Popular Articles on Business 2 Community

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• 33 Ways to Get More Pins and Repins on Pinterest
• Improving SEO Prospects with Mobile Technology
• 4 Simple Ways to Target Customers Using Mobile Marketing
• 10 Simple B2B Content Marketing Tips For 2014
• The Secret to Social Media Success: It’s Not About You, It’s About Them
• How to Kill Your WordPress Website
• How To Become a Conversationalist on Twitter
• 4 Tools to Help You Monitor Your SEO Campaigns
• 10 Content Marketing Failures – Do Not Try This At Home
• 7 Effective Tips For Better Customer Loyalty
• Local SEO Tools You Must Have in Your Toolbox

33 Ways to Get More Pins and Repins on Pinterest Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:02 AM PST Would you like to get more pins and repins on Pinterest? Pins and repins are an important currency on Pinterest. They are as important as getting more followers. More pins and repins will lead to more traffic and sales which can be highly beneficial for your business. It can also be very uplifting. So to help you I have created an infographic with 33 tips on how to how to get more pins and repins. Check it out below… For more Pinterest marketing tips, watch our Free Pinterest Marketing Video Tutorial which can be accessed for by Signing Up to our blog updates. How do you get more pins and repins on Pinterest? Would you like to share any other Pinterest tips? Please leave your comments below.

Improving SEO Prospects with Mobile Technology Posted: 21 Jan 2014 08:32 AM PST On the Move With so many apps, features, and uses, today's smartphones are an entity unto themselves. Cell phone technology has come a long way, and will continue to evolve in the future. But while they have several online applications, smartphones still don't function like desktop computers, or even laptops. When it comes to online functionality, smartphones are a little different. This isn't much of an issue for consumers, but it can be for online businesses. E-companies have to ensure that their online business materials, including web pages and SEO techniques, are able to work on mobile devices. With many sources saying that 2014 will bring about new consumer changes that affect how online business works, adapting to mobile-based online business practices has become a necessity. Mobile Friendly Improving your online business for mobile devices requires a lot of analysis. The process is quite involved, but there's no getting around doing it. If you've used your analytics before, you'll know that's where to begin. Pay extra attention to analytics specifically from mobile searches and from clients using their mobile phones to search via interlinking. By using analytics, you'll see how well clients are responding to your online material from their mobile devices and can flag pages that need improvement. Speaking of improvements, most analytics allow you to track clients' clicks. This tracking mechanism can point out what links in your meta tags are most popular and which ones aren't. Based on your analytics data and tracking results, you can then decide what plan of action to take: this could include creating new pages, improving your on-page techniques, or removing certain link-building schematics to facilitate faster usability for mobile clients. Going Mobile Improving your mobile online business practices has to be taken seriously now more than ever. With such a large variety of phones on the market, you can bet that consumers will be using theirs for their personal buying needs—needs your online business must cater to. A lot of businesses and industry insiders have been writing, blogging, and doing videos about this lately, noting that 2013 was a year where many lost out on mobile-based client business. To gain that business some experts have advised using Google Webmaster Tools to have ownership of desktop and mobile sites verified, thereby gaining access to Google analytics that will help you enter into the mobile aspect of online business. Refusing to adapt to mobile consumer activity can hurt, or at least severely limit, your business in the long run. Many businesses think just having a good web site is enough, but if you are serious about SEO and using it to generate regular business, going mobile is the necessary path to success. To get more help on all your SEO, web site design, and web traffic needs, e-mail Numero Uno Web Solutions Inc. at info@numerounoweb.com. This article Improving SEO Prospects with Mobile Technology was originally published at Numero Uno Web Solutions and has been republished with permission.

4 Simple Ways to Target Customers Using Mobile Marketing Posted: 21 Jan 2014 08:12 AM PST Your customers are always on the move, so if you can target them anywhere, why wouldn't you? When a potential customer is waiting in a line, for an appointment or just playing games you can hone in on them and display your offer through an SMS while they are in their comfort zone. Mobile marketing is a powerful new trend, and unlike the internet, customers don't associate the same "banner blindness" on their cellphones as they do online. When an ad pops up on your phone, it can be extremely targeted, take up the whole screen and the prospect will only have two options – quit or click through to your offer. 4 Easy Ways to Target Customers Through Mobile Marketing Although still in its infancy, mobile marketing methods are plentiful. Here are 4 simple ones you can implement to take your mobile marketing strategy to the next level. 1. Mobile Banner Ads. When a user is viewing their email, browsing the web or even playing a game or using an app, you can purchase banner ads to pop up during their experience. Banner ads have been around online for a long time for one reason – they work. If they didn't work, nobody would buy them. Banner ads on cellphones have one huge advantage – there is not so much competition. With mobile advertising being such a new field, a lot of your competitors are not using it. Highly targeted mobile offers convert well because they often have no time limits on their web surfing due to no fixed location, so the user can browse freely. 2. SMS Marketing. Aside from actual phone calls, SMS marketing has been around in some form or another for quite a few years now. Again, like the banner ads, it works which is why it has been so popular. SMS marketing is a real test when using text only, your copywriting skills will be worth every penny when you have to work without images or fancy logos in a standard text format. 3. Mobile Surveys. It has been said that the best ads don't look like ads – this is definitely the case with surveys. Often when a customer sees an ad that is blatantly an ad, they will be less interested than if a piece of marketing appeared to be giving information. In his book Influence, Cialdini clearly states that when an individual appears to be helping the prospect rather than selling them, they will more often than not receive higher orders, more tips and more money (Waiter case study). Surveys can appear to be giving information, or gathering information for a greater good and don't seem like a sales pitch. When your customer finishes the survey, you now have all of their details so you can hone in on them and target  your offer to their needs. This can be powerful stuff. 4. Pull Marketing. An example of pull advertising is when your customer asks for a service (which is often free), and then you return the service with advertising or with limited features and the option to upgrade. Most apps are great examples of pull marketing. The customer downloads your app and loves it, however they soon get tired of the lack of features. If your price and features are compelling enough and you remind them, they will eventually willingly pay you, instead of having to do the hard sell on them. Mobile marketing has become a dominant force in certain industries such as gaming and dating. There have been some seriously addictive cell phone games developed lately, and users are willingly forking over millions of dollars to buy tools, materials and other intangible goods to help them advance in the game. The one downside is that most games require extremely specialised knowledge and constant upgrades. In the dating niche, some applications are just as easy to use as a computer, so if you customer is looking for the oldest service known to man, you can target them right when they are in the zone. The Future of Mobile Marketing Smartphone growth has been exponential since the launch of the first iPhone, and it is trending up. With serious competition from Samsung, HTC and Sony, these large companies are constantly battling to see who can come up with the better designs, cooler benefits and funkier features. Consumers always want the latest and greatest in technology, internet speeds around the world are picking up with heavy government investment and WiFi is almost universally available. The development of apps and games is growing exponentially as well, with many universities churning out thousands of graduates a year who focus solely on development for mobile phones. With all of these factors, it isn't hard to see why mobile marketing is something that you should invest in. Sure it is a new platform to learn, but the payoffs are huge. Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

10 Simple B2B Content Marketing Tips For 2014 Posted: 21 Jan 2014 06:46 AM PST B2B content marketing can be more challenging than business to consumer marketing, but many of the principles remain the same. Clear, concise communication and a solution-oriented approach remains key in attracting businesses to your product or services. Content Marketing exploded onto the scene in a big way in 2013 and this year businesses will embrace it more as part of their integrated marketing strategies. In the 'Digital Space', a key point to remember when planning out a content strategy, is that people engage with and buy from people they know, like or trust and the way to get to that place, is with superb content. Here are ten tips for effectively marketing to other businesses. Research. Use Google metrics, surveys and other tools to understand who and where your market is, what they need and what they respond to. Time spent doing this up front will result in higher ROI in the long run. Offer them solutions. Businesses in need don’t care how proud you are of your company’s product or what excites you about it; they want to know how it can solve their problems today. Make it easy for them by showing them, whether by text, video or some other method. Put informative articles on your website. Make them simple enough for laypeople to understand; businesses are paying you to be the expert. Try to include something that appeals to personnel at every level of the purchasing decision. Be consistent. If your business uses multiple platforms and channels, be sure that you are saying the same thing on all of them. Get to the decision-makers. LinkedIn and Twitter can be particularly good platforms for connecting one-on-one with people both by exchanging messages and by sharing links to useful content. Don’t forget the gatekeepers. Administrative assistants, receptionists and other support staff may wield a great deal of power in terms of what is purchased and whom you can speak to at a company. Content marketing that recognizes and acknowledges their needs and contributions may get your foot in the door at places where you’ve previously failed to connect. Let your customers do your job for you. Invite some of the companies that have been most satisfied with your product or services to write something about what you have done for them. Plan ahead. Business cycles can be more predictable than those of individuals, and you have some advantage in being able to research and understand what prospects will be most in need of and at what times. Release content based on this model. Mirror the customer. You shouldn’t do this literally; don’t copy what other businesses do, but look at their own social media and websites and tailor your approach according to what you can glean about the company’s brand and personality. Make white papers available online. B2B companies have used these for a long time in a more traditional format; there is no reason you cannot use them as well as part of your online content marketing plan. While relationship building is important in B2B marketing just as it is in B2C marketing, the bottom line is even more important. Decision makers need to feel they can justify the expense of your product or services as well as the choice of your company over competitors. Communicating these strengths to your audience through highly relevant, creative and informative content will elevate you above the competition and give you a clear advantage. What innovative tips do you have for creative content marketing and how has this affected your bottom line?

The Secret to Social Media Success: It’s Not About You, It’s About Them Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:30 AM PST Zig Ziglar said it best with the quote above. You will get all you want out of life, if you help enough other people get what they want. Effective social media works similar to that quote. Give first, then receive. Let me explain the title of this blog post… You = Your business Them = Your audience/customers/fans/potential customers/followers/subscribers So it could read: It's Not About Your Business, It's About Your Audience. That's not as catchy and it's a bit long, so I shortened it. Writing catchy titles is half the battle in content marketing. Gary Vaynerchuk talks about this in his new best-selling book – Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. He uses a boxing analogy because boxing is known as a sweet science. There is a sweet science to social media being profitable, too. If you want 86 case studies, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Gary's new book. It's more of a "How To" book, unlike his first two. Gary also uses metaphors in the title of his book as well (are you seeing the similarities between the 3x New York Times Best-Seller and myself? :) Jab = Give Right Hook = Ask So Gary's book could be called Give, give, give, ask! I love the title of the book. Although, it probably won't sell many copies on the shelves of Barnes & Noble when people are looking in the business section. They'll most likely assume the book is in the wrong section. Gary relies on word of mouth with his book sales and he is damn good at it, too. How To Add Value on Social Media Your audience comes first. This is so important and often times overlooked/forgotten. Like the quote from John C. Maxwell — People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Put yourself in your audience's shoes. Do you want to be constantly sold to? Do you want to constantly hear about them? Are you following them on Twitter to hear how great they think they are? Probably not. Again, it's not about you, it's about them. How can you add value to your community? There are several ways to add value, such as providing helpful information, solving problems, entertainment or just a place to escape for a bit. We all need that every once in awhile. Remember, value does not have to be all about business. Make it fun. Fun works on social media. Nike vs. Converse I stumbled upon a post while writing this article titled — Social Media Tips for Small Business: Don't Sell. Add Value. Chris talks about the differences between Nike and Converse and how they are managing their Facebook fan pages. Now, I would assume that Nike would be the clear winner here. I was wrong. Nike is constantly selling on their page while Converse is posting about music, shoes and adding value to their community. Converse has more than twice the amount of fans (37M to 16M) as shoe powerhouse, Nike. Here is something I find interesting… Chris' post was written in April of 2013. I wanted to see how both Facebook pages were doing so I looked them up. Nike has posted ONCE since October, while Converse is still posting about music, shoes (non-salesy way) and continuing to add value. Maybe Nike ditched their Facebook strategy because it wasn't working? I wonder why. Cinnabon's Sweet Tweets Here is another great example of a company that gets it. Cinnabon does a wonderful job on Twitter. I do not follow them on Facebook, but would assume they do a good job there, too. I would purchase their product more often if they were located outside of airports. That is the only time I eat Cinnabon, is when I am traveling. The sad thing is, I usually get one when I am departing and then again at the arrival airport :) There last 14 tweets were @ replies, meaning their followers wrote something about them (or to them) and they were responding. See that? They are listening to their community. Here are the 5 most recent tweets, with the last one being a jab (self-promotional). A good one as it is a reply to a follower, but also a slight pitch, with an amazing photo; @RedSoxCraic Wly2 — Cinnabon (@Cinnabon) January 14, 2014 @tjhardwick Home sweet home :) — Cinnabon (@Cinnabon) January 14, 2014 @louberrrypie We love you too! — Cinnabon (@Cinnabon) January 14, 2014 @TropicalZiamx_ We sure do! — Cinnabon (@Cinnabon) January 14, 2014 @louberrrypie :) — Cinnabon (@Cinnabon) January 14, 2014 @maria_bigmac Like this? pic.twitter.com/8oD8UzToUs — Cinnabon (@Cinnabon) January 13, 2014 Another Dealership that Misses the Boat Now car dealerships usually aren't that good at social media as they "push" a lot and post pictures of their inventory. Yes, some have just hundreds of pictures of cars. I could go to Auto Trader to see that. That is just so boring. People use the social channels to be entertained, not bored to tears with pictures of your inventory. I saw this in my Facebook feed earlier and had to share. Why would we care about their goals? Doesn't that seem to self serving? I see a lot of dealers do this, wanting help to reach their goals. It's about about their goals (money) and not about their community. I love how they slide in the benefits at the end though… $0 down 0% APR Payments as low as $99 Are those really benefits though? Does anyone believe those anymore? The auto industry doesn't have the best reputation as it is and I feel social is a great place to differentiate themselves. I see it as a great opportunity for the industry, but most dealerships are concerned about generating a ROI today, not in the future. Social is a long-term play, a big reason why businesses aren't going "all in" with it. The Word Test When writing a status update how often do you use the words "We", "us", "we're", or your company name? Are those words in every post? Look back at your last 3-4 posts and count how many times you've used those words. Now look at those same posts and see how many times you used the words "You", "your", "you're". Hopefully these words outnumber the above words 3:1. If not, make the change. This word test can be used on your website content as well. In fact, I encourage you to use this test on your website, especially on your home page. Same with blogging, try using "you", "your", "you're" more often and limit the "I", "we", "us" talk. Conclusion Like Chris said in his post, "Don't sell. Add value". It goes along with the Golden Rule, treat others how you want to be treated.

How to Kill Your WordPress Website Posted: 21 Jan 2014 04:00 AM PST Anyone that has ever started a wordpress site has begun with the desire to make their site a stand-out. No one intentionally wants to destroy their WordPress site. This article is written to make sure you're not making these mistakes and killing your WordPress site. Sure, it's easy enough to build an amazing WordPress site, with some equally amazing content and images but why throw it all away because of a few oversights. Kill Strike 1 – Sign up to free hosting Despite what you may have heard, free hosting is not the same as paid hosting. If you're unfortunate enough to have experienced free hosting then I feel your pain. By now we should all know that nothing is ever free, you may be saving some bucks but it'll cost you in other ways. The companies that offer these 'free hosting' services have to pay their bills somehow and normally do so by spamming your website with ads. Not only annoying for you, but also distracting for your website visitors. If you want a clear shot to the jugular, kill your WordPress site by signing up to free hosting. Kill Strike 2 – Download every free widget available Don't get me wrong widgets are great, but you can have too much of a good thing. Just because it's free doesn't mean you need to feature all these widgets on your site. Less is more, keep them limited and only install widgets that add some value to your site. Kill Strike 3 – Don't Update There are new releases to WordPress on a frequent basis, which include updates to the core, theme and plugin updates. If you want multiple errors across your site ignore all the update alerts. Knowing which updates are relevant to the functionality of your site can be tricky, the easiest way to ensure it's done timely and correctly is by using the services of a web host. They'll maintain all the backend techy stuff so you can continue with building (not killing) your WordPress site.

How To Become a Conversationalist on Twitter Posted: 20 Jan 2014 03:01 PM PST Twitter is growing on a daily basis and people are trying to figure out strategies that work in terms of marketing and exposure. It is easy to reach people on Twitter, because people can reach customers directly. If that isn't enough, you can easily campaign to get more followers. Forbes recently discussed how the most successful for of marketing on Twitter is starting conversations with people. Branding has become less about telling people what to do, such as buying products and clicking on links, and more about creating genuine relationships through honest conversations. So, how does one start conversations on Twitter? It is all about making a connection and making an effort. People may not start conversations with you and your company, unless they have complaints about your service or products, or unless they want something. You need to make the effort. Below are five examples of how you can start conversations on Twitter. All examples are from Coca Cola’s official Twitter feed. The Emotional Connection: The emotional connection is all about focusing on people's emotions. You can also show your own emotions, such as giving thanks for thinking of your business while making a purchase. "I gave @CocaCola +Kred influence in the marketing community," wrote one person, to which Coca Cola replied, "Thanks for thinking of us, Antonio!" This connection is all about showing a softer side of the business. The Thankful Message: Giving thanks is another way of making a connection with readers. Every time a customer makes a purchase, it is all about giving thanks. Customers could go with your competitors, so it is all about showing thanks to make sure they feel appreciated – and come back in the future. "I (heart) zero cherry coke lol" wrote one fan, to which Coca Cola replies, "Hi Mabel! Thanks for drinking Cherry Coke Zero!" This simple gesture can create some great relationships.  The Helpful Conversation: Another conversation technique is also being helpful for customers who are not satisfied with the business. While some people do not like addressing customer service requests on Twitter, it is a great platform to give recognition to issues. "Pressed the @CocaCola button on the soda machine and a @Pepsi came out…beyond pissed…left it there," wrote one frustrated customer, to which Coca Cola replied, "We'd like to look into this. Please email more information with Ref #8003144390." This example reveals that you can make your customers feel important, as Coca Cola has provided a reference number. The Unexpected Connection: But there doesn't have to be a reason for you to reach out to people. Some people may tweet about something relatable to your business and you can capitalize on this. "The weekend is upon me…Time to go home and crack open a cold one. And by cold one, I mean a @CocaCola #BornToBeWild," wrote one thirsty reader, to which Coca Cola replied, "Have a great evening, Keith." This tweet is not prompted by the customer, but it is a great chance for you to show that you care. The Friendly and Funny Conversation: Some people prefer a connection that is genuine, funny and friendly. Some people are just looking for a friend, rather than a business on Twitter. And Coca Cola gives a prime example of how a corporation can be a friend on Twitter. "I want to see @KurtHSchneider's videos that he made for @CocaCola but I'm too busy studying," wrote one curious reader, to which Coca Cola replied, "Don't worry, Lisa! After studying visit (link) to view the videos." Not only is Coca Cola being a friend, but the company is also marketing their links to readers. These are just some examples of how you can create conversation on Twitter with your customers. You can capitalize on other situations and create your own examples, but just make sure that you are professional all the time.

4 Tools to Help You Monitor Your SEO Campaigns Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:39 PM PST SEO is a slow process that requires patience and the right tools to monitor what works and what doesn't. In order to reach your goals, there are several metrics you have to consider: keywords driving organic traffic, link building campaigns, competitors strategies and conversions. With hundreds of SEO tools available, only a few stand out in front of the crowd with great features that can provide meaningful insights about your website. Choosing the right ones can be hard, but this is why I will try to show you the best ones you should try today. SEO tools to try in 2014 There are two kinds of SEO's. Those that know what works and manage to stay in the top of the search engines no matter what updates Google does, and those that are using sloppy methods and wonder why their websites are not ranking well. Remember that SEO is a very slow process that requires patience and results can't come overnight. Create a long term plan, and you will have positive achievements. Bellow I will show you a list with my favorite tools for SEO. 1. MonitorBacklinks.com This is a the must have SEO tools for everybody who is serious about ranking high in Google. On every SEO campaign, you have to keep track of your backlinks, and this is where Monitor Backlinks is extremely helpful. When your website gains new links, Monitor Backlinks sends you an email alert, with all the backlinks received in that day. You can easily track all of your new backlinks and know what works best for your rankings,  and which one drives the most traffic. For each account, you can add your main competitors, for which Monitor Backlinks will track their backlinks profile to. You can easily keep up with your competition link building strategy. Everything is 100% automated, and it takes about 2 minutes to create an account. Why is Monitor Backlinks on this list? This tool is 100% automated, unlike many SEO tools. That means you connect your domain, and the rest is done automatically. You get detailed reports for your SEO campaigns and  email alerts when your website or competitors are gaining new backlinks. 2. SEO PowerSuite If you are looking for a complete SEO tool to download on your PC or Mac, this is the best one you can have. The SEO PowerSuite has 4 different tools: Rank TrackerIt can check your keywords rankings in all major search engines for top 1000 rankings. The keyword research feature is also very useful, and it can help you find long-tail keywords and new opportunities. Website AuditorChecks for problems on your website and helps you index your content on search engines easily. SEO SpyGlassThis one is one of the best parts of SEO PowerSuite. It helps you find a lot of quality websites, from which you can get backlinks. LinkAssistantHelps you manage your link building campaigns and keep track of your backlinks profile. Why is SEO PowerSuite listed here? This tool is the best SEO tool you can download on your computer and have it accessible at any time. The most important features are: rank tracking for top 1000 and SEO SpyGlass. 3. Open Site Explorer from Moz.com Every SEO has heard and probably tried Moz tools at least once. They offer numerous tools, but one of the best ones is "Open Site Explorer".  You simply add your website URL and get a list with all the backlinks sorted by Page Authority or Domain Authority. On Open Site Explorer, you have access to almost every piece of information you need for a website. The feature I like the most is called "Compare Link Metrics", which allows you to compare your website with 4 competitors. You can easily understand what are the differences between your website, and find ranking patterns to improve your visibility on search engines. Why is Open Site Explorer on this list? Comparing your website with your competitor is vital for any website. This tool helps you understand where there is room to improve your SEO strategy. 4. SemRush.com SemRush can provide priceless details about your competition. When you search for a domain, you can find what are the most popular landing pages, and what keywords are driving the most traffic. Download the list of keywords from which your competitors are getting the most traffic, and find hundreds of new opportunities to rank for. Why is SemRush on the list? It's the best tool for keyword research. Conclusion There are many other SEO tools that could have been mentioned on this list, but this is a list with the most important 4 tools to use to monitor your SEO campaigns. Have you tried the tools in this list? What is your favorite one?

10 Content Marketing Failures – Do Not Try This At Home Posted: 20 Jan 2014 07:34 AM PST Did you know that 91% of marketers are using custom content, but only 34% consider themselves effective at it? It's pretty safe to assume that more than half of us struggle with publishing professional blog posts. Whether you're failing often, or afraid to fail to begin with, you probably can't escape the fact that content marketing is quickly becoming the norm. 78% of CMOs think content is the future of marketing ideas and strategy. Mistakes can range from egregious to subtle, and we've compiled a list of the most-common errors we see often: 1. Failing to Invest Time You'd probably never give a sales person one hour to close a massive deal. So why on earth would you expect remarkable results or professional blog posts if you're not putting time into your content marketing? Even with quality content, building an audience takes commitment and consistency. 2. Using a Cut-Rate Content Marketplace Psst. Some of the world's best and most-revered content brands buy blog posts. If you're doing it right, no one needs to know that it wasn't authored by an on-staff expert. Professional blog posts can be within budget, but you've got to carefully screen your content marketplace to ensure your quality and substance will be up to par. 3. Skimping on Marketing Ideas It's much harder to create something fresh, original and outstanding than it is to simply hammer out content around a topic you know well. There are few quick wins in marketing and SEO, which is why it's crucial to fill your editorial calendar with only the brightest and most original marketing ideas. 4. Not Investing in Training Contractors No one – and I repeat no one – can write fabulous content in a vacuum. If your marketing strategy is to buy blog posts, ensure you invest the time necessary to educate your contractors on your business, buyer personas, and goals. 5. Failing to Write Professional Blog Posts There's an incredibly fine line between being controversial to gain clicks, and offending people. Crossing this line can result in damage to your brand and audience trust that's hard to repair. Before you newsjack a tragedy or fire off an opinionated response to a breaking news story, ask yourself whether you could lose subscribers or customers over the decision. 6. Creating Random Acts of Content It's pretty time-consuming to create and maintain an editorial calendar – but trust us, it's time well-spent. Without a clear plan for the professional blog posts you'll produce, and an understanding of how it fits into your brand's marketing strategy as a whole, you run the risk of content that's repetitive or disjointed. 7. Not Monitoring – and Responding to – Metrics If it was easy to write a viral article, every content brand would do it. However, it's not that simple, which is why your organization's best chances of developing a winning marketing idea depend on your ability to monitor and react to your blog metrics. 8. Forgetting to Compel As Marketo points out, the buyer's journey is closely tied to emotion. The success of traditional copywriting depended on advertiser's ability to compel their audience with powerful language. Your professional blog posts should adopt this traditional wisdom. 9. Settling for Mediocre There's a difference between professional blog posts, and content that's moving enough to close customers. Content marketing expert Joe Pulizzi recommends never settling for mediocre, and always being unafraid to step out of your comfort zone. 10. Being Too General Writing a blog post that's based on a trending Twitter topic is probably a bad plan – unless it directly relates to your brand's products or services. General blog posts can have general appeal, but they won't convince the right prospects to become leads. There's no shortage of content marketing mistakes you can make, but dedication, consistency, and quality can solve many of the most-common problems that plague brands with a newfound commitment to inbound marketing.

7 Effective Tips For Better Customer Loyalty Posted: 20 Jan 2014 07:11 AM PST The emotional bond of customer loyalty may not appear on your business's bottom line, but ignore it and you'll quickly see how important customer loyalty is to the survival of your organization. To create better, more effective customer loyalty, your have to craft a customer experience that combines elements of physical, emotional, and transactional value for your customers. Most business industries today really work in commodities. Your specific type of product or service, from your customer's point of view, is less unique than you think it is. Customers today are bombarded with options and are constantly being pitched by competitors to switch and save. With the high cost of customer acquisition in many industries, ongoing customer loyalty is critical for organizations to remain profitable. 7 Key Elements of Organizations With Massive Customer Loyalty Generating the type of customer relationships and bonds with customers that keep customers engaged and loyal requires connecting with customers on an intellectual, emotional, or even a spiritual level that makes your customer experience more than just a typical transaction. In essence, the experience becomes more human interaction, than business necessity. 1. Be totally upfront about bad news Customers crave transparency and reward organizations that are totally upfront in good times and bad. Buffer, an online social media sharing service that I highly recommend and use every day, recently had a security issue that compromised the sharing service for many of their customers. Rather than denying it took place, the Buffer team was totally honest and upfront, and most importantly timely in their response. Rather than angry mobs the customer response was actually positive with encouraging words for the team as they worked on a fix. Buffer enjoys even stronger customer loyalty because of their transparency and emphasis on solving issues for their customers. Specifically look at how often the Buffer team updated customers during the situation and then the overall response of customers in the post comments. 2. Be generous with good news One frequent frustration customers have is that companies are so quick to reward new customers and at the same time ignore existing, long time customers. Take cable and satellite service companies. Look at one of their ads and you'll quickly see a long list of perks that you as a customer are clearly not getting, no matter how long you've been a customer. Customers quickly become frustrated when they see the value of their purchase or service diminishing. Offering new and improved services for new customers but ignoring existing loyal customers is basically throwing away that loyalty you've worked so hard to build. 3. Personal means more than value (usually) Your customers are human and they expect a human interaction, not a bland, generic one. A personal message on your customer's birthday, in terms of customer loyalty can often mean much, much more than an extra 10% off sale on a holiday weekend. Customers still appreciate the value you offer them, but the emotional bond that really creates customer loyalty is more effective when customers feel and know that you are thinking about them on a personal level. 4. People are loyal to people, not corporations No one has a relationship with corporate headquarters, computers, and office desks. But customers relate to and connect with the people who occupy and use those to drive your business forward. Remember that your customer loyalty often comes down to the relationships that your customers develop with the people they interact with from your business on a regular basis. 5. Customers have to be part of your organization's DNA Everyone can spot fake and cheap customer experience. Creating the type of experience your customers feel is genuine, begins with converting your entire organization to wanting to win the customer. If your organization is not on the same page, at some point of the experience, the emotion you're trying to build will break down. Your front line people may be fast, effective, and engaging, but if product development isn't as obsessed with customers, the experience will feel disjointed and it'll be difficult to develop the type of loyalty that keeps customers for the long run. 6. Compete only against yourself Customer service today is in trouble. Customer service is so bad that we're often delighted just when we receive mediocre service. With such a bad standard or service, competing against the rest of the bad customer service pack will keep you delivering average, mediocre customer service. Instead, forget about the competition and compete against yourself. Be sure that you're delivering what customers expect, then dream of how you can make what your customers are trying to do even better, fast, more efficient and effective. Your customers will validate the minor details of how things should work, but innovation has to come from your and your vision for developing a more complete customer experience. 7. Reward customer loyalty It's not only enough to offer value and function to your customers, but customers need to be recognized for their willingness to shut the door when competitors come knocking. Too many times feeling neglected is enough to send customers to the waiting arms of your competitors. Be on the prowl of customers doing right and be sure you recognize it. My daughter's school has a genius program to getting kids to act right and keep them acting right. She had "caught being good" cards. Teachers walk around with cards that they hand out to kids doing what is right, going the extra mile to do good to others and excel in what they should do. When they see a student going above an beyond, they reward them with a "caught being good" card that they can turn in for small prizes. Do what is right! It has to be personal, it has to be valuable, and it has to be meaningful. Discounts are not enough, especially in B2B where your customers aren't spending their own money. Instead, reward continued business with special gifts or perks that go beyond just typical discount so that it rewards the person making the decision that rewards your business. Customers want to be rewarded for doing what's good for your business. Be good to your customers, no, really good to your customers and they'll reward you with long-term customer loyalty and success.

Local SEO Tools You Must Have in Your Toolbox Posted: 20 Jan 2014 04:45 AM PST The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. - Confucius Nothing like starting off with a thought-provoking quote from our buddy Confucius before we delve into some tools for Local SEO Let’s dive into this. GetListed A Moz-owned local directory that will show you how your business is currently listed on various local directories. A must-use tool! Free Local Analysis – Google Places Tool This rad (yes, I said rad…anyone still using that word these days?) free local search ranking tool will provide you with the following: Google+ Places Page details on how good or bad your listing is optimized Website feedback. Does your website match your Google+ Places listing details (Continuity, does it match the listing?) Feedback on off-site SEO such as citations Gives you a sneak peak at your competitors WhiteSpark With this tool, you begin by entering a keyword phrase, like “Portland Coffee Shops“. The tool will do its “thing” and identify any other potential variants like “Coffee Shops in Portland“. It will also track down a ton of other citation site listings for the highest ranking websites. Google Places Category Tool Created by Mike Blumenthal, this is a great tool to search for Google Places categories. If you want to make sure your business is using the most appropriate category, then use this tool. You can type in a broad term or even partial words and get a list of available categories that best match your business. The image above shows what a search for “dentist” provides. BrightLocal Tools This local SEO company offers several tools that can help you optimize and track your Local SEO campaigns. Here’s a list of them: Local Search Rank Checker Local SEO Check-up Google+ Local Wizard CitationTracker ReviewFlow ReviewBiz Review Handout Generator Now this is a great idea first created by Phil Rozek. It’s designed to be given to clients in order to help them provide reviews for your business. You can download a pdf to handout to your clients and give them this “roadmap”. Google Local ToolBox This 4-in-1 tool makes it easy to structure your business data using the tags and codes Google is looking for when trying to properly identify your business. You just need to fill out the form to generate these local-specific resources and follow the directions provided. A Couple of Local SEO tools brought to you by Uncle Sam Census.gov What better way to find out more about the potential customers (also know as people) in the city your business is targeting.  The Census is the mother of all data sources and you have a ton of it at your fingertips. If you spend some time pillaging the site for data you can find some really great statistics. To start with try the following options: http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/ http://www.census.gov/econ/susb/ USPS ZIP Lookup Tool If your state is full of towns that run into other towns, making it extremely hard to tell where one ended and the other began, then you should use this quick zip code tool. I recommend that you do this before you begin your citation building efforts. Local SEO Articles Worthy of Your Attention Free Guide to Local Visibility – Written by Phil Rosek, this is a great place to start for those who are new to local SEO. Note: it requires an email sign up but it is free and I can personally vouch for this guide, which is chalk full of value and insight. Local Search Engine Ranking Factors This article from Moz provides great insight into the many factors search engines use to produce the local results they do. Hummingbird's Impact on Local Search Results The latest species from the animal kingdom to hit the SEO scene is Hummingbird. This article will shed some light on how this lil’ bugga’ may be influencing Local search. Anyone else have some rad Local SEO tools or resources they recommend?

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