POSTEROUS: A SIMPLER WAY OF POSTING BLOG ENTRIES

The author discusses the advantages of using Posterous as a blogging platform as well as some blogging options, and considerations. Also discussed, is blogging as a means to increase web traffic, and build relationships with your prospective clients and gather information through analytics.

8 Tips for Using Social Media to Build and Maintain Trust Online

This article highlights 8 Tips for Using Social Media to Build and Maintain Trust Online. The author advises that building trust takes time and dedication. It has to be done step by step, should be integrated into the businesses systems and processes, and to be successful must be an on-going component of any successful business.

Better New Years Resolutions; 8 Tips for Setting Marketing Goals in 2010

This article describes how to create better New Years Resolutions by providing 8 tips for setting marketing goals in 2010. By creating specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based goals and by having visual reminders and rewards for goal completion-we can ensure our success in 2010.

6 Tips for Creating a Successful Marketing Plan

Writing and implementing a marketing plan is essential for the success of any business. There are many resources available that define the basic elements of a marketing plan such as those provided by SCORE and the SBA so this article does not attempt to review these elements. Rather, the author seeks to outline 6 tips for creating a successful marketing plan and impress upon the reader the importance of taking the time to plan and monitor your marketing efforts.

Website Optimization and Conversion Rate Killers: 4 Avoidable Mistakes

Article reviews website optimization elements, and some conversion strategies learned at the MarketingSherpa Summit. Examples by MarketingExperiments show that using simple design/layout elements on home, registration, and landing pages will lead to results.

New and Exciting Dimensions in Website Design: Using Video and Virtual Tour Technology

As a marketing consultant specializing in company branding, social networking, website design, and optimization, I am always reading articles on the latest, most effective techniques in design, optimization, and website navigation. My goal is to use the latest techniques, tactics, and strategies to achieve visibility for my clients, help them to build relationships with their customers, and increase their brand awareness.
To that end, many companies are now adding videos to their websites to increase their value and boost the flow of traffic to their site. Many of the websites you will visit in the coming months will greet you with a video that either pops up, or they will give you an option to view a company or product video.

There are many reasons video is so popular. Isn’t it much easier to view a video than to have to read multiple sentences, paragraphs, or pages of information? In addition to ease of use for the viewer- offering a video can help to separate you from your competitors. If your site is more informative and enjoyable than your competitors, then you can easily guess which site will receive the most traffic. Another reason video is so popular is that with the advancement of technology, creating video content for websites has become much easier than in the past. It used to be that you had to hire a video production company, at great expense, to handle all aspects of your video production. But now, all you need is a digital video camera, editing software, a tripod, and lighting. Some people are even creating videos using their built-in desktop or laptop pc camera and mic-although one needs to be certain the sound and video clarity on their camera is adequate before using this option.

The bottom line on using videos is that we live in an era where video content is everywhere. It is on our televisions, the internet, game systems, our ipods, and cell phones. Adding video to your site or blog will provide a much higher response rate, will reach people through a different medium, and lead to many more satisfied visitors.

However, for those who want an alternative to video but want the same reach and the same “wow factor” that video offers-I would like to tell you about a recent technology which has truly amazed me. I recently met with the folks over at Panospin Studios (www.panospin.com) to incorporate their technology in some of the websites I design. Panospin can come to any location and conduct a photo shoot. They then use their proprietary software to create 360-degree rotating images commonly called “Virtual Tours.” You may have seen these on the internet being used by realtors, vacation destinations, and hotel websites. However, the state-of-the-art virtual tour now is being used by restaurants, retail stores, museums, colleges, bed and breakfasts, to name a few. What’s new is that the views are full screen and truly 360-degrees by including the ceiling and floor. Also new, is that inside the rotating view are clickable “hot spots”, that can open sound clips, small pictures, links to YouTube and other webpages, or movement to adjacent 360-degree panoramic views. The effect of all this technology is that the website viewer gets the feeling of actually being there and is more likely to result in the viewer picking up the phone and making arrangements to visit in-person.
The best part of Virtual Tour technology, is in saving trees and money on printing costs, and it is relatively inexpensive. Accelerated can add virtual tours to your website or blog for less than $1,000. To see examples of the newest virtual tour technology, visit www.panospin.com.
So with all that is new and exciting in the world of internet marketing and web design-there is no reason you can’t achieve all your marketing goals, increase your bottom line, and have fun in the process.
Wayne Kessler
Accelerated Business Services

Internet Marketing and SEO Using Linkedin: Add Your Company Business Page

Many people are not aware that in addition to being a personal branding, business networking, and joint venture catalyst, Linkedin can serve as another touch point for your business branding efforts. In addition to your personal profile on Linkedin you can post a company business page. This article demonstrates how to set up a business page on linkedin and talks about the importance of registering businesses with other social media sites and internet directories for maximum SEO benefit.

How to Use Facebook for Business

This article outlines how social media sites like Facebook are being used by businesses in many creative ways to build relationships and communicate company information with current and prospective customers. The article begins by addressing a few common misperceptions about Facebook, and then details how to use and set up the various sections of a Facebook account. It concludes with several recommended applications that will add functionality to your company Facebook page.

Social Networking Marketers are Modern Day Pioneers

This interesting and informative article discusses the growing power of social networking sites to facilitate communication between businesses and potential customers, and to provide multi-modal means of communication which allow internet marketers and others to become modern day pioneers.

Organizing for Maximum Productivity and Minimum Stress

This article provides a creative model of a custom-tailored filing system to help small business owners organize their life and work tasks to reduce stress. Examples for the organization of online information are offered to help those involved in social media work.