Posted at: Friday, May 11th, 2012 Social Media | No Comments »

Over the past few weeks we’ve been talking about the importance of creating a social media marketing plan for your business. Once you’ve established a social presence online, it’s important to measure your social network influence.
Klout is company that provides social media analytics to measure a user’s influence across their social network. It determines influence based on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin activity. Klout looks at the size of a person’s network, the content they create and how other people interact with that content.
Klout measures Retweets, Likes, and Comments to assign a “Klout Score” from 1 to 100 with 100 being the most influential. The Klout Score is used by social media marketers as a way of measuring social networking influence.
Klout helps businesses determine their social impact by providing context around their level of influence. It also does a great job of helping brands and brand influencers connect. It helps them analyze their online influence as well as the influence of the people in their target audience.
“Klout uses data from social networks to measure how many people you influence (True Reach), How much you influence them (Amplification), How influential they are (Network Score)”
Brands can issue “Klout Perks” (exclusive products or experiences) to reward select “influencers” based on their Klout. By rewarding Klout influencers they increase the chances that they will talk about their product and/or service in a positive way.
Social media is having a huge impact on the way people and companies interact. Take advantage of this excellent marketing opportunity to build your brand and grow your business.
If you need help developing a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes social media marketing, contact a professional Internet marketing company.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Posted at: Friday, May 4th, 2012 Social Media | No Comments »

Pinterest is a new, fast growing, social network that lets users create and share theme-based image collections. They can upload images from their computer or “pin” items they find on the web using the Pinterest pin it button. Pinterest’s mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting”. It is a powerful and visual social network that allows users to create “scrapbooks” of their favorite things.
Started in 2009, it is currently listed as number 5 in the top 10 list of social networks. Pinterest generates more referral traffic on average than Youtube, Google+ and LinkedIn.
Along with Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest will help your business increase the number of visitors to your website and generate more customer leads.
When you join Pinterest, you should avoid self promotion and use your account to promote a “lifestyle” related to your brand. Use this social network to engage potential customers with images and information that attracts and educates them. When you do this effectively, you will drive traffic to your site and increase your sales.
If you don’t have a social media marketing strategy, start today. Consider adding Pinterest to your marketing plan. It’s easy and free. Create a profile for your business with relevant pin boards and add the “Pin It” button to your site so customers can pin your images to their pin boards.
Take advantage of the hottest new social network to grow your business.
If you need help developing a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes social media marketing, contact a professional Internet marketing company.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Posted at: Thursday, April 26th, 2012 Social Media | No Comments »

YouTube is the largest video sharing site on the Internet. It is the second largest search engine, second only to Google. YouTube provides a great opportunity to gain more exposure for your business. It’s a free, easy way to host your business videos. You can post videos on YouTube about your brand and demonstrate your products and services.
Videos are a great way to tell your story and share helpful information about your company. People are searching everyday for answers to their questions. A “how-to” video is an effective way to share helpful information and generate potential customers for your business.
Creating videos for your business is a fun and effective medium that helps you engage your potential customers. It provides an inexpensive way to help people find solutions to their problems. In addition to YouTube, you can also post your videos on Facebook and link them back to your website. This will increase traffic to your site and generate more customer leads.
YouTube provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, market your products and services and establish yourself as an expert in your industry. When creating your videos, it’s important to tag them with the right keywords so that people doing searches related to your industry, find your movie clips.
YouTube enhances your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and helps spread the word about your brand. It is the most valuable video marketing and advertising tool for your business.
If you need help developing a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes social media marketing, contact a professional Internet marketing company.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Photo attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mauritsonline/4561481118/
Posted at: Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 Social Media | No Comments »

Twitter is an online social networking service. It enables people to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters. These “microblogs” are called “tweets”. Twitter has 0ver 140 million active users that generate 340 million tweets per day. It is ranked as one of the ten most visited websites.
Twitter is a great marketing tool that lets you engage with existing and potential customers. It is a fast way to get your message out about your business.
Companies that have been successful with Twitter use it to offer exclusive deals and content to their followers. They invite people to check out their special offers, coupons, newsletters and other marketing information. Twitter also provides great word of mouth advertising when people tweet personal recommendations about your business. In addition, it can also be an effective prospecting tool. You can search Twitter to find the people who need your products and/or services to generate more customer leads.
Similar to your website, it’s content that builds your brand and connects you to your followers. Make your tweets helpful and informative. They can range from, links to interesting articles or videos about your industry, upcoming events, answers to customer questions and any other relevant information. Twitter can also help you increase your website traffic when you connect it to your blog and automatically notify your followers each time you post a new article.
Twitter makes it easier, faster, and cheaper to connect with potential customers and build your business.
For more information on how to use Twitter to market your business, check out Twitter best practices.
If you need help developing a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes social media marketing, contact a professional Internet marketing company.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Photo attribution: http://flic.kr/p/5VwCRW
Posted at: Thursday, April 12th, 2012 Social Media | No Comments »
Facebook is the number one social network in the world, with more than 845 million active users. Of that number there are 483 million daily active users on average. Because of its size, Facebook is a tremendously valuable business tool.
As a key part of your social media marketing strategy, use your Facebook Page as a hub for everything related to your business. By sharing helpful information about your industry, you will increase the visibility of your business. By adding value, you will attract more people to your Facebook page. You can do this by posting articles, videos, photographs, blogs and links to other relevant sites. It’s important that you update your Facebook page on a regular basis to keep people coming back.
You can also use your Facebook page to engage with people and answer their questions about your product or service. It’s a great two-way communication tool that lets you share information quickly and efficiently.
Similar to your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, social media marketing is designed to help you spread the word about your business and generate more customer leads. Enhance your SEO efforts and take advantage of this excellent marketing opportunity by placing a Facebook link icon and any other social media links on your website. This will make it easier for people to find you on these sites.
By posting useful information on your Facebook page on a daily basis, you will generate more followers over time and increase your customer leads.
If you’d like more information about how to develop a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes social media marketing, contact a professional Internet marketing company to help you.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Photo attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfinleydesigns/3652807120/
Posted at: Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 Social Media | No Comments »

Word-of-mouth marketing has always been considered the best form of marketing. A friend’s recommendation is more powerful than any advertisement. Social media helps companies spread the word about their business. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest help businesses get their messages out there and talked about.
Social media has changed the way organizations, communities, and individuals interact. It has created a way for people to exchange ideas about companies, brands and products. By listening and responding to what the public is saying about your products and/or services, you can promote your brand and enhance your company’s image.
However, social media marketing won’t lead to overnight sales success. It will take time and is all about building relationships with people. But if you listen carefully and are responsive and authentic, you will make your business “likeable” on social networks.
Millions of people are sharing information about brands everyday, and social media can spread the word faster than ever before. For example, Facebook has 750 million users and Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world. All you have to do is engage with people on social media sites, listen and respond. This allows consumers to spread the positive word about your business.
By utilizing the power of social media sites you will generate new customers and increase your sales.
If you don’t have a presence on any social media sites, now is a great time to create a social media marketing plan. In future posts we’ll talk more about some key social media sites that will help you promote your business, such as Facebook, and Twitter.
If you’d like more information about how to develop a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes social media marketing, contact a professional Internet marketing company to help you.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Posted at: Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 Internet Marketing | No Comments »

Developing and maintaining your website is critical to the successful growth of your business. Like a farmer, if you want to “harvest” new customers, you need to plant the right seeds, water and nourish them and they will someday bear fruit.
Treat your website like a living plant. Update your site on a regular basis. By keeping your content fresh and relevant, you attract more visitors who are searching for information about your industry.
Some businesses have static sites that are basically online brochures. Without regular updates, these sites will not attract new visitors and generate customer leads. In other words, they will not “bear fruit” unless they are nourished on a regular basis with relevant content (text, audio, images, videos etc.).
The more you do to keep your site up to date and relevant, the more potential customers will visit your site.
Take a page from nature and treat your website like a farmer treats his crops. Plant the right information “seeds” (e.g. keywords). Nourish or weed out old content. Promote your site with pay per click advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), social networking and blogging.
By maintaining your website on a regular basis, you will generate more traffic and get more customer leads. Overtime, you will grow your business and add equity to your brand.
If you’d like more information about how to develop a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business, contact a professional Internet marketing company to help you.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Posted at: Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 Web Design | No Comments »

Spring cleaning is usually thought of as the yearly act of cleaning your home from top to bottom. But you can also apply this concept to any kind of cleaning or organizing activity. For example, Spring is a great time to “clean” and update your website. Spring cleaning your website is a great way to update information and make your site fresh and inviting. You might even opt for a total website makeover or redesign.
Things to consider for your site Spring cleaning:
- Write new content that reflects any changes to your business or industry.
- Add new Videos and images to freshen up your site (e.g. new employee photographs)
- Update your blog on a weekly basis or add a blog to your site if you don’t have one.
- Change the design and/or colors of your site.
- Check the source code on your website to ensure that that it is search engine “friendly”.
- Check or add links to your social accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
Spring is an excellent time to cleanup and organize your website. Keeping it fresh and relevant helps you attract more potential customers and keeps them coming back.
Cleaning your website should be a process not just limited to the Spring. Keeping your site content updated on a regular basis will help your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
If you’d like more information about how to develop a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes an update or redesign of your website, contact a professional Internet marketing company to help you.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Posted at: Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 Internet Marketing | No Comments »

Lights…Camera…Action!
Whether you want to demonstrate your product or service or talk about your industry, videos help you reach more potential customers. They are an additional way to spread information about your business.
Adding video helps you reach people who would like to see your product or service in action, instead of just reading about it. For instance, instead of just a picture of your heavy duty paper shredder, a video shows how quickly and easily it shreds a large amount of paper.
In addition to posting your videos on your website, you can also post them on YouTube. It’s one of the most popular sites on the Internet and it will help your business reach potential customers outside of your existing network. If your video is unique and valuable, people might also share it, making it viral.
Videos also help with your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. For example, Google has added blogs, images and video to their search results. Adding video is a great way to improve your visibility and improve your ranking on the search results page (SERP).
Posting videos on your website is an effective way to share information about your business and increase your customer leads. They can be an easy and inexpensive method to add fresh content to your site that helps you engage with your potential customers.
If you’d like more information about how to develop a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes adding video to your website, contact a professional Internet marketing company to help you.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, mobile web design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
Posted at: Monday, March 5th, 2012 Web Design | No Comments »

Is your website “mobile” SearchReady?
The shift to mobile Internet access is growing because of the accelerating use of smart phones and multitouch tablet computers. People are mobile and they want to access the Internet from anywhere. Consumers want the same information found on computers but in a smaller and faster way. However, many business websites aren’t ready for mobile devices.
Sites that are not mobile ready can be slow, difficult to view and hard to navigate. A good Internet marketing strategy should include a mobile website that is built specifically for mobile devices.
The sites that are mobile SearchReady, are easy to navigate with bigger fonts and limited text. They also have one-step features that allow customers to call or get directions to your business by pushing one button. The design of your mobile site should also have the same feel, colors, and images as your original site.
Mobile Sites Drive Growth for Businesses:
Mobile usage is Exploding – Mobile growth isn’t expected to stop. Smart phones have become an extension of people’s daily lives, using them everywhere at any time.
Positive Impact – Mobile consumers use their devices frequently and purposefully, with high expectations of mobile sites they visit. A positive mobile experience can drive significant revenue.
Immediate Action – A mobile website makes it easy for consumers to contact you. Click-To-Call and Click-To-Map features enable customers to quickly reach a business with just one touch.
If you’d like more information about how to develop a successful Internet Marketing strategy for your business that includes a mobile website, contact a professional Internet marketing company to help you.
SearchReady is a San Francisco Internet marketing company. Our services include website design, search engine optimization, pay per click management and social networking. Contact us today for your Internet marketing needs.
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