Exciting news for businesses has emerged from Google; they have announced the launch of their new Google+ pages, pages specifically designed for businesses using Google+.

With a growing network of over 40 million members, Google+ pages are a great new internet marketing resource you need to implement and capitalize on today.  It can also give you an additional web property and links to your website which are important in today’s digital world.

Here are some quick and easy tips to make sure you gain the most from your Google+ pages and help you get started.

1. Setting up your Google+ account

Choose an accessible email address

Unlike Facebook, Google+ does not currently incorporate extensive administrative capabilities. To easily overcome this limitation, make sure you create a specific email address for your Google+ business page during the set up process to allow more maneuverability.

A common access email address will allow you to better monitor and manage the services provided by Google+ and offer you the opportunity to incorporate multiple member access and contributors to your Google+ business page, as well as monitor updates and allow direct communication in one easy to find place.

We often setup a gMail account that includes all of the Google services such as Analytics, AdWords and Webmaster Tools.  You can use this account for Google+ as well.

Create your page

To create a page, Google+ has made the set up process as simple as possible. Simply visit http://plus.google.com/pages/create and select ‘create a Google+ page.’

You will then be asked to select from one of the following:

• Local business or place
• Product or brand
• Company, institution or organization
• Arts, entertainment, or sports
• Other

After selecting your classification, complete your basic business information into the form as requested.

2. Customize your public profile

By customizing your public Google+ profile you will increase your presence online. Make sure customers know they have landed at the right place and why they should purchase your products by updating your profile with:

• Your tag-line – or business elevator pitch
• An image, such as your company logo
• Investing a little time to show off some good quality content
• Offer free downloads and incentives to potential customers

3. Promote your Google+ page

Once you have completed the basics of your Google+ business page, you will be asked to promote your page! This means you have completed the Google+ account activation, setup and have gone live to more than 40 million waiting customers!

All you have to do next is allow your Google+ business page to work for you! Great ways to continue in the success of your site is to focus on:

• Generating leads
• Always providing fresh content
• Reacting and responding to fans
• Become engaging
• Adapt your strategy as required
• Optimize your Google+ presence

Good luck incorporating these three easy steps to monetize your Google+!

In today’s world, it’s not uncommon to hear someone say they “Googled” something.  Or more commonly, just “Google” it.

But just because “Google” has become synonymous with “search” on the internet, does that mean it’s the only game in town?  You might think so, but users and our analytics dashboard traffic reports show otherwise.  The most recent studies indicate that roughly 71.6% of search engine users use Google, but that leaves almost 30% using other sources.

While the use of their search engine has turned Google into a verb in today’s internet lexicon, some individuals prefer not to use the industry leader because of concerns over how their personal information is protected, among other reasons.  There are several alternatives out there from paid to open access. Some are better than others, so finding the best search engines besides Google, can be trial and error.

Yahoo to the rescue

For sheer name recognition, Yahoo holds strong as the number two search engine option. Once an industry leader, Yahoo is the #2 choice for the best search engines besides Google with roughly 14.3% of search engine traffic.

A few reasons people continue to love Yahoo include:

• When you open up the Yahoo search engine main page you find an easy to navigate site with loads of information available.
• The day’s top news is placed at the top center position of the main page and cycles through more than 40 stories that are currently trending.
• Trending topic keywords are displayed in the top right position.
• The left-hand side of the main page provides links to Yahoo services and information such as weather, email, games and job searches.
• Putting a keyword in the search engine quickly produces your classic list of related sites that relate to the topic.
• The right side of the page displays text advertisements with hyperlinks.
• The left side offers filtered search options based on the main search topic.

Many people stayed with Yahoo after they fell to number two because of the ease of use and accuracy of their searches.

bing a happy song

bing has been steadily on the rise as an option when looking for the best search engines besides Google since their debut in 2009. A Microsoft product, bing is marketed as a “decision engine”, and was known previously as Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search. bing’s increasing popularity and aggressive marketing is quickly closing the gap between them and Yahoo, as they have roughly 9.9% of search engine usage.

A few things that bing users love include:

• The main page contains a huge interactive graphic that changes regularly and is based on varied topics that tie in to current events related to the topic.
• Across the top of the main page you will find several tabs to various types of searchable information such as images, shopping, news, etc.
• One key tab that sets bing apart from other search engines is the Search History tab. This tab does just what it sounds like it does and is a more useful tool tan you might think.
• Across the bottom of the home page you have the option to enable what is called Stay in the loop with bing. Clicking on this link takes you to a page where you can sign up to receive trending information in your email.
• Bing Trends is another bottom of the page link that will take you to a page that uses graphics and keywords to show the topics trending the highest on bing. The page will displays six days worth of topics.
• The popular now links are simply the top four trending topics of the moment that you can link to directly without having to go to the Bing Trends page.
• A search on bing takes you to the standard list of results, but provides additional information about the topic in an interactive pop-out window.

The best of the rest

There are several other options when searching for the best search engines besides Google, but when it comes right down to it, it is a personal choice. Yes AOL, Ask and Dogpile are still out there, but their percentage of search traffic is growing smaller and smaller over time.  Probably one of the main reasons is that many of these search engines don’t actually give their own results, many are part of the Google network meaning they show you Google search results from their own search portal.

Our best advice is to step outside the Google box and try a few others before settling on the one you’ll call your own.  Our guess is you’ll come to one of 2 conclusions – either a renewed sense of awe for why Google is so highly regarded, or you’ll begin to appreciate the finer points of why some other search engines manage to hold on.

A new book from Andre’ Savoie

Even when I was in grade school, I wanted to be a writer.  In high school I served as editor for the school paper and did a lot of writing including one story that won an award about Dale Brown, who was then the men’s basketball coach for LSU.  I then spent my first 2 years in college as a journalism student before being advised to switch majors and try to get a “real job” by one of my professors.

Ever since then my writing “bug” has been satisfied by article writing, website content writing and even blogging.  But about 6 months ago I was approached with an opportunity to co-author a book with 2 very good friends of mine in the sales training business.  The idea was that I could contribute my experience in both sales and digital marketing to their proven system of sales training.

Today I’m pleased to announce the release of my first book, co-authored with Marvin & Donna Himel.  The book is about a topic that is very near and dear to my heart because it’s something I’m working on every day – and that is how we can help salespeople do a better job of selling in an increasingly digital world.

Successful Selling in a Digital World

New school meets old school

The premise of our new book is trying to help today’s sales people bridge the gap between keeping the “old school” selling techniques that still work and mixing them in with the newer digital tools such as social media.  The first half of the book helps put the digital movement in perspective, and offers tips and advice for how to market yourself digitally with a website, blog or social sites such as Facebook and Twitter in an effective, professional manner.  The second half of the book focuses on improving your traditional face to face selling skills based on the Tiger Quest sales system.

Marvin Himel is the creator of the Tiger Quest sales system which was started 9 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida.  The Tiger Quest program has helped hundreds of salespeople improve their sales skills over the years and Marvin and Donna are genuine sales training experts.

A brief outline of the book contents:

• Selling in a digital world as Social Media Goes “Mainstream”
• Social Technology 101 for Salespeople
• Integrating Online with Offline: Where Old School Meets New School
• The Tiger Quest Sales System
• Becoming A Trusted Advisor

Request a free copy

As part of our initial promotion of the book, I am giving away a free copy through March 15^th.  Simply email me andre@mywisconsultant.com with your details and we’ll get one out to you right away!

Don’t let these big trends pass you by

2010 marked a big year in the world of marketing, and the trends show a drastic shift in the allocation of marketing dollars from traditional outlets to the digital marketing world.  Among the notable milestones were:

• Spending on social media advertising is up around 30% from last year and is expected to top the $2 billion mark in 2011! Source: Mashable
• Spending for online advertising passed newspaper advertising.  Source: WSI
• Online advertising spending rose 13.9% for 2010 and is projected to pass the $25 billion mark in 2011. Source: EMarketer
• Mobile subscribers are estimated to surpass 5 billion in 2010 (that’s over 70 percent of the world population) and growing rapidly, led by China and India.  Source: MobiThinking

What does this mean for you?

In a nutshell, it means that if you’re concentrating your marketing efforts solely on things that worked in the past it’s probably time to re-consider that practice.  And while we would never suggest abandoning “tried and true” marketing practices that provide ROI for your business, I would strongly recommend beginning to allocate some resources toward digital marketing so that you can begin to gain a foothold.

Every business is different, so it’s hard to make blanket statements.  However, as we walk the streets and see just about everyone spending time on their web ready mobile devices, it doesn’t take a big thinker to realize that this trend towards the digitization of marketing is not slowing down anytime soon.

5 components of digital marketing strategy

The whole idea of “digital marketing” is evolving, but if you want to get a holistic view of the concept, there are 5 core components:

1. Web properties – such as your company website
2. Building traffic – helping people find your website
3. Social media – joining in the conversation with online users
4. Mobile marketing – text and location based marketing
5. Measuring / Analyzing – evaluating results to determine ROI

Creating a marketing plan for 2011

So back to our original headline and the desire to find a marketing plan that capitalizes on the opportunities available in 2011.  Generally speaking, if you haven’t embraced the digital marketing components mentioned above, than it’s time to do so.  How much you do depends on your resources and goals, but continuing to avoid them will eventually put you behind your competitors.

Specific actions you can take include:

• Take a hard look at the ROI from your past marketing efforts. If your marketing practices from the last couple of years aren’t producing satisfactory ROI, it’s time to re-tool.  Many people are expressing frustration with increasing costs and decreasing results from traditional marketing activities.
• Look at how you could use digital marketing in your business. Every business is unique, and not all of these digital marketing opportunities make sense to invest in.  However, if you look carefully, chances are you could find 2-3 of these opportunities in your business that would bring new opportunities in 2011.
• Be realistic. In this economy, businesses have to be smart with their budgets and showing ROI has never been more important.  So if your company has an outdated website and low monthly traffic, than trying to tackle social media may have to wait.  Our recommendation is to find the opportunities that would have the highest impact and focus on those in 2011 without trying to do them all just for the sake of doing them.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Chances are you’re plate is already full depending on what your role is in your company.  Implementing major changes to marketing plans takes time and sometimes a little advice from someone who is not too close to the situation.  Don’t be afraid to bring in someone to help you understand the digital marketing opportunities and make sense of them in terms of how they apply to your business.

Digital communication milestone reached

Its official, the internet has now passed traditional newspapers in terms of advertising dollars!  While this may not come as much of a surprise to some, it serves as something of a validation of the shift from the traditional consumption of media to the desire for digital media.

The new study was just released by eMarketer shows that for the first time ever, businesses will spend slightly more on online ads than with newspapers.  The trend is projected to continue into 2011 and begin to widen as the desire for digital media continues.

Is online marketing recession proof?

One of the most interesting facts revealed by the study is that in spite of the tough economic times, businesses are continuing to INCREASE their budgets for online marketing.  The report also shows that among those businesses who advertised with newspapers, a greater portion of their budgets were allocated toward the online ads as opposed to the traditional print versions.

What is fueling this trend?

With all disclaimers in force (as we sell internet marketing), I believe there are certain factors which are pushing businesses toward online marketing even in a tough economy:

1.      Online marketing can be tracked.  When you run ads on Google or invest money on search engine optimization, today’s tools allow for clear tracking of results to develop a tangible ROI.  Oftentimes with print advertising, it can be difficult to track direct results.

2.      Growth of mobile. Just about everyone has a web friendly mobile device these days, and they aren’t using them to read the paper.  Advertisers know that as mobile usage increases, it is becoming more important to reach digital consumers.

Need help in 2011?

If you would like to learn more about how you can use internet advertising in your business, contact us today for a free initial consultation.

Why 3 listings of course!

In today’s world, talking about being first on Google for something is starting to get complicated. With the introduction of “personalization” of search, the items you see for a particular phrase will vary greatly from what I see when I search.

The good news though is that with the introduction of varied results, there are now more chances than ever for you to have MULTIPLE listings on Page 1 of Google for a certain phrase. So today, the real goal in the search engine marketing profession is to gain multiple listings instead of just focusing on one.

Go for #1 spots in all 3 areas

With Google, you have 3 possible spots that you could appear “#1” for a various phrase:

1. Natural, organic results – these are the regular, non-paid results that everyone knows and trusts.
2. Paid search ads – these paid placements appear at the top and to the side of relevant search phrases.
3. Local listings – in certain cases, Google is now displaying a set of local listings which are near to the locality of the place you have searched.

That’s not all – claim more spots with “Universal Results”

Have you noticed that when you search for something you get results that include news, videos and articles about the phrase in addition to regular search results? These are called “universal results” which are designed to give you a well rounded sample to choose from.

The good news is that companies can now shoot for multiple listings there as well with highly ranked videos, news items and articles or even social results from sites like Facebook and Twitter.

If you can’t beat them, join them

It seems simple – become the most relevant and Google will put your company on the first page. However, in order to know how to make Google recognize your website as the most relevant one, you would have to know the algorithm that Google uses to rank websites. That algorithm is a closely guarded secret, which is why there is no single recipe to the right mix of SEO, PPC, and keyword placement to get onto page one.

Our suggestion, go after multiple results on the first page so when you can’t win for one, maybe you’ll win for another!

The one digital marketing acronym everyone should know

SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. When you type a phrase into Google or any other search engine, the results for that search appear on a new page in your browser. This is the SERP, and for businesses concerned with online marketing, being on the first SERP is one of the top priorities.

Why it matters to businesses

Let’s face it, who looks past page 1 for anything on Google? If a customer has to go to the second page of results to find your website, they are far less likely to find you or to conduct their business on your site.

What a typical SERP looks like

On the SERP, you will see three types of results.

• On the left side of the page is where one can find natural or organic listings, those which are placed there because the search engine finds them to be the most relevant to your search terms.
• Above those are the sponsored links. Companies pay the search engine to be placed in these positions.
• On the right side of the page are the paid advertisements, the PPC ads.

Which is the best place for my business on SERP?

Everybody wants to be #1 on Google for their dream phrase, but sadly everyone can’t be first. Even so, there are strategies for placement on search results pages that may benefit you such as occupying multiple positions on the page. Today we look at sponsored results, regular organic results and local results as 3 opportunities to show up on the page. Stay tuned to future blog posts to learn more about this.

How to evaluate how “good” is your website?

When we talk to new clients, most of them fall into one of 2 categories. First are the people who know they have a lousy website and need a new one. We applaud these people for being reasonable and open to suggestions.

However, the 2^nd crowd thinks their websites are great. And we have to be careful with this because websites are sometimes like children, in that only a parent can call them ugly without fear of a fist fight.

The brutal truth

At the end of the day, the goal is to get people to your website and get them to become customers. And the truth is that if your website isn’t good enough, your online marketing efforts may be largely wasted. And in today’s economy, that’s a luxury most of us can’t afford.

Questions to consider if your website passes the “smell test”

• Does it engage visitors quickly? You have about seven seconds to convince someone who comes to your website that they want to stay, and this time includes load time.
• Does it load quickly? Not only does load time count towards engaging visitors, it also affects the way that search engines rank a website. Slower sites are ranked lower, so ensuring that yours loads quickly is a necessity.
• Does it have great content? When the visitor feels engaged with the site, they want to read more and take part in conversations on the website. They are more likely to turn into customers when they find your site interesting, and more likely to return regularly.
• Does it set you apart from competitors? This is more than great graphics or pleasing colors. Smart design involves placing the information in a way that will lead to conversions, such as clearly telling visitors how your are different than everyone else that offers the same service.

Don’t Ignore Your 2010 Business Card

Remember, your primary digital asset is not your Facebook page or your Twitter account or a really great email ad; it is your website. Take the time to make sure that your website is representing your business well and serving as an effective business tool.

LinkedIn creates networks of individuals in a way that is intended to link people who know or have had contact with others in reality, not just online. However, due to the nature of social networking and online connections, your profile plays an important role in connecting with others. Making smart choices when you create your profile will help you send the right message to your network and potential social media connections on LinkedIn.

Tips for wisely managing your LinkedIn Profile

1.  Include a picture. It may not be your favorite part of your profile, but a faceless profile is that much easier to forget. When potential employers or customers are deciding between two options, the one with a picture can create a valuable connection that gives you an advantage over a potential competitor.

2.  Choose your picture wisely. It is important to have a picture on your profile, but it is even more important to choose the right type of picture for a professional profile intended for business-oriented networking. The picture should be professional, well lit, on a neutral background, and recent enough so that people are not surprised when they meet you in person. If you have the ability to do so, you may want to consider hiring a professional photographer.

3.   Personalize the URL for your profile with your name so that you are easier to find. It is much easier to type in words than it is to find, remember, and correctly type a series of numbers, so make it easier for people to find you by personalizing your URL.

4.  Don’t forget to include keywords. Consider what people search for when they are looking for someone like you and include those phrases and words to make it easier for them to find you.

Creating a baseline

One of the key elements to the testing process that WSI follows when assisting our clients in creating an effective marketing strategy is benchmarking. Benchmarking refers to a way of comparing two elements using one as the standard and the other as the variable.

When you compare three variables to a single standard, you are using that standard as the benchmark to measure the relative performance of each variable.  For internet marketing, that means that you can create one set of data from your standard variable whether that is a color, a format, or a graphic, and then compare other options to that data to determine if they are more effective at driving traffic and improving your conversion rate.

In order to use benchmarking to ensure that your marketing program is functioning as well as possible, there are five steps to follow.  We’ll explain here:

5 Steps to Internet Benchmarking

1.  Carefully choose the question you will investigate. This is often the most difficult step for many of our clients because they are not sure where

2.  Develop the testing procedure that will answer this question.

3.  Decide how you will measure the results of your test. Are you looking at conversion rates? Membership subscriptions? The success of one

4.  Make sure that your results are valid and relevant. At the very least, this means testing with a sufficient sample size.

5.  Interpret your results with care. Do not rush to conclusions about your data because the purpose of testing is to use this data to design the best possible campaign, and that cannot be done based on incorrect interpretations.

With benchmarking, it is possible to get a better idea of what influences customers as they interact with your marketing campaign online. And if you are not setting a benchmark of data for evaluating your progress – how can you really evaluate if you are going forward or backwards?