Posts Tagged ‘SEO’

With web video exploding and the promise of GoogleTV around the corner, it’s a wonderful time to be able to upload your own content. But just because anyone can do it doesn’t mean everyone should. For every well-produced, entertaining and informative video, there are millions that aren’t. So what are some of the bigger pitfalls to avoid if you want your video to get people talking?

Firstly, remember that at the moment, the vast majority of content created for the Internet makes zero money, so everything you do should come from a place of passion. Here are a few tips to make that passion work for you.

Get the four tips here: http://bit.ly/c92Ym8

Technorati Tags: google, internet, marketing, sales video, SEO, video, video marketing, video production, Youtube

Ah… The sweet smell of success! I Googled (one of the most popular verbs in the English language these days) “black card” and you’d think that since this is our company name, we’d rank but I tell you we’ve had a heck of time ranking on Google. Why? Because when we selected our company name, we like the prestigious conotations with Black Card and our services are not meant for everyone nor can just anyone purchase them so this was fitting for us. What we did NOT consider was the competition on Google for this key word.

152,000,000 (that’s million) is a lot of competition and with every credit card company out there having their very own “black card” you can bet we were up against some of the big boys like American Express, Visa, MasterCard and many other companies that are REALLY GOOD at branding and have DEEP POCKETS.

I forgot to mention another little competitor… you might know them as WIKIPEDIA!

But never fear, a David Vs. Goliath type of battle is always fun to watch and even better when David wins. In this case, we’re winning! I checked today and we’re now on the first page of Google for the keyword “black card” and soon enough we’ll be ranking at the top (not sure we’ll out rank WIKIPEDIA)!

Black Card Marketing Group takes on Visa, Mastercard and AMEX

How did we do it? Good question!

How to Optimize WordPress

Using Plug-ins

Jeff McLeod

Jeff@JeffMcLeod.ca

In this article I’m talking about:

1. Setting up Anti-spamming
2. Setting up Search Engine Optimization
3. Setting up Mobile Functionality

Powerpoint accompanying this article

Get a .doc copy of this post

Copy of WordPress with all my favorite plugins already included

This is my little list of things I think you should download and how I think you should configure them. To understand my thinking watch the video at http://jeffmcleod.ca showing you how and why I choose all of this. Also you can download all of these plug-ins in one file from the website.

1. Set-up Anti-spamming
   1. Go to settings->general->membership: uncheck “anyone can register”
   2. Go to settings->discussions->other comment settings: uncheck “Users must be logged in and registered to comment”
   3. Go to settings->discussions->before a comment appears: uncheck “Admin must always approve comment” and uncheck “Comment author must have a previously approved comment”
      1. i.     Save changes
2. Go to Plug-ins and activate Akismet (if the plug-in isn’t installed search for it under Plug-ins->add new).
   1. i.     Once installed, activate the plug-in. It will tell you that a key needed.  Follow the link to get a Key.
   2. ii.     Choose personal use if you want to use it for free.  Otherwise pay for it.  Retrieve the key from your email and input it into wordpress.
   3. Set-up SEO
      1. Go to Settings->permalinks and select custom.  Set it to “/%postname%

We all know that Google rocks. Not just for finding things like; what to cook for dinner or movie listings. Google is arguably the most powerful and useful tool for your internet marketing needs. Its so powerful in fact that you are definitely going to want some help to get the most out of it and of course pull top rankings on Google searches. Here are 10 Google applications that you have probably never even heard about. You thought Google was great before?… wait until you get your hands on some of these apps!

See all 10 Google applications here: http://tinyurl.com/p74bsj

You can definitely make use of these apps to grow your business and online presence. But hey its very time consuming and it can get pretty complicated. Don’t forget, we’re always happy to Do It For You!

————————————–

Corey Robert
Production Director
Black Card Marketing Group

Technorati Tags: alerts, applications, base, book search, code search, flight simulator, google, google earth, internet marketing, keyboard shortcuts, marketing, online, page creator, SEO, sketch up, tracking, trends

Have a Linked-In account but don’t know how to use it as a marketing tool? Well then read on as having an idle account will do no good and you will miss out on the opportunity. As we all know Linked-In is a professional networking site that brings together entrepreneurs and professionals from various fields. With most people logging for job related information and updates, this sites works as a good platform to advertise and market your business.

Creating an impressive profile counts on Linked In. Profile gives an identity to you on the site. This identity makes a difference as people choose to link with you only depending on what they get to know about you from the information uploaded.

Networking is the key for success on Linked In. Add people to your network to build a list of potential clients. For better business prospects, you can always find people or companies working in the same lines. Keep updating your connections frequently.

Join and be a part of group discussions. You can choose to join groups that are relevant to your business. Being a part of groups helps you connect well with other members. You can contribute and share your ideas initiated by the group. There are good numbers of topics for discussions everyday. You should also choose to answer questions put up by other users as it will not only help to connect but also get visibility.

What is advertising? Wikipedia states it as follows – Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade its viewers, readers or listeners to take some action; it usually includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume that particular brand. Hence, the purpose of advertising is to persuade customers to buy the product or service advertised, right?

Now, what do you mean by “being a creative director”? First of all let us understand the meaning of creativity – Creativity is a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Thus, being a creative director in advertising means trying to come up with new ideas for advertising, correct?

Think of it – can you have new ideas but still not be able to persuade customers? Of course yes! If we take the analogy of films you would understand better. Almost all critically acclaimed films are creative, but many of them just bomb at the box office without even a trace. Why? It is because just as films and advertising is more than being a creative director – you need to connect to the audience in the first place.

Think of it, you have a well set business that can offer best of merchandise to large number of masses but no one is informed about it, will your business work? Obviously not, thus steps in marketing strategies that help you let masses become aware about your enterprise. Marketing is a technique that lets you reach out to the potential buyers. With right allocation of available resources and time you can grab potential buyers and that is a skill to develop.

There are thousands of people running business out there but not all of them are successful. Not that they do not market their services or products but despite the technique they fail to make an impact in the market. Most of them fail because they do not make correct use of available tools. With many networking and bookmarking site come up, one can benefit the most from these free sites if they know the right way to use it.

Despite the fact that there are numerous sites to market your business, it fails as there are incomplete profiles, partial information and once in a while log in. One also has to build the list of potential readers and one who fails to do this is certainly going to fail in his online marketing strategies.

Remember people don’t simply buy the product; they buy it because they know how it will benefit them. If your marketing tool fails to speak about the benefits your organization or products can bring to them, they would hardly be anyone wanting to be your customer.

Technorati Tags: article marketing, delicious, digg, facebook, internet marketing, leads, potential customers, SEO, stumble upon, twitter

YouTube, as their slogan goes “broadcast yourself”, is a unique and popular website to share photos and videos. Registered users can post the videos and everyone can watch those on the net. It is a fast and easy way to share what you like and care about and to put out your message to the world. Since this website is fast growing in terms of daily clicks, it throws open a large network of Internet users (read consumers). YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, although they did not originally develop it. They claim to be the world’s largest online video community, rightly so, and that in itself is a huge take to refine your current marketing message with YouTube. So how can we refine your current marketing message with YouTube? Here are a few pointers you can use to your marketing and advertising advantage.

Register with YouTube: In order to be able to make full use of the services and tools offered by YouTube, you will need to register on the site first. Registration is quick and easy and besides you can log in with your Google ID, if you already have one. After filling in the primary details, you will be able to post your content for others to view.

Marketing is one of most important elements when it comes to promoting your business. A business is no good if it does not have a strong marketing plan and fails to build a list of potential clients. With the onset of Internet, networking and marketing to the target audience has become smoother and better. However with most people failing to use the available marketing tools, they find it hard to build a list of genuine customers.

With availability of networking sites, marketing and targeting right audience should not be much difficult. Creating an effective profile on all the sites makes a great impact for your business. A good profile is one of key things to get people follow you. Make sure you come up with simple yet interesting profile. Upload good picture so people find it easier to recognize you.

Bookmark your networking sites like Stumble Upon, Delicious, Digg It to attract genuine and target audience. Review your own site and encourage others to do so. To begin with you need to take initiative to rate and review others work in order to pull them to do the same for you. When it comes to LinkedIn, Facebook, Orkut send out friend request to people you thing can turn into potential customers or readers. When it comes to twitter, try and follow numerous people especially with large number of fan following to grab attention towards your site.