Archive for the ‘Internet Marketing’ Category

The Growing Importance of Content Marketing

According to a new study, over half of in-house marketing departments as well as independent agencies are planning content marketing. That’s in addition to the companies and agencies already using this approach, which leaves a very small minority with no plans to do so. Here’s what it looks like when companies were questioned, “Does your company/do your clients have a defined content marketing strategy?”

Online content marketing takes a variety of forms, with email being the current favorite, and social media posting coming in a close second. A vast majority of those companies currently using social media indicated an intention to increase their use of Facebook and Twitter posts for delivering content.

Budgeted amounts for online content marketing currently aren’t very big, but the trend is growing, and it’s predicted that budgets will grow along with these trends. Most brand marketers indicate they believe that content marketing is crucial to making an important connection with their customers on an emotional level, recognizing that brands are moving more and more into the publishing field. Users connect content with the brand, so it’s important that delivery of content be thought through and deliberate, because it is fast becoming the voice of the brand.

The Best B2B Content is Information Based

When it comes to internet marketing, content is the deciding factor in success. To work, content needs to show that a business knows their field inside and out, rather than only advertising a product.

Business to business (B2B) marketing is a little different than direct sales, because the decision-making process is rather lengthy. What’s most important is to show how knowledgeable a company is. Educational blog posts and articles will help your company remain at the top of the list when it’s time for a final decision.

Informational content is also a subtle way to bring products and services to the forefront. When potential clients know you understand the way the field works, the safer they will feel in building a relationship with you.

However, keeping fresh content can be challenging. There’s always the question of what to write and which topics are most important. Fortunately, resources are closer at hand than many realize. The following sources are valuable for inspirational ideas.

Industry publications
Business owners and website operators are always watching what their peers are saying. By doing this, they’re able to keep tabs on what’s going on in the field and adapting the information they obtain for their own purposes. Simply copying what someone else says is a bad idea, though. Adding your own unique thoughts and point of view will add fresh, engaging elements to the conversation.

Client Services
Customer service representatives are in constant contact with the clients. Because of this, they have valuable information on what ideas have been effective and which one’s haven’t. By extension, they can make suggestions on fixing problems. These ideas turn into topics on which to write about. Content which speaks to difficulties customers are having is sure to capture attention and will reassure them that solutions are being looked for.

More teams within the company
A business works on a broader basis than only one or two team. By talking to your coworkers across various disciplines within the company, fresh ideas are added to the mix.

Keep the information relevant to the industry, add insightful ideas, and content will do the job it needs to. At Essential Services we’re interested in helping you succeed with your online marketing efforts, and we know that quality content matters, especially in B2B.

Tips to Create the Content People Want

Online content needs to be something that the right people want to read, watch or listen to. If it doesn’t hold their interest, what good is it? These are some ways to create valuable, high quality content.

Keep promotion down
Few things irritate people more than being advertised to. Posts need to be about relevant experiences and the expertise gained from it instead of simply pushing something. When the situation calls for it, tie the product in to the article, but don’t make it the focus of the piece.
Maintain focus
A title indicates what a post is supposed to be about. When putting content together, adhere to this idea. Wandering off topic is a good way to ensure lost interest.
Topic Selection
Take a look at what other people are saying. This will show which topics are popular and which wouldn’t work. Writing on similar subjects will ensure increased readership and shared links.
Presentation matters
The look of content matters just as much as what it says. If the content involves longer pieces of writing like blog posts, include things like bullet points, a good layout and lists. This makes it easier for readers to find tidbits they may be looking for and helps prevent reading fatigue. Videos need to be of good quality, too. Although a high cost studio isn’t needed, the video should still look like some skill was put into it. Like a dish at a luxury restaurant, content presentation is just as vital as its flavor.
Current events
Keep tabs on what’s going on with your topic. Researchers usually keep an eye out for new ideas and the latest events, rather than what’s happened years ago. Through discussing things that have happened in the news lately, a brand will be viewed as more cutting edge than they would have otherwise.
Personalize it
Professionalism is very important, but what sells a reader on the piece is the personality involved in its creation. The more a reader relates to a brand, the more likely they are to do business with them. Personality is all about making that concept possible.

At Essential Services, we understand the importance of good, quality content as a component of successful online marketing efforts. Talk to an SEO professional today to see how we can help you grow your business online.

Social Media Scuttlebutt – Truth or Myth?

Periodically I hear someone express an opinion on social media hat I’ve heard frequently enough that I feel compelled to raise my hand and say, “Tain’t necessarily so.” It’s unfortunately human nature to have a curiosity of how something works, and not having sufficient understanding, then construct an explanation that may or may not bear any relationship to the truth. Here are some of the common myths I’ve heard about social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and the like, as well as the reality of those statements.

- It’s a passing fad. This one couldn’t be further from the truth. Maybe it’s being promoted by those reluctant to get on board with social media marketing, but the reality is that rather than being a temporary fad, it appears that social media is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. And not only that, it’s growing. New online communities pop up all the time, and there are outlets out there tailored to just about every demographic you can imagine. Twitter and Flickr may not last, but the behavior they represent will. If they fade away, you can be sure other entities will step in to take their places. Social media has evolved in response to consumer use trends, not the other way around.

- Social media isn’t something most of my customers use. If you really believe that, here are some numbers that may cause you to reconsider that opinion:

Nearly two-thirds of adults say they use social media

Facebook recently announced it hasone billion users

16% of adults report using Twitter; 12% use Pinterest

The truth is, many of your customers probably are using social media. How can you find out? Ask them the next time they come in to your store, or you can use the “find a friend” type features on some social media sites to see if their names and addresses pop up. The results may surprise you.

- I don’t need a social media professional – my kid could probably handle things for me. Using social media is a way of speaking directly to your customer. If you wouldn’t trust someone to be responsible enough to speak publicly for your business, you probably don’t want them handling your social media presence either. KitchenAid recently had to apologize when one of their employees posted an offensive tweet and inadvertently used the corporate account rather than a personal one. It was an accident, but it certainly wasn’t the image KitchenAid wanted to present. A social media marketing professional can help you establish a credible and profitable online presence.

- People will use social media to make damaging remarks about me or say negative things. This could already be happening in face-to-face or phone conversations; you just don’t know about it. Yes, it does happen on social media, but you at least will have the opportunity to know what is being said and then can counteract it. People like to talk about their experiences, good or bad, and it happens with social media, too. If somebody is unhappy with their experience with you, you have the opportunity to find out about it right away and correct the situation.

- Nobody is interested in what I have to say. If all you put out there is about yourself and what you have to sell, you’re probably right. But if you’re providing interesting, quality information that’s pertinent to your industry, you’ll find out that the opposite is true – people WILL be interested. And you can also use social media to enhance customer service, respond to complaints, and provide valuable content, you have the opportunity to enhance your reputation even further.

You may have heard other things that have you reluctant to incorporate social media into your online marketing efforts, but if you really want to know the answers, talk to a social media marketing professional like those at Essential Services, Inc. We’ll help you cut through the myths and get to the truth.

Four Tips to Successful Content Marketing

Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms. Naturally, this adds to the challenge of internet marketing. It may be difficult to determine whether your efforts are causing more harm than good, but there are four ways to strengthen your marketing.

Pay attention to the audience
Because the audience determines what’s worth reading, pay attention to what’s most popular with them. Analytics is a good way to measure what’s working and what’s not. If your content isn’t up to par, look at what your competition is doing right. Learning from their results will help show you which content is successful. Readership will increase once you implement what you’ve learned.

Recognize content marketing resources
Although this form of marketing is less expensive than traditional avenues, it’s still beneficial to invest time and money to do it correctly. High quality content is the most important factor of the equation, and extra effort is needed to generate it. When people find compelling posts, the spread in exposure will result in positive returns.

Get involved with social media
Social media is an easy way to keep readers up to date about relevant content. It also offers them a simple way to share what captures their interest. Because checking these outlets has become a habit for many readers, new content naturally remains fresh in their minds. These forums also offer a place to start small. Once you learn about the ins and outs of a small network, you can move on to bigger avenues.

Post regularly
Your posting method and how often you do it shows just as much about your brand as the quality of content. Set up a posting schedule and plan ahead. However, things happen, and if there is a sizable gap in time between posts, let your readers know what happened. Allowing this peek into the workings of the company will add another layer to brand authenticity and let customers know that their interests are priority.

Through learning from persistent changes and implementing those lessons, internet marketing will pay off in huge ways. Essential Services provides a range of online marketing solutions.

Blogging Can Benefit Small Businesses

E-commerce is growing at an incredible rate, and this trend has opened up almost unlimited possibilities for savvy marketers to take advantage of in the way of online market development. A number of custom research studies have indicated a growing use by consumers of online sources. One of the ways to utilize this trend by small businesses is by blogging. There are relevant sources of information available online for almost every segment of the market, and blogging is a good way for small business owners to reach those consumers who are looking for their type of products or services.

In today’s ever-evolving high-tech world, it’s clear that online product research and purchasing trends are going to continue, and in order to stay competitive, business owners need to adapt their business strategies to keep in line with user trends. And here’s where blogs with good, quality copy, well written and pertinent to your user’s searches, comes in. Here are some things you should know about blogging and its advantages for small business owners.

- Attract and Retain Customers: Business blogs give you the opportunity to reach your most likely clients. Unveil current promotions by directing readers to your website, be a source of interesting information related to your industry, and augment your online presence with your blog. Search engine links may direct a user to your blog, and from there you have the opportunity to educate and inform your readers. If your users like what they read, it may be a simple matter of another link which results in a purchase. If your customers have a positive opinion of you as a result of this process, you have customers who will probably be back (and will tell their online friends about you).

- Provide a Pathway to Your Official Website: By incorporating links to your home page or other pages on your regular website in your blog posts, you have the opportunity to get traffic for your regular website that you might not otherwise have gotten. And by providing industry news and interesting content, you have the potential to build a long-term relationship with your users. Is there a new product in your industry or that you’re carrying? A blog post is a great way to make that known. Then direct readers to your site with a link in the post.

- Give People Something Good to Talk About (You): Word of mouth is even more influential in online commerce than in person. With so many outlets (social media, online reviews, personal blogs), regular online visitors have plenty of opportunities to talk about you. Your blog posts can give them something positive to say, which will enhance your online presence.

- Enhance Customer Satisfaction By Continued Interaction: Blogs are a great tool to continue to interact with the customers you already have. If they have questions or comments, they can connect easily with you through your blog.

- Use Your Blog as a Tool for Business Growth: Traditional media advertising turns stale quickly. Consumers tire of hearing the same old thing over and over. While your blog posts will remain in place, if you are continually adding new information, your users will have a reason to keep coming back. And with a good long-range plan in place, if your blog is an attractive source of good information related to your business, you have a variety of opportunities for growth.

If you’re interested in developing a blog for your small business, or overhauling the one you already have, talk to the online marketing professionals at Essential Services, Inc.. We provide a variety of search engine optimization services for small business owners and others.

Social Media Marketing – Why Successful Real Estate Pros Are Using It to Fire Up Their Efforts

The use of social media to enhance marketing efforts is exploding, and its especially true for realtors. A substantial majority of today’s tech savvy consumers make use of social media for research and decision-making input, and about three fourths of home buyers and sellers are making use of tools such as Facebook at some point.

If you’re a realtor, those numbers should grab your attention. If you’re not currently making use of social media in your marketing mix, you might want to reconsider. It’s estimated that 9 out of 10 licensed Realtors make use of one or more social marketing outlets to augment their other marketing efforts, and with good reason. Actually, there are seven good reasons. If you’re in the real estate industry you probably have others, but here are the top ones:

Generating Leads: The whole approach to marketing has been revamped with the availability of the Internet and social media sites. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media can be an incredibly profitable source of leads. Each of these channels is unique in its user experience, so don’t be afraid to use a multiplicity of them. When you combine social media presence with your website, you’ve got a powerful combination for lead generation.
Establish and Enhance Your Reputation: Realtors know that credibility is essential, and use of social media can help you build credibility in the entire marketplace, not just online. There are potential customers out there who may not consider you as credible if you have no social media presence. But keep in mind it’s just not your presence, it’s also the quality of what you’re putting out there.
Make a Connection with Other Real Estate Professionals: Both Facebook and LinkedIn groups are a great way to network with other similarly-minded real estate pros. Get actively involved in groups relevant to your specialty. And by actively involved, I mean commenting, sharing information, and posing questions several times weekly. Learn from and exchange ideas with others in the real estate industry; it’s a great way to grow professionally.
Expand Your Marketing Efforts: Social media gives you access to potential streams of revenue that aren’t reachable through traditional marketing channels. Diversify your marketing strategy by developing a healthy combination of online and traditional marketing tools. Add social media to your mix, but don’t ignore traditional methods either. And be sure to include online ads and blogging, not just social media. And remember, this is a dynamic marketplace, so adapt as needed so you stay fresh and relevant.
Save Time, Save Money: While the myth persists that there is no cost to social media, remember that time IS money, and maintaining an online presence successfully takes time. But it is relatively inexpensive with compared with other methods.
Put Your Content In Front of a New Audience: Provide your expertise to an audience seeking what you know by sharing excerpts from your blog, videos, and photos on social sites. This gives you an opportunity to increase traffic to your website, plus you get exposure to people who wouldn’t otherwise find you.
Strengthen Your Relationships: In addition to building new connections, use of social media allows you to further develop those relationships as well as enhancing existing ones. The intent is that this will pay off in the long run – keep your name out there in front of potential customers so that when a need comes up, they’ll think of you first.

Using social media in combination with other online and traditional marketing efforts can put the equivalent of rocket fuel behind your promotional efforts.

7 Changes in Online Tactics to Increase Traffic to your Website

If you have had a difficult time increasing traffic to your website, you may be using some faulty search engine optimization (SEO) methods. Using wrong or outdated SEO methods can severely hamper the amount of traffic that your website receives. Here are a few commonly misused SEO tactics.

1. Futile Article Writing

Writing articles for a company such as EzineArticles may provide some links to your website, but it is a highly ineffective, slow way for increasing website traffic. Instead, start writing guest posts on other blogs. This is a more personable way to get to know your audience and introduce yourself to a variety of different bloggers.

2. No News, No Press Release.

Trying to get a press interview when you have no news is a faulty SEO method. Do something worthy of the news. If you really do something noteworthy, eventually you may be noticed and the rewards in links will come.

3. Cheap Links and Weak Content

Link only to information and content that is valuable and beneficial for your readers. The links in your content should make sense and direct your readers to what they are looking for. Content on your webpage should be quality and informative, not flowery and vague. If you outsource your writing, make sure your writers are writing valuable, link friendly content. When writing yourself, make sure what you are writing is something you are happy with. If you are not satisfied with your content, then how can your readers be happy with it?

4. SEO and Social Media

Social media plays an active role in SEO today. Ignoring the benefits of social media is not healthy and neither is having the social media automated and available because it is necessary. Interaction with your readers is vital so make it a point to create ways to network with them in a personal way.

5. Singular Focus

If you are basing your success with SEO on your website’s rankings, then you need to think again. Keep in mind that a websites analytics are very important no matter if you are down on the bottom of the search engines or on the top. Look at the search engines that are directing you to your website. Pay attention to your stats and find out where your traffic is coming from. This will help decide where and what exactly to put your efforts into SEO.

6. Tacky Websites

Is your website user-friendly, SEO compatible, and pleasing to look at? If the answer to any of these is no, it is time to rethink your website. Find a professional and guide him through your preferences. Having an up-to-date website really does help with traffic.

7. Lack of SEO Planning

Without planning, struggling with increasing your website traffic seems like an overwhelming task. If you want to be successful, the age old advice of planning ahead does really help. Constantly evaluate your plan and make changes if necessary. Start planning today for SEO success!

By Henry Passot

How To Become An Industry Leader | Social Media, Blogs, Newsletters

Who doesn’t want to be known as a powerhouse in their industry? In order to make it to the top of your industry, you must gain power and influence which is not easy to obtain but can be with hard work and dedication. Every industry is different but here are some focus points that will help any company regardless of industry.

Social media outlets are gaining steam everyday with search engine results, so make sure you take full advantage of these sites to distance yourself from other start-up companies. Start a Twitter account, which you should keep very active and informative, to gain some followers and hopefully this will cause a trickle down effect that will increase traffic to your facebook page where you can build a strong community.

Blogs can be very useful, so if you don’t already have one, you should launch one immediately. Blogs can attract readers to your website or company if you keep the material fresh and informative. Try to post in your blog once a day but if you’re in a blog heavy industry you might need to post more frequently than that.

Running promotions is another way to stand out and gain some authority in your industry. Try to think of some original, outside of the box promotions that you don’t see often, that way when people do notice, it will stick with them and they will remember your company a lot easier.

Reach out to an authority figure in your industry and try to start a relationship that will benefit both of you. These companies have a better realization of what is needed to succeed and it could benefit them too in the long run.

Newsletters can be very helpful to your business especially when you consider that some of the largest companies around have a very large newsletter list that brings in many different leads to their website. Build your newsletter readership by including promotions and free giveaways in order to attract a wider audience that you can stay in constant contact with.

Getting your business to the top of any industry takes hard work and dedication combined with constantly thinking outside of the box to be innovative. Always think big and display your business as being big. If you find yourself having questions about how to develop your online marketing strategy, feel free to contact us, Essential Services, Inc., at 651-342-400.

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