It’s summer in California and who wants to spend time worrying about websites when there is so much else to do? You’ve got Father’s Day, graduations, weddings, and backyard barbeques. But your web marketing strategy can’t wait until September unless you don’t mind letting your competitors steal all your customers! As a web marketing agency, Search Engine Pros develops websites that work hard all year long. Here are six things you can do this summer to improve your website performance and attract more customers:
Know Your Keywords: This is a crucial factor in search marketing Research your top ten keywords and provide title tags that include these words. This one step alone will capture the attention of the search engine “robots,” and could propel your site up the search engine rankings.
Update Your Content: Nothing kills rankings faster than stale, outdated content. Your SEO marketing strategy must include a constant stream of educational, topical, relevant information.
Use Great Photos: The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is especially applicable with online marketing. Website visitors decide in seconds whether a site is worth perusing. Grab their attention and tell your story with dynamic photos, and they won’t be inclined to leave.
Build Inbound Links: Word-of-mouth and referrals are still two powerful means of attracting prospects. One sure way to build “authority” is to have other sites link to yours. Part of your marketing plan should include promoting non-competitive businesses on your site, and reaching out to them to reciprocate. It builds awareness for both companies, and helps each reach a new audience.
Offer Something: You never want to have someone visit your site and leave without making some type of connection. Your website should include a way to engage prospects and build that relationship. This could include an informational newsletter, a download of a “Top 10” regarding something that is pertinent to your business, a white paper, or some type of free sample or demonstration.
Make it Mobile: More and more consumers are using smartphones and mobile devices to search online. Top web design practices demand websites that are functional across all digital devices.
Your website is a strategic part of your online marketing plan. Spend some time this summer making sure yours is working hard, or contact Search Engine Pros and ask about our web marketing services.
Need help with your Santa Barbara social media marketing strategy?
Consumers now co-author the stories brands’ tell. Push is now pull and monologue is now dialogue.
Social Media is the newer, better, faster way to reach customers.
To grow your presence on the web, you need a smart social media marketing strategy. Many folks are turning to online marketing platforms to grow their business because over 81% of buyers make purchasing decisions online. As the web has grown and Google has become more sophisticated, the field of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has been merging with social media marketing, as well as traditional marketing, with emphasis on branding, framing, story telling, user engagement, viral marketing, and public relations. For example, Google is now crawling the Facebook Fan pages, which means that the words you use on social media have an impact on your SEO.
Did you know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is 40-60 years old? In the old days, we used to network in the coffee shops, nowadays, it’s all happening on social media sites. Social media sites are like personal newspapers of people’s lives. Some call it “lifestreaming”.
Smart companies are building massive emotional equity with social media sites. Educational marketing on these social sites, if executed properly (value adds, not pitches), will significantly boost your income.
Permission based marketing is more important than ever today. Boost your “likes’ and your “followers”, and you’ll boost your sales and profits.
Someone with experience in SEO, is someone who understands how people search for information (on the web and in other ways) and ensures that they or their clients are visible in the unpaid (organic) listings. A social media marketer is someone that ensures your business presence stays top of mind on social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
Get people to know, like & trust you!
Q: Does a Santa Barbara social media marketing firm help with maintaining my Local Listings?
A: Santa Barbara social media marketing firms in general do not help with local listings. However, at Search Engine Pros, WE DO! Your social media manager will help build positive content on your local sites such as Google Local, Yelp and many others. Local Search enables users to find businesses and services within a specific geographic region. A Local Search Listing gives your business instant locally targeted exposure online. It’s important for your business to find a smart Santa Barbara social media manager that knows how to create and submit your Local Profile live to Google Maps, Yahoo Local Listings, Bing and YellowPages.com –many Santa Barbara social media manager falls short here. Submitting to local sites will help your business tap into local search engine traffic and deliver more potential customers in your local area. Local Search Optimization is an ongoing tasks that takes many months to start generating traction. In our Santa Barbara social media workshop, business owners report that the day they got into the number ranks on Google Plus Local was the day everything changed, and they started getting 5-10 calls per day.
Q: Does a Santa Barbara social media marketing firm help create social sites?
A. Yes. Your Santa Barbara social media manager will also help you create and optimize Social Sites like Facebook. There are a number of other social websites that your social media manager can create. By optimizing your content, you tell search engines which keywords are important to you. Search engines can only give your web page a high ranking for a certain keyword if your web page is relevant to that keyword. Make sure you have your target keywords in your titles, h1 tags, page URLs, metas, body area, breadcrumbs, and image alt tags.
Facebook and Twitter are in many respects becoming more important than your actual company web site these days. As search engine specialists, we’re helping you in a unique way with your social media strategy. We’re different because we think from the search engines perspective, and we know that it’s not enough to just have a compelling copy. Marketers create compelling copy. Create compelling copy that is optimized for both humans AND the search engines.
Q: Do Santa Barbara social media marketing campaigns increase the number of friends I have on Facebook and Twitter?
A. Yes. Your social media manager connects you to centers of influence in your industry, and adds value to them by retweeting their articles and doing other value adds. More twitter followers means more brand visibility and traffic. Your Social Media Manager posts niche related news articles on your twitter for you. More tweets = more viewership and traffic. Need to add Facebook Friends? No problem, we’ve got you covered. More facebook friends = more viewership and traffic.
Q: Do Santa Barbara social media marketing campaigns include DIGGS?
A. Yes. Your Social Media Manager will DIGG Your articles. Diggs are the most popular social bookmarks to have on your article. Digg.com is one of the social bookmarking sites that search engines pay attention to the most. They increase the popularity of your article which in turn increases rankings.
Q: Do Santa Barbara social media marketing campaigns include YOUTUBE optimization?
A. Yes, your Santa Barbara social media marketing manager will help you get more views and make comments on your Youtube Videos. Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine behind Google, and more Youtube votes increases your rankings in the Youtube Search Engine. This will in turn increase the popularity of your video and help to increase rankings.
Successful websites launch with 100 helpful articles In order to rank well on the internet’s largest search engines, you site must contain informative, original content that contains the relevant keywords from which you’d like to capture traffic. Part of the success of your business depends on your ability to generate top ranks on Google and other major search engines.
Get an entire marketing department for the price of a part time employee!
Step 1. Design a web site that captivates, informs and motivates your target audience to take action. Step 2. Develop an annual content publishing plan detailing specific steps to success. Step 3. Delegate execution of the plan to a team that delivers a true return on investment.
Ready to get started? Inquire with Search Engine Pros today – your Santa Barbara Social Media Experts.
Oh where, oh where have the corporate bumper stickers gone?
It used to be that in the good old days of marketing, not so very long ago, businesses could simply go to any trade show and hand out bumper stickers with their name and corporate logo on them, and that would be about it for any outbound marketing effort. Add on some type of contest like the radio stations did, and you were really going above and beyond.
But look around these days and you don’t see anything near the proliferation of bumper stickers that there used to be.
Oh sure, you can still find witty and religious sayings, magnetic ribbons for various diseases, words of support for politicians and sports teams, “my child is an honor student” and those omnipresent stick figure families.
But when was the last time you saw a bumper sticker with the name of a local business on it? If you have seen one, odds are that it was probably on an older vehicle and had a purpose of helping to keep the bumper on the car!
Well, times have changed, bumpers have changed and the marketer’s idea of only using bumper stickers to attract prospects and customers will have to change, too.
Those once-plentiful signs of company pride used to be a popular form of traditional — or push — marketing. The objective was to push information, the company’s name or branding statements out to consumers, and they would be more inclined to frequent your business.
Now it’s a much more in-depth and delicate wooing process for companies to capture the attention of prospects and win their consumer hearts. It demands the strategic use of Internet marketing.
The good news is that businesses of every size can utilize Internet marketing. The bad news is that businesses of every size have to utilize Internet marketing, or they will simply lose out to their much more aggressive and Internet-savvy competitors.
This form of marketing is known as pull marketing. It’s a little similar to fishing, where you put something of interest out there to attract some attention, and let it slowly lure in a prospect. The differences here are that you have to use lots of lures and you sometimes have to gain the fish’s permission to participate in the process.
The Move to Social Media and Online Marketing
One similarity between bumper stickers and pull marketing is that you have a very short period of time to garner some attention. Just like passing another car and noticing what the slogan is, your online communications have to be sharp, focused and consistent.
Get to the top of the search engine rankings or nobody can find you, have a succinct Facebook message or it’s gone in 60 seconds as new posts appear, catch attention in six seconds with a blog title or your prospect moves on. It’s a fast and furious world, and you’ve got to be on the top of your game.
Here are just some of the amazing statistics about the opportunity represented by social media and online marketing:
» Social media is huge and it’s still growing: In January, ClickZ highlighted a report from eMarketer that found that social media will have 5.4 million more users by 2016, on top of the 180 million Americans who already rely on it for social interaction and information.
The top five social media outlets are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr. If your business doesn’t have a presence on these five as a minimum, you could be missing out on customers, regardless of your target age group.
Amazingly enough, there will be 4.9 million social network users younger than 12 and 21.1 million teenagers engrossed in social media. Older Millennials are the most active social networkers, and even 17.1 million 55-64 year olds frequent Facebook.
No matter who you need to communicate to in order to present your features and benefits, you had better include social media if you plan to accomplish that goal.
» Young adults are watching less TV: According to Nielsen’s 2014 fourth-quarter analysis of television viewing habits, young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are actually watching less television.
If this is your target group, it’s going to be harder and harder to find them without incorporating an Internet element to your marketing strategy.
The primary reason for their decreased interest in traditional television is their increased interest in digital devices. They are surfing the web, using social media, and Googling answers to every question that comes up in conversation. They use their mobile devices and smartphones extensively and, if they want information on a product or company, they want it now. If it’s not easily available, they are more than willing to move on.
» Social media is the new “back fence”: If people wanted to communicate with their neighbors just a few years ago, they could simply walk to the back fence and exchange information. They might ask about local businesses, relate good and bad experiences, or even provide a referral.
Now all of that is accomplished online through social media networks, bloggers and influencers. Consumers are now in the habit of searching online for answers and information first before making decisions from where to eat to where to have surgery.
In fact, Power Reviews found that 86 percent of consumers say reviews are an essential resource when making purchasing decisions. They trust peer recommendations more than they trust advertising and, if they do have a question or concern for a business, they want to be able to get a response quickly.
Does it seem like too much effort to learn about the new “pull” marketing? The return on investment for the time and energy needed is that you get to stay in business and keep attracting customers. Not such a bad return.
So, are bumper stickers totally useless now? Well, not exactly. But I’d recommend adding your web site with a call to action and a coupon code.
Are you marketing your business effectively on Facebook? There are so many ways your company can use social media to build awareness with a target audience. It may seem like Facebook is all about cat videos and selfies, but don’t be fooled. Facebook is a powerful marketing opportunity that can build your business when used properly.
One reason for Facebook’s effectiveness is that consumers now want to be more involved in creating the brand story. While business marketers used to be able to “push” information out to consumers on a need-to-know basis, consumers now want to “pull” information in and make decisions based on what they find.
The first place they are likely to look for information, whether it’s deciding on a restaurant or looking for a doctor, is online. And they’ll use their social media circle of friends as part of the research process, too.
Since the conversation can no longer be one-sided, social media is also used to create a dialog. There is no better, faster or more cost-effective way to reach prospects and customers than online.
While Facebook is one of the older forms of social media, it is also one of the most effective and widely accepted. Here are a few recent — and stunning — Facebook statistics that should capture your attention:
» Monthly active Facebook users: 1,310,000,000 — That’s a lot of opportunity!
» Mobile Facebook users: 680,000,000 — Plenty of reason to make sure your Facebook page is mobile-friendly.
» Increase in Facebook users from 2012 to 2013: 22 percent — It’s still growing.
» Total number of minutes spent on Facebook each month: 640,000,000 — It’s engaging.
» Percent of all Facebook users who log on in any given day: 48 percent — People are involved.
» Average time spent on Facebook per visit: 18 minutes — Once they visit, they stick around.
Facebook is so ubiquitous that many Millennials check their FB page before they even get out of bed, but it’s not just for use by businesses that target a younger audience. The fastest-growing demographic on Facebook is 40-60 years old.
In the old days, we used to keep in touch with friends via phone or letters; now we use social media to say hello, share information and build relationships.
It’s Not Just for Cat Videos
Did you know that Google “crawls” the Facebook Fan pages to look for indicators that could propel your business to the top of its search engine results? The same rules apply here as they do for website pages — content must be optimized, engaging, relevant and shareable. The good news is that these strategies don’t just build rankings; they also build relationships.
Let’s say you’ve started a Facebook page, added some nice photos, wrote an “about us” piece, included location and contact information, and have links to your website and other social media pages. So how do you garner likes and build a community?
First, make sure you promote your page everywhere and ask people to like it. Recommend that they share information with friends who might be interested in what you offer.
Your page needs to be dynamic, with new information added on a consistent basis. The social media world moves quickly. Information only stays at the top of the page for a few minutes. Unless you have said something that catches consumers’ attention and makes them stop, they move on to the next item. That’s why it’s important to be on Facebook every day with something new.
Constant reminders about your company, products and services, and the benefits you offer will start to build top-of-mind awareness. If you don’t think you can find the time to interact every day, take some time at the beginning of every month to outline thirty ideas or points you want to make. Some can be seasonal or talk about sales items, but most should just be a way of engaging your audience.
Here are a few power tips that can make your Facebook page sing:
» Consistency: Your message needs to be consistent across all online platforms. Have a marketing strategy with the “talking points” or main issues you want to present to your audience and stick to them. Don’t assume that one or two sentences every day is enough to form a complete impression. You might need to think of 10 different ways to say the same thing so that your audience can understand.
» Content: Content for Facebook must be optimized the same way your website is. What are the keywords your audience searches for, and how can they be included? Don’t just sell, sell, sell — use your Facebook posts to educate, engage and entertain. Ask for “likes,” tell a few jokes, post interesting tidbits they might want to share.
» Drive Traffic: Invite your community to click through to your website on a consistent basis. Tell them about your newsletter, a complimentary PDF you offer, or the latest blog article.
» Contests: These can be a good way to generate attention and gather leads. But don’t just spend money on a contest and move on. You must have a plan in place to use those leads, and try to convert them to a sale.
Above all, remember that this is a two-way street. You must also monitor your Facebook page on a regular basis. React if someone makes a comment, respond if there is a question, and say thanks if you get a compliment.
For a good example of a Facebook page that works, check out GoGoleta. Note the use of attractive photos, regular updates and posts that provide helpful information.
St. Patrick’s Day is for the wearing o’ the green. While we like that, Search Engine Pros believes in the making o’ the green when it comes to implementing search marketingstrategies for clients. We always tell clients that great SEO marketing isn’t a matter of luck. It’s a combination of knowledge, dedication, and persistence. As a web marketing agency, we’re providing these six lucky tips to help improve your search engine optimization:
Relevance: What you write on your blog must be relevant to the searcher’s keyword. Content optimization builds your site’s relevance. In addition to providing interesting content, it must be posted using meta tags, alt tags, headings and intrasite links.
Longer Content: Despite supposedly shorter attention spans, longer content of 1000-2000 words shows up well in search engine rankings and also serves to demonstrate your authority. The only caveat is that the piece must be of high quality, or you will waste your own time and that of your readers.
Back links: Search engines look for pages and sites that are connected to one another through links. This can be done by testimonials, reviews, blog comments and social media shares that let the search engines know that your site is respected by other web denizens.
Social Media Marketing: Your marketing plan should interweave SEO and social media to expand your online reach. Social media posts which point to relevant website information or blog posts increase the amount of shares and “likes” for existing content.
Build Relationships: Increase your trust factor by showing that others respect what you have to say. Over time, you will become more well-known by the company you keep in your link-building and social media strategies.
Authority: Good content attracts attention, but being relevant builds authority. With a high search engine ranking and high number of links, prospects will tend to trust your online business presence more.
Don’t just select one point and focus on that. Each of these must be combined into an all-in-one, connected, online marketing plan. Each area needs to be functioning smoothly so that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. You won’t need the luck to improve your SEO when you have Search Engine Pros as your marketing expert.
The way companies market their products and services has changed over the last decade. To keep up with competitors in your industry, you need to figure out how to use cost-effective online marketing methods.
To someone who is just looking at online marketing for the first time, it may appear to be an overwhelming and confusing maze. There are plenty of wrong turns you can make, many of which lead to a scary place with your online marketing strategy. The good news is that the Internet marketing maze is something you can perfect over time.
Here are some simple ways to maximize your Internet marketing strategy. The Internet marketing campaign tips below will help build your online presence.
Consider the Bigger Picture
As you start to build your online marketing approach, it’s very important that you consider the bigger picture and your extended plans. This is vital because your entire online presence needs to be cohesive and symmetrical. If you lack cohesiveness between different parts of your online presence, you’ll have a very difficult time trying to maximize your efforts.
Keep in mind that to truly dominate the Internet marketing maze, you’ll want to gear your approach in a way that will accommodate Google search engine algorithms. In being search engine optimized, otherwise known as SEO, with Google, you’ll greatly increase the likelihood of your customers and prospective clients coming across your online networks.
So how does the bigger picture and SEO come together? It’s quite simple.
SEO is measured through a variety of factors. Some of the most important elements include:
» Keywords placed throughout the website
» The name of the website
» Name, address and phone number of the business
» Social media accounts
» How polished the website coding is
When you consider all of these factors, you can see why it’s very important that you avoid switching around the name of your business. The more that you consider the bigger picture and plan for the future, the easier of a time you’ll have when it comes to navigating through the Internet marketing maze.
See What Others Are Doing
Another great way to find out what you should do for your Internet marketing campaign is to look to others and see what they’re doing. This will work if you have competition in your niche market that is successfully implementing its own Internet marketing campaign.
Some of your competitors’ online marketing techniques to observe include:
» How their website looks and is presented
» Which online resources they use, ie. Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc.
» How they interact with their clients online
By seeing what works for your competition, you can narrow down the efforts that you effectively put in place for your own marketing approach. There is no time to waste when it comes to being a small business, so learning from the mistakes of your competition will help increase the likelihood of success.
Tailor Your Approach to Your Market
Keep in mind that every company is different. Even though it’s a great idea for you to look at your competition to see what they’re doing, that doesn’t mean this should be something that you settle on. In other words, you may need to tailor your online networking approach to more directly market your clientele.
A prime example of this can be seen between two shoe companies. While both companies may borrow ideas from one another for most of their marketing techniques, the approach may change for Company A if they sell flip-flops, whereas Company B sells winter snow boots.
Another reason that you’ll want to tailor your approach for your specific market is because it will keep you and your audience more interested. Although you might come across, and want to share, a picture of a cute cat that has been shared a million times online, that doesn’t mean it’s something that your target market will take interest in. That’s why the companies that are most effective with the Internet marketing maze know exactly what it is that their audience wants to see. If you can do this, too, then you’ll notice much better results.
Track Your Results
One of the biggest mistakes that companies make with their online marketing includes the failure to observe and track results. Some businesses will just put their market approach in place and assume that things will work. Even some companies that find success will fail to realize that they can change other parts of their approach to try to maximize things in the best way possible. The truth is that you will need to observe your efforts and track your results throughout the lifetime of your online marketing approach.
Change As Necessary
As you track your results, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t for your online marketing campaign. For the things that work, consider keeping them in place to get the most results possible. However, you’ll want to change things that do not work in hopes of making them better. The more effective that you are with tweaking your system, the higher probability it is that you’ll have an inclusive Internet marketing approach that is successful.
If you’ve heard that marketing online is difficult, you aren’t totally off. But while it may be difficult to navigate your way through what seems like a hopeless maze, stay confident that there are certainly ways to be successful with enough hard work and effort. By following the tips mentioned here, you’ll be able to successfully start your approach at online marketing.
If you want your website to get as much traction as possible, you need to know what interests your visitors.
If you fail to acquire this knowledge, you may end up putting too much effort into areas that do not interest your audience, while failing to properly develop the more interesting content that is popular on your website.
You don’t have to have a website very long before you encounter options for tracking certain statistics for your page.
Even if you don’t actively search for any type of tracking tools, it’s likely that you’ll get bombarded with a variety of offers to try free services and programs.
The problem is that there are disparities between these services, which could mean the difference between success and failure when it comes to learning more about your site.
With so many options to choose from, we’ve narrowed down our choices to three of the best in the industry:
Here is a further look into what each of these services offers. As you read through this, be sure to keep in mind your specific needs for your website. You’ll likely come across something that will be sure to fit all your requirements.
CLICKY.COM
Features
If you have a small- to medium-sized website, Clicky.com might be your perfect choice. This application is ideal for blogs, websites and even e-commerce platforms that utilize HTML-based development.
Clicky.com
Clicky offers a variety of different tiers, but the one that seems to be the best deal is Clicky Super Pro. With this service, you’ll be able to get feedback on up to 100,000 pageviews per day. You can also cover up to 10 different websites with one Clicky account.
With recent updates, Clicky has even gone on to handle analytical information fromTwitter, which is ideal for those who have a large online following to track. One of our favorite features of Clicky is the ability to set and monitor goals, which is perfect for those who need a bit of added motivation as they try to dominate their online market. You’ll be able to track a variety of different statistics, as well as look back to see which campaigns worked and which didn’t.
Clicky reports also are easier to read than others we’ve reviewed. The reports have an eye-candy look and feel that helps busy executives save time by speeding up the decision-making process.
Support
Because of the number of users who rely on Clicky.com, you’ll also be able to find multiple outlets for support. If you need to contact customer service, you can do so through an email to the support team. There is also a user-moderated online forum and FAQ center, which is very helpful. You can use this area for requesting input for your ideas and getting feedback from others who are in the same boat.
Price
Clicky.com is $19.99 a month, which is standard for analytics programs. However, if you are willing to pay upfront, you can do so at $119.99 annually. That equals about six months free if you pay up front, which is well worth it in the long run. In addition, there are updated services, such as Clicky Pro and Clicky Enterprise, that account for even more detailed online profiles.
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Features
As one of the more well-known programs out there, Google Analytics is often the choice that many users make when setting up their first website or online presence. There are plenty of good reasons why Google Analytics is an excellent option for first-time users.
Google Analytics is quite easy to use, and it gives you plenty of feedback that will be beneficial as you start to tweak and alter your websites and social media profiles. One of our favorite features is the ability to track audience characteristics, which is an analysis of behavior patterns of your users. For example, you can see where traffic is going on your website, which can help as you formulate new objectives.
Support
The good news with this program is that it’s from Google, so there is going to be plenty of community-driven support available. When it comes to getting feedback from Google itself, however, you’ll likely come up a bit short in comparison to other programs. But because there is so much input from other users out there, it’s likely that you’ll find assistance with any issues that you come across with your Analytics program.
Price
One of the biggest reasons that people go for Google Analytics is because it’s free. Couple that with how easy it is to use and the number of tracking options, it’s obviously worth implementing if you are new to analytics software.
BIT.LY
Features
You might be familiar with Bit.ly as the incredibly popular platform that shortens links and makes it easier for you to post websites into Twitter and other social media outlets. Since 2012, Bit.ly has offered its own analytical tracking data software.
The biggest feature with Bit.ly is that it easily takes your shortened links and tracks data to determine what is working best for you. And since Bit.ly already has a strong emphasis on maximizing social media, the program will further assist you with making the most with your Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.
One of the biggest reasons to use Bit.ly is that it ranks among the top options for user interface and ease of use. Although there is a bit of a learning curve, you will get tons of feedback and information that is easy to understand right on your dashboard. You can then use this information moving forward while branding new social media approaches.
Support
Bit.ly has a growing community of users who are active in forums and other user-driven networks. In addition, Bit.ly offers direct client support, which is completely different from their original Bit.ly applications. Bit.ly is growing, which is why it’s certainly worth considering now for your online presence.
Price
Bit.ly might be best used for enterprise customers with large numbers of viewers and followers. With that in mind, there are different price tiers for each customer and the type of support they need. To find more about Bit.ly and how much it may cost for you to run, you’ll have to inquire. The good news is that this inquiry comes with feedback from a Bit.ly rep, which is something you’ll no doubt find of value.
Before launching your Internet marketing campaign to build your online presence, be sure to implement one of these powerful analytical data tracking systems. Instead of wasting your time sifting through other options out there, shorten your list of choices to Clicky.com, Google Analytics and Bit.ly.
For a small business, Yelp reviews can have a huge impact on your local reputation. In a world where everything is sociable and shareable, many people look to Yelp to find out information about the quality of small businesses in their neighborhood.
For those that have a bevy of positive reviews, this can build confidence among consumers and lead to an abundance of new sales. However, for a business that has bad reviews on Yelp, the results can be disastrous for their reputation.
When small business owners see that a person has left a negative review on Yelp, a variety of different emotions are likely going to run through their minds. Thoughts that range from “That person doesn’t know what they’re talking about” to “It must be one of my competitors trying to slander my company” — they are all likely.
As your blood starts to boil and you only get more angry, it’s also likely that you consider what sort of legal action you can take against the person who has left a negative review.
One of the first reactions is to take the reviewer to court and sue them for leaving a bad Yelp review.
Cases like this are popping up all over America, with mixed results for both business owners and reviewers. Here is a look into whether a business can sue someone for leaving a bad review on Yelp, and what is needed on behalf of each party to stay legally protected.
Reviewer Is Protected Under the First Amendment
It’s important to understand that, under the First Amendment, a customer does have the right to leave a review based on his or her experience at a particular business. The First Amendment protects citizens and allows them to speak freely, which can include both positive and negative experiences.
While the First Amendment does ensure free speech, it doesn’t prevent false or untruthful comments that hurt a company’s reputation. This means that the comments made by a reviewer on Yelp must be proven as truthful or honest, based off their experience with a particular business.
For example, in the Arizona case above, a woman went online to share her experience with a vehicle repair company. Kendra McConnell claimed that after leaving her Jeep with Premier Coach Works in El Mirage, they failed to do an adequate job of repairing her vehicle. In her review, she stated that the company failed to return phone calls, overcharged for services and did not properly repair the vehicle as promised.
This sort of situation can certainly be a challenge for both parties. For the consumers, they feel as if they’ve been cheated and have the right to leave a review based on their experience. But for Premier Coach Works, the company feels victimized by the impact that a negative Yelp review can have on its business.
Business Must Provide the Burden of Proof
In deciding whether a company can sue reviewers for their negative comments online, it comes down to the ability of that company to prove the statements made were untrue. For example, in the Premier Coach Works case, it was up to the company to prove that McConnell was not being factual in the comments she made.
As a consumer, knowing that you can be taken advantage of by a company can be a scary thought. Luckily, we now live in a time in which nearly everything can be recorded and used as justification for improper services. For example, a customer can use emails, text messages and legal tender to prove the commitments were not upheld by the company they used.
If the evidence proves that the comments on Yelp were factual and honest, there are no grounds for the reviewer to have to remove the post. In addition, the business cannot sue the reviewer for those comments.
While businesses may hear this and think they are now at the mercy of their customers, this isn’t necessarily the case. Just as consumers can use evidence to argue their reasoning for a negative review, the company can use the same information to defend the reputation of their business. In the event that the case moves to a courtroom, the same information can be used to persuade a judge to have the review on Yelp removed if the post is not truthful.
Both Parties Can Come to an Agreement
Yelp was created with the intention of being a platform on which consumers could state their insight and experiences with local businesses. The truth is that this helps to protect consumers, and it also holds businesses to a higher standard to ensure that they’re providing the best service possible to their customers.
Because of the damage that negative Yelp reviews can cause, however, there is now concern for customers making untruthful comments about their experiences at a given business.
In the case of McConnell and Premier Coach Works, the two sides came to an agreement outside of court. In many instances, this could be what ideally occurs for businesses and Yelp reviewers.
If you want to prevent the headache that comes from a negative Yelp review, there is a simple solution: Make sure you give great service to every customer who walks through the door. However, if you’ve done all you can and you still feel you’re receiving unjustified negative reviews on Yelp, it’s important to know that your business is protected.
Evidence is everything when it comes to these sorts of cases on Yelp. So whether you are a business or a customer, make sure you are prepared to defend yourself and the actions you take online.
We are getting ready to turn the page on the calendar and it’s hard to believe that we are in our final month of 2014. It’s been a great year for us here at Search Engine Pros, and we hope that your year was equally as rewarding. As we take the time to prepare for 2015, we’d like to wish you and your family a happy holiday season and a safe New Year.
Now might be a good time for you to look back at 2014 and think about whether or not you were getting the type of online traffic that you had hoped for your business. If you didn’t get the type of traction that you had wanted, then you may realize that you failed to reach your expected earnings as you tally up revenues in the fourth quarter of the year. Luckily, a new year is just ahead, and you can start fresh with an improved marketing plan that will make 2015 an incredibly rewarding year.
With the help of web marketing, you can take your business to brand new levels of exposure. Before online search marketing, it was much more difficult for small businesses to compete with large companies. However, there are now a variety of tools that an online marketing team can implement to increase the presence of your brand.
If you are looking for a boost in holiday traffic that will carry over into the new year, here are 4 tips to consider.
1. Spruce Up Your Website
Many companies realize that they have to have a website if they want to get recognized online. But not all of those companies realize that a standard website isn’t going to be enough in today’s responsive world. Instead, it might be time to revamp your approach by stripping down your website and building it to maximize search engine optimization results.
2. Get Help When You Need It
With a marketing group that is familiar in SEO, you can have a customized online presence that is tailored to your every request. With the advice of these marketing experts, you’ll get some of the top web design ideas that will interest your audience and keep them on your page. In addition, these web marketing methods will help with your online search engine rankings by accommodating to required expectations. If any part of your online presence is outdated, you may be hurting your SEO wherewithal. This is why it’s important that you make a beneficial change that will quickly boost your presence and maximize your online efforts.
3. Re-Target Your Marketing Approach
Along with other methods of online marketing, you’ll also want to evaluate your marketing plan to see how well it is targeting your audience. In many cases, we’ve worked with business that have a viable approach in place. However, once we dig a bit deeper, we realize that their SEO marketing plan is limited and they aren’t getting the sort of exposure that they desire. To make the shift, your new approach should include an emphasis on social media marketing. The way that customers interact with companies is drastically changing on a day-to-day basis. This is why you need a marketing agency thatcan help you keep up with these changes on social media and other online avenues.
4. Track Your Results
No matter what sort of marketing service you implement, it won’t matter if you don’t know how it’s working. This is why it’s vital that you track your results and use analytics to formulate any changes that are necessary. If you are unfamiliar with tracking analytics, your marketing agency can assist you. The more that you track your results as to what is working for your online approach, the better of an idea you will have into what works. You can then use this information as you move forward and tailor your online marketing toward your target audience.
Q: Is it too late to jump start my online marketing for the holiday season?
A: Traffic from Google Adwords can be sent to your web site in less than an hour.
Q: How does online marketing compare to other forms of advertising?
A: Online marketing has changed the way that people connect with businesses. Instead of sending out mail flyers or other physical services, online marketing lets businesses communicate with their clients instantaneously. In doing so, your business will be able to bring in new clients and build your reputation as a reliable brand that people can trust in.
Here are some fantastic events to attend that will be sure to grow your company by leaps and bounds.
Social Media Strategies Summit: Las Vegas 2015 – Anyone who is anyone will want to make sure that they visit the Social Media Strategies Summit in Las Vegas. This year, the event will be from February 10 – 12. You can learn more about how to market your brand online at this great conference.
Social Media Marketing World – There will be over 2,500 people in attendance at the Social Media Marketing World from March 25-27. The event is held in San Diego, so be sure to get your ticket early to be part of one of the biggest social media events around the nation.
Think back about 10 years and try to remember how you used to garner interest about an event that you were throwing in Santa Barbara.
How would you get people’s attention? How would you maximize the number of people who knew about the event? Would you be able to easily track attendees? Could you easily let people know of changes if something came up?
Chances are that these hypothetical questions gave you some real-life headaches.
Luckily, planning and promoting events has completely changed thanks to the help of social media and the Internet in its entirety. If you’re a savvy with your Internet promoting methods, you can track, measure and inform your audience with up-to-the-minute results in ways like never before.
As you read through this insight on how to promote your Santa Barbara event on the web, a few parameters that you should consider are:
» Keeping your target audience in mind
» Knowing who your sponsors are
» Determining the best outlets for reaching your audience
» Understanding how to handle issues or concerns that may come up along the way.
As you make note of these considerations, here are some tips for promoting your Santa Barbara event on the web, and utilizing all of the resources at your disposal.
Do Some Preliminary Research
Before you begin your marketing efforts, it’s important that you first do a bit of research to determine where your efforts will be best spent. After all, it’s pointless if you put all of your efforts into marketing something that other people will never take interest in.
While you’re doing your preliminary research, find keywords that you can target and use online. If you are able to link keywords with a “Santa Barbara” tag, then your event will be much more easily discoverable by users who are looking for it. Those keywords will be influential throughout the rest of your campaign, so understanding how to use them is worth the time investment in the first steps of online promotion.
Build Your Presence
Once you have your keywords figured out, where do you use them? This is where you are also going to want to find out where your online presence is best met with your typical users.
For example, you may notice that most of your users are on a social media site like Facebook or Twitter. You might also recognize that having a website or blog is better for reaching people who are not familiar with social media. Or you may even want to consider an email list to directly reach people on a regular basis.
Whatever your potential market is, this is where you should build your online presence.
The great news is that building your online presence isn’t going to dig deep into your budget. Social media accounts can be set up for free, and a website or email client is something that will be very cost-efficient. Not only is online promotion more convenient that more traditional methods, but it’s also cheaper as well.
Start Networking
Once you have everything in place, it’s time to start networking with people and building your online promotion. The best way to start with this is to connect with people who you know personally. Inform them of the event in Santa Barbara and ask them to share with others who may be interested. You will be surprised to see how quickly this can spread, which will make your networking efforts incredibly worthwhile.
Keep Things Fresh
To make sure you are staying at the top of search engine results, your promotional efforts should also be geared toward keeping things fresh and updated throughout all of your online networks. You will need to consistently update your social media posts and add new content to your website. Not only does this keep people interested in the event that you are promoting in Santa Barbara, but it’ll also help you increase your wherewithal in SEO results.
If you’re having a hard time finding content to continually update, consider a news release to get people excited. There is plenty of viral content that consists of, “Top 10” lists or photos of cats eating cheeseburgers, so having something that is relevant to Santa Barbara will really interest your audience and grab their attention.
And if you need help with creating this new and exciting content, you can also consider hiring someone to manage this task for you.
Implement Media
People want to see what it is that you are putting together for your Santa Barbara event. With the Internet, you can provide media that will give them exactly what it is that they want.
For example, you can provide insider photos or videos of the process that it takes to put together your event. By showing people the process, they will take more interest, but the event will remain in the person’s mind. And if this media goes viral, it could mean getting thousands of views in a short period of time.
Instant Communication
In the event that someone has a question about your Santa Barbara event, it’s vital that you respond and communicate with them as quickly as possible. This can be done through automatic email responses, RSS feeds or even instant messenger services. It’s also important that you respond to social media posts and comments quickly as well.
By communicating with your audience quickly, they will see that you are attentive and interested. It will also help to generate a positive vibe about your event, which will work in your favor as you try and draw in more people to the event.
Provide Easy Access
Finally, you need to ensure that the online promotion of your Santa Barbara event includes easy resources for people to find out more information. This should include an email address, links to other online networks, as well time and date information regarding the event.
The easier that you make it for people to find out information about your event, the less likely it is that there will be confusion during the process.
The way that you prepare for your event in Santa Barbara has changed. Instead of relying on outdated techniques and methods, consider the tips here for promoting your Santa Barbara event on the web.
