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Why "Search Plus Your World" Means Google+ Business Pages Are Now Essential

2012-01-25T21:54:39Z

Internet Marketing Weekly: Google’s new “Search Plus Your World” presents marketing opportunities to businesses with Google+ business pages.

Search Plus Your World provides marketing opportunities to businesses.

Google’s moves toward personalizing search results took a dramatic turn a little over a week ago with the introduction of Search Plus Your World (SPYW). Now when you do a Google search while logged in to a Google account, you might see results from your Google+ network integrated into the search results.

Google+ isn’t SPYW’s only source of personalized information: you might also see photos on Flikr, threads on Quora, and other publicly available information.

Even if you’re not signed in or don’t have a Google+ account, you might see Google+ content on search results pages. This dramatically heightened visibility of Google+ pages creates a huge marketing opportunity for businesses. (Read more about how you can create a business page on Google+.)

Google+ business pages can now appear in several places in search results pages:

In search results: Your Google+ business page, and the content you add to it, can appear in search results. Searchers may see your profile image, the text and images in your posts, and other information. Below your page or post might be a count of the number of comments or +1′s it earned along with the profile images of anyone in the searcher’s Circles who have shared it. All this color and special markup helps it stand out visually in search results. Also, the more comments, +1′s, and shares a page or post gets, the higher it’s likely to appear in search results. In other words, if you create a Google+ page for your business and fill it with engaging content, that could give you a boost in search results.

Posts from businesses' Google+ pages can appear in search results, as in this example from the Muppets.

In sidebar suggestions: For some searches (even if you aren’t signed in to a Google account), a sidebar appears to the right of search results offering suggestions of Google+ pages related to your search that you might want to add to your Circles. If you frequently talk about a certain topic on your Google+ page (say, your city or your industry), your page might show up as a suggestion for that topic.

If you search for "Angry Birds" on Google, a sidebar will offer suggestions for related Google+ pages.

In image searches: Even if you don’t search specifically for images, Google sometimes offers a row or two of images in regular search results. With SPYW, images from the people and businesses in your Circles may appear. Below each personalized image is a grey bar noting where the image came from. Clicking on the bar brings you to that person’s or business’s Google+ page. As a business owner, you can increase your potential visibility by posting and sharing interesting images on your Google+ page.

If you post interesting images on your Google+ page, those images have the chance to appear in Google's image search with a link to your Google+ page.

If you’re still casting around for worthwhile New Year’s resolutions, put creating and maintaining a Google+ page for your business at the top of your list.

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Facebook Timeline Cover: Easily Create a Custom Cover for Your Personal Profile

2012-01-25T21:51:59Z

If you’ve updated your Facebook Profile to the new Timeline, you can add a custom “cover” in the large image area, as well as add details about a business you may own.
Timeline is not yet available for Fan pages, so the custom cover for your Timeline only addresses your personal profile. Cover images are public (as is your profile image) and anyone on Facebook can see them.

Download the free layered Photoshop template file.Zipped File

How to create a custom Facebook cover:

1. Using Photoshop:

Background color – Which can be deleted or edited.
Profile picture box – This the exact location of the profile picture you upload. It’s nice to know where the profile image will be displayed so so as not to block an important part of your Facebook cover. You can also use the profile pic to make your Facebook cover stand out.
Measurement Dimensions layer – This layer is informational only and should be hidden or deleted before saving the cover for uploading.

Photoshop template

If you aren’t familiar with Photoshop, Pixlr is a very handy online photo editing resource that lets you upload resize and crop photos to any dimension.

Photoshop template with image added and resized

Adding your new cover is easy:

Go to your timeline

Click Add a Cover
Choose whether you want to upload a new photo or pick a photo from one of your existing photo albums
Once you choose a photo, you can reposition it by clicking on the image and dragging it up or down
Click Save

Here are a few nice covers to peruse:

Mari Smith changes her cover image periodically.
Zach Seward Social Media Editor at The Wall Street Journal.
Local Sequim Photographer, Phil Tauran, doing a bit of marketing on his cover.
WordPress and SEO expert, Joost de Valk, is also doing a big of (subtle) marketing on his cover.

And check out this delightful and diverse grouping of Timeline Covers to get your creativity flowing.

5 Steps to Help You Start Tweeting

2012-01-25T21:55:19Z

Internet Marketing Weekly: Strategies to help get started with Twitter, a quick and easy marketing tool that will gain you exposure.

As we move into 2012, it is a great time to start your Twitter account. Twitter is an easy and quick marketing tool. Tweeting, if done correctly, can help you to gain exposure for your brand and drive traffic to your blog and website. If you’re not sure how to get started, here are five steps to help.

1. Create a Strategy People will Follow

Be yourself, be real, interact and show who you are. These are guiding principles of all great Twitter accounts. Contributing original, funny, interesting or useful ideas is the best way to develop a following. Most people will look over your account before deciding to follow, so there must be a good reason to follow you in a quick glance.

2. Don’t Forget the Real Life Connections

Use the search box at the top of your Twitter account to search for people you already know. Locate their accounts and start to follow them. They will often follow you in return. Also, go out and locate other professionals or experts in your area of business. Twitter is a social network, so the more social you become, the more followers you will have.

3. Come one, Come all!

One of the best ways to get started with Twitter is an open invite. Use your newsletters and blog posts, and add a Twitter widget to your site or to Facebook. If you start to proactively reach out to people, your followers will grow.

4. Interact and Engage

After completing the steps above, you should have a number of followers. The number one reason why Twitter accounts fail is because there is no dialogue. Make sure to respond and get involved with your followers’ comments and accounts. Twitter works very similar to high school — if you sit down to lunch with a group of people you don’t know, pretty soon you’ll make a few friends. Twitter followers are always looking for a good laugh, so remember to keep it light and show off your personalty.

5. Consistency is the Key

If you follow the first four steps, in a few months, more people will be following and interacting with you. The worst thing you can do with your Twitter account is lose traction. The one way to avoid this is to keep a consistent stream of information going. I recommend that you post at least twice a week. As you grow your account, you might find yourself tweeting daily.

For more information and a deeper look into Twitter, please read a great post written by our very own Social Media Marketing Strategist Laura Alisanne, Twitter for Your Business: An Intro Guide to Get You Up & Running.

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2012 On The Road Again!

2012-01-14T01:22:35Z

On the Road Again!

Next week begins the travel season for the InsideOut Road Warriors. This year, Silas Fuller, Sales and Business Development will join Patricia McCauley at all Conferences and Trade Shows.

First stop, January 18th–20th, Cody Wyoming for the annual Dude Ranch Association Convention. Patricia and Silas will jointly be giving an interactive presentation on, Critical Elements of Effective Websites, Social Media, Trying to Stay on Top of the Continual Changes, Smartphone Websites, Do You Need One? We love the Dude Ranchers, they really know their stuff when it comes to the value of the Internet and the conference is always really well attended and FUN! Yahoo!

Next stop, January 23-25th, Little Rock, Arkansas for the Professional Association of Innkeepers conference.

We will be at Booth 523, so come by and say hello. We will also be taking appointments to review your Internet marketing and branding strategies. These appointments are with both Pat and Silas, double the expertise, register online at insideout.com/paii. Looking forward to seeing so many of friends who are also clients. See you in Little Rock!

Many other trips are planned for this year including Montana in April, PAII New England, and the South East PAII conference in South Carolina just to name a few. If we miss you this trip hope to catch you down the road at one of the other shows.

Happy New Year, and let’s keep traveling!

How To Increase Your Chances of ROI Using Facebook

2012-01-08T22:00:42Z

Internet Marketing Weekly: Social Media delivers a return on investment differently than traditional forms of outreach. In utilizing Social Media, ROI happens through meaningful “many-to-many” interactions with your online community.

You’ve followed the advice of your marketing expert, and created a Facebook Fan Page for your business. You add a couple of the most recommended APPs including a “welcome” tab and “incentive” or “fan-gating” tab, as well as a custom profile image. You slowly, but steadily build a following of fans over several months. You post on a semi-regular basis, perhaps two to three times per week.

Feeling you’re doing everything right, you wonder, “why am I doing this?” “Is it actually increasing my revenue?” Am I seeing an upswing in bookings or sales?” “How can I measure this?” “Is all the time I spend on social media giving me a return on my investment?”

Great questions all, and it would be worrisome if your weren’t asking.

Facebook User Growth Chart by Ben Foster

Social Media is a relatively new animal. It is certainly newer than the acronym ROI.
With classic ROI, you look at what you put in: be it advertising, specials, promotions or marketing, and you watch. If “x” number of dollars were spent on this print ad campaign, or “y” dollars in promotional merchandise giveaways, then you expect a certain number of dollars to be returned to you via purchases, or bookings from your efforts.

One of the reasons you’re in business is to make money. But top performing marketers will tell you that the real commodity in business is not actually money, but people.

Social media, being “relationship” and “sharing” based, helps your business grow by fostering loyalty to your brand. LOYALTY is the steam that drives the potential to increase your profits. Building relationships takes time. This is a long-term investment.
In the world of social media, the number one way to increase your following is by actively engaging your fans in what they care about. Engagement fosters loyalty.

The Cold, Hard Truth

1. Once a fan “likes” your page, they very, very rarely return to the page itself. About 98% of the time, a fan never looks at your fan page again (unless you offer a repetedly compelling reason to go to it). That’s why installing a multitude of Apps as tabs on your page is secondary to posting engaging content that fans want to interact with.

2. It has become increasing more challenging to show up on your fan’s News Feeds. Facebook delivers content to a fan’s News Feed based upon how that fan interacts with fan pages they’ve liked, their friends posts, etc. Now it is important to post 1-3 times a day, with content that is relevant to your fans. The once-per-week post is a thing of the past. It will garner you very little.

What Are Effective Forms of Engagement?

The most successful forms of engagement come in one of three ways, but all are nestled under one umbrella: Engagement (aka participation).

Zappos featured fan photo

1. Ask Your Fans to Share
Request that your fans share their photos and experiences on your page. Then reward those fans by featuring them. Zappos, one of the most beloved retailers in the US today, does this very well by asking fans to post pictures of themselves, their kids and their pets with a Zappos shipping box. The participation level is enormous. Zappos rewards the fans who have participated by featuring one of the fan’s photos in their ever-changing profile image on their Facebook fan page.

2. Promotions:
These can be a fantastic way to engage your fans. Keep in mind that Facebook has strict rules about conduction promotions. The biggest rule to keep in mind is that you must use a 3rd party App if you’re going to conduct any kind of drawing, sweepstakes, contest or competition. Your own content in an iFrame app qualifies so long as you include the correctly worded disclaimers. Refer to this helpful post for more information.

Surf Dog Ricochet's Dirty Dog Photo Contest on their Facebook Fan Page

3. Give-Aways:
Give-aways can take many forms, from helpful information and links to resources to enhance the life of your fans, to freebies like a magazine subscription for the best (or first) fan to comment on a topic you choose, or photo posts that get the greatest number of likes (votes) from fans. Surf Dog Richochet does this quite often, and in this example, they’ve clearly stated that for the photo posts of “Dirty Dog Photo Contest” likes equal votes, and the greatest number gets the photo poster a perk like a $25 gift card to Petco, Surf dog Ricochet t-shirt, or “Paw it Forward” wristband.

Since Facebook changed the way users interact with fan pages back in November, it is possible for fans and non-fans alike to post on your wall, comment on, and share your content. What this means it that now, not only is it important to acquire fans via “likes,” is is also important to create content that non-fans want to share.

A Fan Base Can Grow Your Brand (aka business):

50% of small business owners reported gaining new customers through social media – most notably through Facebook and LinkedIn. *(Neilsen)

51% of Facebook users and 64% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from the brands they follow. *(Mediabistro)

Even if you have 500+ fans, it only takes 20 people to create meaningful many-to-many interactions and bring an online community to a significant level of activity.*(Ning)

Mediabistro infographic

The top seven post types that foster engagement:

1. Use images in your posts.
2. Keep it short and sweet as much as you can.
3. Keep the “I” to a minimum.
4. Include a call to action.
5. Give timely information that includes tips and links to useful resources.
6. Share a great cause that you believe in and want to support.
7. Share video. (Make sure it’s useful, or humorous or uplifting content).

And the final, and essential element, check your page regularly, and make sure you respond to comments. If your fans have taken the time to read and respond to your posts, then they deserve a response from you. If fans feel that you care enough to respond, they will feel their time has been well-spent.

Measuring Your Success

Find out how you’re doing. Study Your Statistics and Results using Facebook’s built-in “Insights” data.

Facebook offers some really great analytics for pages. Pay attention to them. If you see a big surge in fans (or a drop off), look at what you’ve posted recently and see if you can figure out any trends. Then post more of that kind of content (or less, in the event that you’re losing fans, or the engagement just isn’t there).

Sources:
Ning: http://www.ning.com/about/press_release_062011/
Neilsen: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/
Mediabistro: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/small-business-social-media_b14294

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Internet Marketing Resolutions for 2012

2012-01-01T22:00:28Z

Internet Marketing Weekly: Use the Lessons from 2011 to Plan Your Internet Marketing Resolutions for 2012 and Increase the Effectiveness of Your Online Efforts

At the start of this new year, you may be experiencing an internet marketing hangover from 2011 and who could blame you? It was a hurricane (no mere whirlwind) of changes this last year. Highlights included:

Google

Panda bears may be lazy, but Google Panda has been anything but with 9 major updates since its release in 2011.

Google released 21 major updates in 2011, up from eight in 2010, five in 2009 and two in 2008. Most of these updates were centered around updates named for an endangered bear. In terms of search engine marketing, 2011 could be called The Year of the Panda. These updates were implemented to return higher-quality search query results by placing quality websites near the top of the search results and lower the rank of low-quality sites. Many complaints, a request from Google for help in gathering data, and several updates later, it appears Google Panda is finally starting to deliver on its promises.

Mobile Device Internet & Search Usage

According to StatCounter, the mobile device market for internet use continued to grow throughout 2011, rising to from just over 4% in December 2010 to 6.5% overall in November 2011. In the search market, mobile devices now account for 20% of search engine queries.

Social Media Marketing

Google+, the search engine’s latest and strongest foray into social media, was opened up for business profiles in November.

Showing up in the news feed of your Facebook fans becomes increasingly important as your fan base grows.

Facebook announced their new Timeline personal profile feature, which rolled out worldwide on December 15, 2011. The biggest lesson of 2011 for businesses on Facebook, though, is the need to be active and effective in engagement via the news feed of your fans. The reason for this is the relative lack of traffic to a business page once “liked.” A PageLever study of Facebook analytics shows that as your fan base grows the percentage of fans visiting the business page shrinks. This does not mean that you don’t need to worry about the branding and extra features of your business page; it does mean that you will need to increasingly focus on the timeliness and engagement effectiveness of your postings to compete for visibility to your fans.

Twitter announced a new interface that is billed as more “follow friendly.” YouTube announced a new design to enhance its social interactivity features. All of these social media outlets are increasing their competitiveness for their slice of your social media marketing efforts.

Recommended Internet Marketing Resolutions for 2012

With 2011 now in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to make sure your internet marketing efforts are ready to meet the challenges as they emerge in 2012.

We will be covering the following recommendations in depth, along with others as they emerge, throughout the year in our Internet Marketing Weekly series.

Increase Search Engine Marketing Effectiveness

Focus on Optimized, Quality “Above the Fold” Content

Search engines prioritize content appearing "above the fold" - as do website visitors.

Regardless of the medium (desktop/laptop or mobile) make sure that what displays “above the fold” (i.e. what initially appears on the display of your website pages and blog posts) is quality content. Relevant header and supporting content should always be a part of this. Use of large images and video are a big question mark at this point, so we recommend slightly de-emphasizing images and videos above the fold unless they are for photo/video-specific blog posts. If you have advertising space on your website, keep it minimal above the fold and do not allow it to dominate any portion of your website pages.

Be Prepared to Deal with Less Keyword Data in Google Analytics

Logged-in Google user keyword data is no longer provided in Google Analytics.

Touted as privacy protection, Google made the decision to encrypt the searches of its logged-in users in mid-October 2011. Since then, Google Analytics has removed its logged-in user data for keywords entered into Google that resulted visits to your website via organic results. These keywords are now listed as “(not provided)” in keyword reports. The percentage of this logged-in Google user traffic varies from day to day and website to website, but, regardless, your search engine optimization efforts (and/or those of your service provider) should now include monthly review of search engine queries data using Google Webmaster Tools. The data is not as comprehensive (i.e. it doesn’t provide visit quality metrics) but it will provide important information that is otherwise unavailable.

Communicate with Your Ecommerce Providers That Don’t Support Your Internet Marketing Efforts

Your website may be up an effective tool in generating links out to your online sales, but when a website visitor leaves your website to view products and/or services and make purchases on a provider’s website, are you receiving optimal service?

Google Analytics Cross-Domain and Ecommerce Tracking

Proper cross-domain tracking and support from your online sales service provider ensures accurate ROI tracking for Google Analytics Ecommerce.

If you’re selling products or services online and don’t have Google Analytics cross-domain and ecommerce tracking set up between your website and that of your ecommerce provider, you have no reliable way of tracking the sources (search engine, paid directory listing, etc.) of revenue and are therefore unable to evaluate Return On Investment (ROI). Make sure your provider knows the importance of this tracking to your continued business with them.

Get a Mobile-friendly Ecommerce Website

Hopefully you have a mobile device-specific website already (if not, make it a priority goal for 2012). When a visitor links out to your ecommerce website you are more likely to lose the sale if that site isn’t also friendly for viewing on the user’s mobile device.

Enable or Upgrade Social Media Links & Share Buttons

Increase the effectiveness of social media on your website with prominent placement of links and sharing buttons.

If you are active as a business in social media, make sure your efforts include cross-marketing on your website with links to your social media profiles and social media sharing buttons so that users may like, tweet, “+1″ and otherwise promote your website content and blog posts in the social media sphere. InsideOut Solutions offers a simple social media bar for our Inndx customers and social media integration options for all of our customers.

Broaden Your Local Search Base and Enhance Search Performance

Assuming you have claimed and filled out your Google Places listing, resolve to claim and fill out your Bing Local and Yahoo Local listings. With that done, you will want to claim and fill out your business listings on local search data suppliers, such as InfoUSA, Acxiom, and Localeze.

Get Mobile Specific with Your Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Shift an appropriate percentage of your search engine paid advertising dollars to the mobile market. Start with a review of our recommended 5 steps to improve mobile PPC and stay tuned for more.

Social Media Marketing

Social media’s importance to effective internet marketing will continue to grow in 2012 and businesses should be prepared to become more socially active and effective in their engagement to remain competitive.

Google+

Google+ might not have the history of Facebook, Twitter, et al., but it does have the name (and deep pockets) of Google behind it.

The “new kid on the block” in social media is poised grow its market share substantially. A Google+ user review by GlobalWebIndex indicates that this new social media platform now has 150 million active users. What’s more, Google will likely integrate Google+ into its search results to help enhance its new focus on more personalized search. It’s time to build your Google+ personal and business profiles and start engaging users.

YouTube

Despite its ubiquity in people’s daily lives, YouTube remains a non- or under-utilized marketing outlet for many businesses. Resolve to explore video marketing of your business if you currently aren’t. If you have a YouTube channel, resolve to both take advantage of the new design that’s rolling out and also to produce new quality video content for 2012.

Cross-platform Branding

It’s vital to your online marketing efforts to brand your social media outlets to be consistent with your website’s branding. InsideOut Solutions offers Facebook, Twitter and YouTube branding services.

Cross-media Marketing with QR Codes

The huge gains in mobile device internet use in 2011 will continue to grow throughout 2012. Nearly half of mobile users use a smartphone. If you aren’t using QR codes in your print marketing and signage to drive mobile traffic to specific information and/or offers on your website, now is the time to start and InsideOut can help get you on the QR marketing track.

We wish all of our readers a happy and prosperous 2012.

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A Concrete Brochure

2011-12-30T21:31:37Z

This compact brochure has it all: it's an easy-carry size, matches the website design, and features a handy QR code, useful locator maps and a full list of chamber members. Plus, the clickable pdf version will soon be available for download at concrete-wa.com.

A Chamber of Commerce brochure gets the word out about their vibrant small community.

Concrete in Northwest Washington may be small (pop. less than 800), but it has a lot to offer. Its fun annual events, beautiful mountain setting and visitor-friendly services deserved a hearty shout out. They got it with a website launched in spring of 2011. Next: they needed a matching brochure for newcomers and visitors.

The Right Fit

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: pick the right format for what you have to offer. I’m a big fan of print pieces that, whether cut or folded, end up being about 4″ x 9″. This allows the finished card or brochure to fit in any standard display rack or no. 10 business envelope. Plus the size is easy to carry and economical to print.

For Concrete’s brochure, I chose a 12″ x 9″ trifold format that allows for three panels, front and back. That gave plenty of room for nice-sized photos and helpful information…

The Right Info

Chamber President, Valerie Stafford, wisely opted for less text. Instead, the photos tell the story. Smiling friendly faces and colorful photos of main attractions and events give viewers the right idea.

The back panel is an easily accessible place for contact information and maps. Concrete isn’t far from a main interstate, but it’s just far enough that a regional locator map helps viewers understand where Concrete is in relation to I-5 and major cities. The second larger map gives a good overall layout of the town without having too many hard-to-read details.

A QR code is also on the back. Instead of mobile users trying to type a web address, they can just scan it with their phone (and free app) and go right to concrete-wa.com

The interior of the brochure has plenty of space to provide a complete list of the Chamber members and their contact information. One panel is also dedicated to Concrete’s annual events.

Clickable PDF

Not only were 5,000 brochures printed, but I also generated an interactive pdf. Every members’ email or website address is clickable, and so are all instances of concrete-wa.com. The interactive pdf will soon to be offered on their website. [ View PDF ]

The brochures were a hit when they arrived at the Chamber Offices:

“….[T]hey’re beautiful!”

~ Valerie Stafford, President
Concrete Chamber of Commerce

Which Blog Posts Attract Readers?

2011-12-25T22:00:17Z

Internet Marketing Weekly: Evaluate Your Blog Posts Using Google Analytics to Help Plan Future Blogging Efforts

Find out which of your blog posts are most attractive using Google Analytics. (Hint: people like baby animals.)

You diligently spend the time to write a weekly blog post, and here at the end of December, you’re looking back on the past year, wondering how to maximize your efforts in 2012. How many people are reading your posts? Which posts are irresistible, and which inspire yawns? Find out using Google Analytics.

Identify what makes a post attractive

Some people will find your latest blog post in search results. Others might find a link to your post on Facebook or Twitter. Your more devoted readers might follow your blog through an RSS feed. So what makes a link to your post intriguing enough for these potential readers to click?

Google Analytics can show you which posts attracted the most visits, allowing you to draw conclusions about what types of posts your readers prefer.

Log in to the New Google Analytics

Start by logging in to your Google Analytics account. Note that there are now two versions of Google Analytics: the old version and a new version. The new version is available by logging in to Analytics and clicking “New version” in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Switch to the new version of Google Analytics by clicking the "New version" link in the upper-right corner.

The new version shows you all the visitor stats you’re familiar with, plus several powerful new reports, in a faster, more intuitive layout. It will soon become the default version, so we recommend familiarizing yourself with it now. You can check your blog stats using either version, but this post uses the new version.

Set a date range

Next, choose an appropriate date range. In the spirit of year-end reviews, let’s check the visitor stats for 2011.

Set a date range using the calendar in the upper-right corner of your Google Analytics page.

Set the date range by clicking on the dates in the upper-right corner of your Analytics page. Type “Jan 1, 2011″ into the first date box, leave today’s date in the second box, and click the “Apply” button. The stats on that page will update for your chosen date range.

Go to the Landing Pages report

Find the "Landing Pages" report under the Content menu in the New Google Analytics.

The Landing Pages report shows how many times visitors “landed” on each of the pages on your website—in other words, how many times visitors entered your site through each page. Think of this report as a list of the pages visitors saw first.

For example, let’s say you search for “blogging calendar,” and InsideOut’s blog post “Five Steps to Creating a Blogging Calendar for Your Business” appears in the search results. You click on the link and read the post, and then you click to a second blog post. Analytics would count one landing-page visit for the “Five Steps” post.

To see the Landing Pages report, click “Content” in the left sidebar menu. When the submenu opens, click “Site Content,” then “Landing Pages.”

Filter the Landing Pages report for blog pages

Initially, the Landing Pages report shows all the pages visitors landed on throughout your site, not just on your blog. To see just your blog pages, type “blog” into the search bar above the table and hit enter.

Filter the Landing Pages report by typing "blog" into the search bar.

Note that this will only work if the word “blog” appears in the address of each of your blog posts. For example, the address for one of your posts might look like this: www.yoursite.com/blog/2011/12/winter-festivals-in-cityville.

If the word “blog” does not appear in the address, click “advanced” next to the search bar.

Click "advanced" next to the search field to filter landing pages for blog pages.

Several extra drop-down menus will appear. Leave the first two (“Include”and “Landing Page”) as they are and click the third, “Containing.” In the drop-down menu, select “Matching RegExp.”

Choose"Matching RegExp" from the "Containing" drop-down menu.

In the last field, type (or copy and paste) this: “blog|200|201|tag|category” and click the “Apply” button. This will filter the list of landing pages to show only pages whose address contains a date or the words “blog,” “tag” or “category”—in other words, only blog pages.

The Landing Pages report now displays a list of your blog pages in order by the number of times visitors landed on each page.

Look for category and tag pages

Along with individual blog posts, you might see other kinds of blog pages, like category or tag pages. The page “/blog/” represents your main blog page, the same page visitors see when they click the “blog” link on your home page. Category pages usually look something like this: www.yoursite.com/category/cityville-events. Each category page lists all the blog posts assigned to that category. For example, this post is assigned to the category “Internet Marketing” and appears on the Internet Marketing category page here: www.insideout.com/blog/category/internet-marketing. You might also see tag pages, which appear similar to category pages.

Create content that people want to read

Write posts your readers want to read. For example, local businesses might blog about area attractions and festivals.

Now that you know which posts attracted the most visits, you can draw conclusions about which topics pique your readers’ interest, and therefore what kinds of posts to write more often. If four hundred people landed on the post about your ranch’s newborn foals and only four landed on the post describing your ranch’s amenities, write more about the foals. (Remember, your blog works best as a tool to reach out to new audiences and bolster your reputation, not as an extended brochure for your business.)

Post titles are important, too, for two reasons:

Potential readers use the title to decide whether to click a link to your post. An enticing title will persuade more people to read your post.
Search engines also pay close attention to titles. Specific, descriptive titles tend to be more visible in search results.

Images, too, are essential, especially if your post is shared on Facebook, where the image appears next to the link to catch potential readers’ eyes.

Watch multiple metrics

Keep in mind that sheer volume of visits is only one way to measure blogging success. You might also ask how often links to your blog posts were shared on Facebook? How many people subscribe to your RSS feed? How often do readers leave comments? The key is to create content that people want to read. Once you know that, you can be confident that writing your weekly post is time well spent.

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5 Steps to Creating a Blogging Calendar for your Business

2011-12-18T22:00:24Z

Internet Marketing Weekly Feature: Creating a blogging calendar will help you to become a successful blogger.

Content is King when it comes to Internet Marketing. A blog is going to become your number one tool for developing fresh, new and relevant content. But I often hear from business owners, “I don’t have enough time to blog”. That is understandable, business owners are usually focused on the day to day operations of their business. This post will show you ways to make blogging a part of your day to day operations.

Creating a blog calendar will make your life easier.

Step 1: Locate a desktop calendar or an online calendar. Choose a calendar that best fits your needs. The Google Calendar is a great free resource to use.

Step 2: Calculate how many times a month you are going to blog. You should keep in mind 2 blog posts a month should be your minimum (4 blog posts a month should become your goal). Once you have selected the number of posts your are going to write for the month. Select the day on the calendar you will launch your posts. Keep in mind that having a consistent day of the week is a great plan and will help you to become more organized. For this example, we will use Wednesday as your post day. Go back at least four days on that calendar and start to write what you are going to do to prepare that Wednesday post. Day 1: gather information for your post. Day 2: gather images for your post. Day 3: rough draft of the post is written. Day 4: final edits and posting. This strategy will help you spread out the work. You can do a few minutes of work a day. Instead of trying to spend an hour or two coming up with all the info and then having to write and publish the post.

Now that we have our day of the week selected for posting and created a few days of lead time.

Step 3: The next step is Brainstorming topic ideas. One place to start is your local Chamber of Commerce, or any other community based groups. They often times have great calendars of events and are very tied into what is happening in your area. Research all the events, festivals and concerts that are scheduled for the upcoming year. Add those dates to your blogging calendar. Remember that when your going to blog about an event that you need to write and publish the post weeks prior. By posting weeks before the event it will give you a great shot at being found in search.

Step 4: Once you have a calender filled in for the whole year. Take a moment and start to look for blank weeks or a month where you might not have any posts scheduled. For these weeks you should start to fill in anything your business is doing over the next year you would like to promote. Recipes, local hiking trails, bike trails are great things to add to your list. People read blogs looking for local expertise or information about your area. You can use those empty weeks on your calendar to show your readers that your are an expert and resource for your area.

Step 5: Set up a system to alert yourself to blog. I personally miss the days of post it note chains that would snake across my desk. Removing each note as the weeks moved forward. Fortunately technology has advanced and there are many ways to send yourself reminders. Live gets busy so any tools you can use to help remind your self to start your blogging process will help.

With the new year rapidly approaching, it would be a great time to start to develop your calendar. A successful blogging strategy would make for a great New Year’s resolution.

I hope you found this information helpful and I wish everyone a Happy New Blogging Year!!

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Major Changes Come to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

2011-12-11T22:00:33Z

Internet Marketing Weekly: Updates to Social Media Marketing Heavyweights, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

It’s been a whirlwind week, filled with significant updates to three of the most important social media, and social marketing tools operating today.

Twitter is launching an entirely new interface for both desktop and mobile devices, and YouTube has rearranged everything on your YouTube channel to allow for more powerful marketing and sharing with video. Facebook is rolling out their most dramatic user interface update since its inception.

A New Version of Twitter:

Twitter introduced a new version of its user interface on Thursday. The new design will be rolling out over the next few weeks, so not all users have it yet. The design can be seen on both on Twitter.com and mobile phones, as well as TweetDeck. Twitter notes that the new design will make it easier to “follow what you care about, connect with others and discover something new.”

You can see it immediately on the just-updated versions of mobile.twitter.com, Twitter for iPhone, and Twitter for Android. You can get early access on your computer by downloading and logging into Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android.

The new interface puts the five main components of Twitter front and center:

The Home Icon:

A new tab menu which is the same across all devices, gives you the same experience on mobile and desktop.

A simpler design where you can easily view your Twitter stats, get suggestions on who to follow and see trending topics.

See Tweets from all the accounts you follow. Tweets can now expand to show more information such as replies, retweets and embedded photos and videos.

The @ Symbol:

Connecting with @usernames:
Whenever you come across an @username—in the news, on a billboard or on a business card—enter it to learn more and connect instantly.

You can track your impact across Twitter. Interactions shows all the actions other people take related to you and your Tweets. See who follows you, retweets or favorites one of your Tweets, or adds you to a list.

See all the Tweets in which you are mentioned in one place, so you can keep the conversation going.

The # Hashtag:

The # symbol before any keyword allows you to search for things people are talking about. Twitter calls it “Discover.”

Enter any #hashtag to discover all of its related stories, conversation and content.

Your Profile Icon: Twitter Calls This the “Me” Tab:

When you click this tab, you can see stats on your tweets, as well as who your following and who’s following you. You also get a list of all your tweets in a nice big format. This is also the place to stay current with any direct message conversations you may be having.

The Quill Pen Icon: aka: The New Tweet Button

Click and post a new tweet, as well as upload photos from both your mobile and desktop. You can also add a location to indicate where you’re tweeting from.

With 100M active users per month, and the site overall seeing 400M monthly unique visitors, people, logged in or not, are using Twitter at a significant rate to stay connected and keep up with news.

Find out more in this Twitter-created video

The New Facebook: Timeline for all (well, everyone in New Zealand for starters, that is).

Facebook delayed the launch of the new Timeline, which was announced in September, after a company called Timeline.com filed a lawsuit against the name Facebook had come up with. Now that it’s all ironed out (well, except for Facebook’s new countersuit), they’ve decided to roll it out to New Zealiand’s 2 million Facebook users. Their strategy? “As a global company, we need to gain perspective and insights from outside the US. New Zealand is a good place to start because it’s English speaking, so we can read the feedback and make improvements quickly,”

In the meantime, you can only view the new Timeline if you yourself have it enabled, and the only way to do that currently is as a Facebook Developer. Here’s a view of one person’s Facebook Timeline:

Check out all the information and demonstrations on the Timeline from Facebook.

The New YouTube:

Last week, YouTube rolled out significant changes to their design. The overall look is much darker, and the layout is dramatically changed as well. The new YouTube is more focused on social activity around video and in letting viewers customize their home page experience.

YouTube is an often underutilized platform for marketing and connecting with users. However video is one of the most powerful way to connect your business to your guests and potential customers.

The New YouTube includes the following changes to the Channels design:

Avatars can be up to 1600×1600 pixels. It will be resized to be 36 x 36 pixels on many locations on the site.
New Channel width is 970 pixels.
You can choose which Tab you desire to be the Default View.
There are four new layout templates to choose from.
The Title Header can only be 64 characters long.
How long is that? Pretty long.
You can type or copy & paste some symbols

There are (as always) pros and cons to the new design. Here are some of the major points:
Pros:

Simple Design allows for better focus on Video
Channel Title can be customized up to 64 characters.
Friends/Subscribers not visible (to clutter up the design)
Sharing and Connected Accounts options is better
Search on the channel

Cons:

Absolute background color not changeable from YouTube “Gray”
Cannot manipulate the sections.
Channel Title background color not changeable.
Friends/Subscribers not visible (for others to see)

Find out more with these helpful links:

Try Out the new Channels.
YouTube’s video on using the new Channels.
YouTube’s Official blog post on the new Channels.
YouTube’s support guide.

You can experiment with the new Channels and then switch back as needed. In time, the new design will be enabled for all, so getting your feet wet now is a good idea.

How to flip between the old and new:

1. Click on EDIT CHANNEL

2. then “Switch back to the old channels design”

The last 10 days have seen a whirlwind of changes, with many new things to experiment with and learn more about. Tells us what you think, and share your thoughts here.

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