According to statistics posted by Facebook, the average user is connected to over 80 pages, groups, and events. This statistic begs the question – how do you make your company’s Facebook page standout among the crowd? While you are free to post varied content, the layout and design of your Facebook page is the exact same as everyone else. Well, it does not have to be.

With new tools and applications, you can give your Facebook fan page it’s own personality by creating a customized landing page. You can create a specialized experience by designing what new visitors see when they land on your page. For instance, when a user visits your Facebook page, instead of landing on the usual “wall” tab that all of your established fans are used to, they could land on a custom tab like this:

You can customize the tab any way you like, with text, logos, and images. It’s like a micro-site for your Facebook page. Welcome your new fans, promote a deal, or provide useful information – it’s up to you! Learn more about WEBii custom facebook services.

I often forget how beneficial press releases can be for a company.  You can report nearly anything in a press release, such as a change in your company’s services, a new product, a new employee or owner, a new client or contract, or an award you have received.

What better way to spread a press release quickly than through your established email lists?  Since press releases are not necessarily on a consistent recurring schedule, I find it helpful to use a flexible email marketing service like Vertical Response that offers a pay-as-you-go option.

After you announce the release to your email contacts, forward it to the Chamber of Commerce, local trade organizations, and other media outlets.

With Blog Inspirations we help you find topics to maintain your business blog.

Incorporating an interview into your blog post is a great way to create a unique, entertaining and informative article. It is ok if you are at a loss for words – just get somebody else to do the talking!

Are you planning on attending a conference related to your business or industry? This is a great opportunity to speak with professionals in your field who can offer their opinions and advice. If you have access to a list of attendees or speakers, take a look through it and pick out several professionals you are interested in speaking with. If you want to secure your interview, try contacting the people you would like to talk to in advance. This way, you can introduce yourself and let them know the nature of the questions you are interested in asking them. You might ask them to meet you for coffee after the event, or meet you between seminars and workshops. If you do not have access to a list of attendees, you are sure to meet some interesting people while you are there, and most professionals are happy to sit down for a quick interview – especially if they know it is going to be featured on a blog. In addition to bringing your pen and paper, bring a small tape recorder with you, so you can capture your interview and review it later. Recording the interview makes it easier for you to engage in the interview, and you won’t have to scribble notes while trying to talk.

You don’t have to go to a conference to meet people to interview. In fact, you most likely already know many interesting professionals in your industry. Consider requesting an interview from your boss, perhaps your readers would like to hear from someone in an executive seat. You could request an interview from your co-worker, perhaps he or she recently completed an interesting project and you could tell his or her story in your blog post. You can even go through your rolodex and contact people you have met and worked with who may have interesting insight into the future of your industry. You can even interview someone outside of your field, someone in a different specialty – you can always find a way to make the information relevant to your readers.

If you have a topic in mind to write about that you are very interested in, but know little about, you can conduct a panel style interview. Do some initial research on the subject of interest. Formulate some questions you would like answered by those who know the subject best. Also consider questions you think would elicit informative answers for your readers. Then, contact people you would consider experts in the subject. Maybe it is a professor at a local college, a government official, or a small business owner – you can ask each individual the same questions and compare and contrast their responses. This type of investigative interviewing lends itself to a very comprehensive blog post.

So, the next time you have a case of blogger’s block, get out your tape recorder. Your interview is likely to inspire an interesting and informative new post.

It is officially summertime: A time to relax, a time to renew, and most importantly – a time to market your business.

For many small businesses, summertime translates to a slow business season. So, why not take this extra time to plan ahead?

As much as we might like summer to last forever, we all know how the fall and holiday seasons will quickly approach us, often faster than we expect. The summertime is an ideal time to plan for the upcoming busy seasons, and what better way to prepare than by taking this time to make sure your website reflects your mission, values, and goals. So browse through your website pages – make sure the design and layout still suit your needs, the colors still reflect your brand, and that the site is still easily navigated. You might consider asking some of your customers to fill out a brief survey, to help you better understand the needs of those who visit your website the most. By addressing these issues now, you will have time to focus on other business concerns during the busy season. It may be time to take a vacation, but not from one of your most valuable business assets – your website.

This summer, try adding a new feature to your website. WEBii knows that small businesses face a unique set of challenges when it comes to identifying an audience, capturing that audience’s attention, and converting website visitors to customers. However, by working with new website features, you can begin to overcome these obstacles. From member registration areas to online purchase centers, there are a variety of tools that can help your website flourish.

During your slower summer weeks, consider adding a blog to your site. Prepare 10 to 20 topics to discuss about your industry.  Later, when you need to maintain your blog during busy season, you will have those drafts ready to publish quickly.

Need expert help for your online marketing strategy?  WEBii is available to personally consult with you about your project and offer customized advice. Contact us for a free consultation on your redesign.

With Blog Inspirations we help you find topics to maintain your business blog.

What industry related conference did you recently attend?  Write a short commentary on one of the presentations.

What local charity did your company recently sponsor?  Write about your involvement at their fundraiser.

Where did you recently notice some of your products?  Write about the cafe down the street where you saw your lamps hanging.

You may not know it but you see the results of the META title and description tags every time you use a search engine.  The title and short description that is displayed on the Search Engine Results Page (or SERP) is actually taken directly from the META tags coded into your site.

META tags are a part of the underlying HTML code that makes up your website. They provide search engines with important information about your site such as page titles, descriptions, and keywords. Unfortunately, properly optimized META tags are often overlooked as many people are unsure of what benefit they provide.

The above example shows the Search Engine Result for the Google Translate page. Notice that they included a relevant description of the page in the title as well as a brief description of what the page offers.

The key with these META tags is to think of them as your billboard on the Search Engine Results Page. The META Title is the headline that grabs peoples attention and the META Description is the short summary that draws them in.

Here are a few tips for working with your own META title and META description tags:

META Title:

• Give each page a unique title
• Make sure the title is relevant to the content on the page
• For maximum compatibility with all search engine make sure your META title is no more than 65 characters
• Think of this as the heading to your “billboard” on the Search Engine Results Page. Try to make the title enticing to the searcher.

META Description:

• Give each page a unique description
• Make sure your META description is relevant to the page and is enticing to searchers
• For maximum compatibility with all search engine make sure your META title is no more than 155 characters
• Think of this as a short advertisement. Engage the searcher with action words.

A creative and effective way for your business to help out non-profit organizations and charities is to use your company’s online resources.  Consider some of these ideas:

• If you don’t already have e-commerce features on your site, you can easily set up a pay pal account to accept online donations without having to purchase complex a shopping cart system.
• If your site currently incorporates e-commerce, add an option at check-out to include a donation into the purchase total.
• Use your social media outlets to share your support of your organization and let others know how they can help.
• Link your organization’s website to your own site and social networks to help out their SEO.
• Have an online contest.  For example, whenever your company’s facebook page reaches 1000 fans, you will donate $X to Organization X.

By using these and other tactics, you will not only be supporting a good cause, but you’ll be building your online presence and improving your site’s SEO in the process!

You need “link juice” to increase your site’s ranking in the SERPs.  Here are a few easy, free link building tactics that can be used by any business owner!

• Donate your services to a good cause or have an event that will draw media attention.  Remember to take lots of pictures and video for posting on social media outlets!
• Write expert articles for an industry newsletter as a guest writer or even become a regular columnist.
• Run a comprehensive search of mentions of your company on the web and if you are not linked, ask for one!
• If you’ve received sincere thanks and praise from a client, ask them to post a link to your site on their personal website or profile.
• Be sure you are linked in the directories of all chambers or business organizations you’re a member of.
• Exchange links with business partners and referral partners.  Make sure you are “fans” of one another.

Still racking your brain to come up with a quick way to build links to your website and increase your online exposure?  Fact: YouTube consistently ranks as a Top 5 Search Engine; last month alone it was used by 125.5 million Americans.

YouTube, like every search engine, uses its own algorithm and delivers unique results… video results.  To access the 125.5 million Americans using YouTube each month, you must have video content on the web.  This doesn’t have to be an elaborate short film by any means– it can be as simple as a slide show, webinar, or a quick infomercial.  If you want to get more creative with your search marketing strategy, try releasing a viral video!

You should use the same principle SEO tactics with YouTube that you would with more tradtional search engines.  When submitting content to YouTube, be sure to sign up for a director’s account.  This will give you more room to describe your business and you’ll also have the capability to put live links in video descriptions.  Video content is a great and relatively easy way to get top-ranking search results, so what are you waiting for?  Grab the video camera and GO!

If your company is serious about seeing significant ROI from their search marketing efforts, it’s a good idea to hire an outside firm. Oftentimes, tedious hours of link building and keyword research are assigned to the intern… the secretary will tweet to an audience of three followers once a week… and every once in a while, an article will be posted to the company blog.  Newsflash: This strategy will not get you anywhere.

It is unlikely that anyone around the office has the time or skill set to manage a successful SEM campaign.  Unless your company has hired a full time, in-house SEM expert, it is in your best interest to consider outsourcing at least some of these tasks.  Consider which aspects of your SEM campaign you wish to hand over to the experts: Search Engine Optimization? PPC? Social Media?  Most firms will offer a package deal that includes all these components.

Outsourcing your search engine marketing is one of the best investments your company can make.  It will end up saving you a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of headaches.  Ready to give it a shot?  Call one of our SEO specialists at WEBii and get started today!