and directories whenever you add or make major updates to the content on your site. Using a Ping tool can speed up indexing because it essentially sends search portals and other services a message from your website telling them that there is new content and to come crawl it.

Although ping tools were originally designed for bloggers publishing daily, they can be used successfully on any website with fresh content.

A Free Tool To Help You Wave The Flag

To make pinging nice and easy for subscribers to my newsletter let me introduce you to a FREE Pinging Tool site called Pingoat (funny name, I know, but an effective tool).

It’s very simple to use. Just enter the name of your website, i.e. Peter’s Paint Store, the URL for your website homepage, or the specific page containing the new content you want to be found, i.e. http://www.PetersPaintStore.com/special-paint-on-sale, check “all” if not already checked, and click “Go PingGoat!”.  PingGoat will alert a number of services that keep track of web logs and publish them.

Pinging your website is a good practice to get into as it can make a noticeable difference as to how quickly your new content and pages get indexed.

At the same time, you need to remember that it is only one tool in the toolbox required to get your website ranking well and receiving lots of traffic. While pinging is definitely worth doing, the results can vary and certainly aren’t guaranteed. You should still work hard building backlinks, producing fresh content, creating videos, press releases, etc.

Before you get started, here are 3 important things to know about Pinging:

1. You only need to use this tool when you add fresh content to your site or make major updates. ‘Extra’ pings won’t benefit your site and could even cause your IP address to be blocked by some services.
2. There is no limit on how many times you can ping your website every day – as long as you are adding new content every time that you ping.
3. Adding new content to your site is a very good thing in general and you should aim to do it at least once a week.

Start using the free Ping Tool, Pingoat when you need to tell the world you have fresh content on your website.

As always, we’re here to help you with your on-line marketing efforts. Just give us a shout.

The Original Post is Located Here: Pinging A Website…What Is It And How Do I Do It?

Do you remember when the Yellow Pages section of the local telephone book was the primary medium for getting a business before the eyes of the local consumer? It was effective because businesses that could afford a display ad in the local Yellow Pages were the businesses that won the marketing game in that day. Although many businesses still use Yellow Page advertising, statistics reveal that the Yellow Pages “users” have steadily declined in numbers since the inception of the public Internet.

And, just as the Internet has taken huge bites out of the Yellow Pages advertising, mobile advertising media is chomping at the heels of standard Internet advertising venues, opening a vista of opportunity for businesses that engage in this new marketing medium.

Think 15 Years Ago

In the mid to late 1990′s businesses of all kind were presented with a new media: Internet advertising. Many businesses ignored the new advertising media, choosing to stay with traditional marketing venues such as Yellow pages, Newspaper ads and direct marketing. Those businesses who decided to accept the challenge of changing their marketing strategy to encompass branded websites and Internet advertising soon pulled ahead of the pack. Today, there are more businesses from the local beauty salon to bakeries that have an online presence. Why? Because they discovered that if they want to be “found” they needed to be where the people were looking — the Internet.

Today, media advertising is trending toward mobile advertising — specifically app branding.

With over 82 million Smartphone customers in the USA alone you don’t want to be left out of this market. In fact, by app branding your business, you are making it instantly accessible as your prospective client’s Smartphone is ALWAYS in their purse, their hand or their pocket.

BIA/Kelsey, a marketing research firm, says that mobile marketing will account for 70 billion phone calls to businesses in the U.S. by 2016 (right now the number is 20 billion calls from mobile devices). That’s a bunch of phone calls.

App real estate is very important and still growing as smart phone users are utilizing apps to search for various things to make their lives easier and more efficiently use their time. Just as owning a relevant domain is vital to a business, an “app brand” could mean the difference between success and failure for today’s business owner.  Not only will having an app benefit a business local market, it will also give your business reach beyond the scope of what you can accomplish with traditional marketing methods. For example, a domain such as Charleston Real Estate.com may be selling out of reach for a local business, but you can still establish a presence on an app with the Charleston real estate brand, which may, in the long run have even more queries than a website.

The question for all small businesses is not “why do I need an app?”, rather “will my business be able to compete in today’s mobile society without one?”

The Original Post is Located Here: Get More Customers with Mobile Marketing Charleston

What does this mean to us small businesses?
It means alot! Nearly 1 out of every 2 people on the Internet goes to YouTube. That’s a lot of eyeballs you could have on your business.

If you’re not using video in your marketing efforts, you’re leaving money on the table!
That’s right. I don’t say this lightly. I know for a fact videos drive traffic and sales to countless numbers of my clients. As a small business there is an enormous amount of room for you to get the miniscule amount of organic views you need to succeed. Video Marketing with targeted keywords has become the fastest and most economical vehicle to rank in the search engines.

Let me give you one of many examples.
I put up a video for one of my clients targeting the competitive keyword phrase “How Do Reverse Mortgages Work” on January 29, 2013. In less than 2 months this video is now on page 1 in position 3 of Google for the targeted keyword. My client is getting traffic from it.

Consider This…

• You know your customers are online.
• You know you need to captivate them with something so compelling they are driven to your business.
• Best of all…video won’t break your budget.

With video a small business can easily:

1. Communicate your message
2. Let prospects know WHY they should be doing business with you
3. Acquire more customers which translates to MORE Sales!

Video is a way for small businesses to have a big voice and reach across the world.

Off to make another video…let us know how we can help you build your business!

The Original Post is Located Here: Get More Customers with Video Marketing

Ignoring Social Media Charleston is like ignoring your customers

That may sound a little harsh. Allow me to explain. Social Media is growing exponentially. It is becoming a massive source for leads and customers?

I know. You’re saying I don’t have time to be involved with social media…tweeting, blogging, sharing, etc… I have a business to run.

Some businesses tell me there’s no ROI (Return on Investment).

You’re right, it is difficult to calculate ROI on social media. For a minute, let’s just forget the ROI factor and look at social media in a different light…as a form of communication.  Would you not answer or return phone calls from customers? No.

Social media is just another form of communication. One, that many customers and potential prospects have embraced as their means of communication. Suffice to say, when you don’t listen and don’t respond you risk loosing those customers. Essentially, they perceive you don’t care.

Enter Social Media Optimization
Social Media Optimization is the process of generating publicity through various social media networks and platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.  Social Media Optimization increases awareness about a business, brand, product or service.  It’s also designed to amplify the engagement with your target audience. Thus, generating more leads, prospects and customers.

Why Employ Social Media Optimization?
Social Media is a fast growing space in online marketing as more and more people connect with each other, communicate and share thoughts and feelings about businesses, brands, products and services through status messages, likes, tweets, links, photos and videos.  Social Media Optimization helps promote brand awareness, influence buying behavior, buying decisions and promotes customer loyalty.

Social Search is on the Rise for Local Business Searches
In a 2012 study conducted by ComScore, a global leader in measuring the digital world, usage of non-search such as social and daily deals for finding local businesses has increased nearly 300% since 2008. Social network local businesses search users are still heavily engaged with social local content through usage of consumer reviews both contributing and using the consumer generated content.

• 70% read others’ experiences
• 65% learn more about businesses, brands, products and services
• 53% compliment brands
• 50% express concerns about brands, products & services

This makes social media an ideal venue to build brands, customer loyalty and word-of-mouth or viral promotion.

Here are some famous brands who are successfully employing Social Media Optimization:

• Coca-Cola
• Victoria’s Secret
• McDonald’s
• Walt Disney
• And thousands upon thousands of small and local businesses and professionals.

The Future
Social Media usage is fast growing and will pervade across industries, marketing and sales funnels, the buying cycle and customer life cycle, for many years to come.

• Facebook has more than 1 billion monthly active users
• LinkedIn has 87 million users in 200 countries. They sign up 2 new members every 2 seconds
• Twitter has more than 200 million monthly active users

Do not expect Instant Results
Social Media Optimization is a task-extensive online marketing effort requiring expertise and manpower. It is a rather long-term effort and requires everyday tasks to reach a critical mass of fans, followers, and connections to achieve high-growth momentum. Results elevate cumulatively as your content and connections build over time.

Given the facts, the best time to get started with Social Media Optimization or to bring it to a higher level for your business is right now. Catch up with your competition, or keep them at bay and expand your business to new horizons.

We’re here to help you make that happen when you’re ready.

The Original Post is Located Here: Ignoring Social Media Charleston Is Like Ignoring Your Customers

The first thing to do is re-gain your composure and realize there are bad people out there trying to steal our stuff.  Unfortunately, hackers do what they do for money—this is business for them. No matter how much you think you have protected yourself you need to always be on your guard.

Case in point…

Last year my PayPal account was compromised. Before I caught it the hacker had issued 2 shipping invoices totaling over $200 bucks and the money was transferred out of my bank account. Once I realized the breach I contacted my bank and PayPal, who both quickly went to work to secure my accounts, credit me back and alert the authorities.

The first question PayPal security ask was “how long ago did you run a malware and security check on your computer?” Admittedly, I was not very good at manually running all the security checks on my computer as often as I should. They informed me that most security breaches are from not protecting our computers. That’s when I consulted my trusted hosting support guy who encouraged me to invest in a utility software called System Mechanic to automatically optimize and protect my computer network. This little tool was the best investment I could have made to secure my network and I’m confident the security breach was not because my computer wasn’t protected.

If it’s not my computer network then how did my Twitter account get hacked?

According to the Twitter Help Center, other areas your accounts can be compromised are if you have given your username and password to malicious third-party applications or websites. Or if your password is weak.

This may be where my problem lies. Both in linking with third-party applications and my password being weak.

Third Party Applications

Recently, I connected with a third-party application that LinkedIn and other sites suggested I use to feed my blog posts to social media sites. Now, I don’t believe they are malicious by any means. However, third-party applications can sometimes have a bug which can cause unexpected behavior.

Weak Passwords

I’m a creature of habit and am guilty of using the same password over and over again.  I’m learning if I want to protect myself use longer, more difficult passwords that are upper and lowercase with special characters.

What did I do to address this hack?

Step 1: Changed Twitter account password so it was stronger…upper and lowercase plus special characters included. Fortunately I could access my account.

Step 2: Checked the third-party apps in Twitter to make sure I recognized all of them and had authorized access. Changed those passwords.

Step 3: Changed my account password on all of my other social media accounts so they are now stronger and longer.

Step 4: Changed my password on my websites.

If it can happen to big brands like Burger King, it can happen to any of us. Now, all I can do is monitor the situation and encourage every one I come in contact with to protect themselves.

Have you been hacked? I’d love to hear your story and how you resolved it.

The Original Post is Located Here: What To Do When Your Twitter Account Has Been Hacked?

Mobile apps are changing the face of advertising. With more than 4 billion cell phones sold throughout the world, they are changing the way people think, act, work, buy products and communicate. I want everyone I come in contact with to have a mobile app for their business. Having a mobile app could add 10% to your monthly business revenue. So, I’m making it affordable.

Starting today through the end of February, we are offering a 50% savings on a branded mobile app for your business.

Here’s What You Get…

• 3 Calls To Action Buttons on Your Home Page…Click to Call, Email & Directions to your business
• Icon image and Graphic image for the app stores (note: you must furnish logo. If you don’t have one we can have one made for an additional fee)
• Content feeds such as news, local events and deals around your town that are engaging to your customers
• Content feeds from your Social Media Accounts, i.e. Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, etc.
• Link to your Website
• Pages from your website that promote your products and services
• Link to your Blog
• Interactive Push Notification (the ability to reach out to your customers on their device with specials, promotions or any engaging message.)
• Geo Coupons (specials that will only activate once a user is in a specific range of a business)
• Contact Form (allows users to reach your business for a reservation, appointment, comment, etc)
• QR Code to print and/or place on your website or anywhere for that matter promoting your mobile app
• Barcode Scanner (makes it easy for your customers to scan your future offers and/or other business offers.)
• Your branded Mobile App submitted to Google Play and Amazon App Stores plus the SkyApps platform for iPhones, IPads and other IOS devices.
• A special webpage for promoting your app
• Hosting for your branded Mobile App
• Monthly Maintenance (any required changes to the mobile app)
• A special Dashboard allowing you to manage your own Push Notifications and QR Coupons.

What Does It Cost?

• $299.00 (Regular price is $499.00…50% Savings thru 2/28/2013)
• $99.00 per month (for Hosting, Maintenance and Dashboard)

Take a look at some live examples of mobile apps. Then, give us a call at (843) 300.1475 or contact us to get your mobile app up and bringing you more customers!

Hurry offer ends February 28, 2013!

The Original Post is Located Here: February Mobile Apps Special

Just a few days ago Google made an announcement they were changing Google Adwords with Enhanced Campaigns.  This change is being described by many commentators as one of the most fundamental and significant changes to date.

In a nutshell, Adwords campaigns will become more device independent. What this means for those of my clients who we manage their PPC (Pay Per Click) is separating targeted campaigns for mobile, tablet and desktop devices will no longer be necessary. Plus, there are several more modifications in which campaigns will be structured. All in an effort to provide more relevant and location based results.

For the full details and Google’s latest video promoting the Enhanced Campaigns, read this article…

Google AdWords changes the game with enhanced campaigns …

The Original Post is Located Here: Google Changes Adwords…Important Update!

Libro. The future of reputation by Fernando

Just like business in the offline world, online reviews are the biggest asset to a company.

They can also be the biggest cause of lost revenue…

If you have happy customers, their opinions matter to other potential customers. Not having any reviews is the same as having a bad reputation. In another post I talked about the 4 different types of reputation.

This is why you need to market your reputation…to capitalize on the positive feedback and draw new customers into your business.

Take a look at the below article “How Online Reviews Can Make (or Break) Your Business” published by Inc. late last year.

While good online reviews can bring you more business when promoted properly, just ONE bad review can send customers running from your business. An online review with a negative spin could be anywhere out in cyberspace and you wouldn’t even know it, but the savvy online consumer WILL find it and you can be certain it will weigh on their mind when deciding whether or not to use your products or service.

So, how can you protect your company from these negative reviews that are bound to happen?

The Inc. article outlines in more detail…here are the highlights:

• Make sure you have a website
• Ask customers to review you online and suggest specific sites
• Don’t purchase fake reviews. Ever…
• Watch the reviews and respond appropriately.

Suffice to say whether we are doing business online or offline we want to know how our business is doing. So, ask for feedback.

What I have found works much better than me asking for feedback is to have someone else ask for my company. It’s amazing what you can find out about what you’re doing right and sometime wrong your clients might not want to share with you.

As always, if you or your business need help, our doors are open for you to get more customers!

How Online Reviews Make (or Break) Your Business | Inc.com

http://www.inc.com/michael-fertik/online-reviews-make-big-difference-small-business.html

How Online Reviews Make (or Break) Your Business. Reviews matter more–much more–than you might think. Here’s how to use the feedback to your advantage.

The Original Post is Located Here: Is Your Internet Reputation Keeping You From Getting More Customers?

Recent data being shared by the SEO gurus cite Facebook shares as the single highest connected metric to receiving higher Google rankings.  Case in point, one of the most comprehensive studies conducted by SearchMetrics concludes Facebook shares and the total of activities, i.e. shares, likes and comments…are the strongest social media-based SEO factors.

Amazing stuff…

For over a year, Google (I call them the 800 lb. gorilla) has been telling us Google+ links and Plus 1′s are critical to our SEO efforts. Suffice it to say, their own search engine algorithm is slanted toward Facebook as the highest social media authority. Who knows they may change any day.

Here’s a few take aways from this data…

1. Even though Google+ is important to promote, even the folks at Google realize Facebook is an important social platform for businesses.
2. As small businesses we can not ignore Facebook. I know I have been guilty of focusing on Twitter, G+ and LinkedIn more in the past. However, Facebook must be a part of our marketing arsenal.
3. When you are marketing on Facebook the key to being successful is just like any of the other social platforms…share quality content that is educational, informative and/or entertaining. Be patient and consistent.
4. Remember to socialize and network with those folks that share your passion or interests.

Hit me up if you’d like some Easy SEO Help from me…

I’ll “like” or “share” your website on Facebook

The Original Post is Located Here: Easy SEO Help

One way to increase your exposure is running a contest on Pinterest.

Here’s a great article outlining the steps for creating an effective contest on Pinterest…

4 Steps for Holding a Contest on Pinterest (via Intuit Small Business Blog)

Want to increase your exposure on Pinterest? Encourage the site’s users to create their own content related to your products and brand. You can do so by leveraging people’s universal love of contests: Everyone enjoys winning and getting stuff for free. Here are four steps to creating an effective…

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The Original Post is Located Here: Steps To Running A Contest On Pinterest