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6 Ways Voice Analytics Maximizes Your Marketing and Advertising ROI

Are you taking complete advantage of your marketing and advertising budgets? You spend a lot of money on print and online methods to attract new customers. Leads and sales that come through your website’s contact forms can easily be tracked with web analytics.

But what if your customer picks up the phone and calls you instead? How can you tell what prompted them to call? Voice analytics removes the guesswork and allows you to maximize your ROI with individual phone numbers for each campaign. Here’s how.

Track the success of both your offline and online campaigns

Do you have a way to accurately measure the success of your traditional advertising (postcards, direct mailings, T.V. and radio ads, etc.)? Without the ability to track where leads are coming from, you could just be taking a stab in the dark. Voice analytics work equally well on both online and offline materials, which allow you to better track your marketing and advertising success.

We recommend our clients use voice analytics on any promotional material that includes a phone number on it. Such as,

• Pay per click (PPC)
• Email marketing
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Social media communities (info and profile sections)
• Direct mail and other print materials
• Print advertising (magazine, newspaper, etc.)
• Radio and television ads
• Website and mobile website

Accurately measure your return on investment (ROI)

With voice analytics, you can actually see (and hear) which of your advertising and marketing efforts are yielding the best ROI. Your online portal will show you how many leads each campaign has returned. You can also listen to the calls and record exactly how much income or sales each call produced. The ROCKET Analytics – Voice system can then put all of that data into presentation ready reports and stats.

Even if your customer service staff is currently asking each caller how they heard about your company, the answers may be flawed because the average consumer doesn’t know what a PPC or SEO campaign is. Voice analytics gives you specific, accurate information on the source of your leads.

Get the whole picture

Do you already have web analytics? Good, you should. But if you are relying on web statistics alone to make your marketing decisions, your results could be skewed. On average, only 40% of your leads will fill out your contact form while the rest choose to call instead.

This means your campaign numbers may be missing as much as 60% of your leads if you aren’t tracking your incoming calls. That’s a large chunk of your business to leave out of marketing and advertising budget decisions. Voice analytics, paired with web analytics, gives you the complete picture.

Stop spending money on marketing that doesn’t work

If you’re not tracking the success of your advertising and marketing, you aren’t optimizing your spending. Web and voice analytics help you measure, track and analyze the results of your campaigns so you can decide which ones are performing well and which ones are not. Without these tools, you may be making uninformed and costly decisions about which campaigns to fund.

Fine-tune your marketing and advertising

Voice analytics tracks the geographic areas of your callers as well as the most popular call times, days, and a multitude of other data. This information can then be used to shape future advertising and marketing campaigns.

For example, if your direct mailings are getting the most calls in a specific town or area, you know to target that area again with other future advertising. Likewise, the most popular times of day can also help you determine the days and times that work best for television and radio ads. There’s no end to the improvements you can make using voice analytics data.

Monitor your customer service representatives

As a feature of voice analytics, all calls are recorded. Using the online portal, you can then listen to each call to make sure your staff is following your customer service standards.

ROCKET MEDIA’s voice analytics system can be used to grade the performance of your customer service representatives. After logging in, you can listen to the call, give it a rating, assign it to an individual and record the amount of the sale along with any additional comments.

Summary

Many of your leads, or potential customers, are calling your company rather than filling out a contact form. How are you tracking what prompted their call? ROCKET Analytics - Voice tells you where your incoming calls are coming from and which of your marketing and advertising efforts are providing the best ROI.

For more information on ROCKET MEDIA’s web or voice analytics tools, contact us online today or call (800) 339.7305.

The Importance of A/B Split Testing For Your Email Marketing Efforts

The life of an email marketer is a little like that of a research scientist (but with fewer test tubes and white lab coats): constant tweaking, testing and experimenting.

Improvement is an important aspect of successful email marketing. There are an infinite number of details in an email campaign that can affect its overall success. Since no two email lists are the same, it is extremely important to test these details in order to maximize your email marketing efforts. One of the best ways to do this is through A/B split testing.

How Do You Get Started?
Email A/B split testing is the process of sending two different emails to analyze the better performer. When creating a split test, remember to:

1. Determine what metric will decide success – Before you begin your test, you need a way to determine which version will be the winner. You want your recipients to do more than open your email. Click through rates and conversions usually give the most accurate view of your email’s success.
2. Test one thing at a time – If there are numerous differences between the two versions of your email, it will be difficult to determine the aspect that had the positive impact. For example, what if you tweaked the time of send and the subject line? Perhaps the time of send increased the click rate by 14% but the subject line decreased it by 13%. You would only see a difference of 1% between the two emails and be unable to attribute the difference to one specific change.
3. Test, measure, improve, repeat – There is no end to A/B testing for email marketers. You will eventually gain a better understanding of what gives the best results, but you should never assume you’re done. There is always room for improvement and the only way to do so is through constant testing and measuring.

What Should You Test?
Now that you better understand what to consider when creating an A/B split test, here is a list of a few of the most important things you should be regularly analyzing in your email campaigns.

Time of Send
For most businesses, it is ideal to send your emails first thing in the morning. However, this depends on the location of your recipients, among other things. Also, “morning” is a loose term. Does sending your email campaign at 5:00 a.m. give you better results than sending at 8:00 a.m.? How will you know unless you test?

In our testing of send times, we have found 8:00 a.m. to be the best time for many of our service-oriented businesses. However, some of the lists we manage receive better response times at 7:00 a.m. and earlier. The only way to know for sure is to continually A/B test.

Day of Send
Does your list respond more to middle of the week emails or weekend emails? Most people read their email at different times depending on the day of the week. Coordinate this test with your time of send tests, as well. 8:00 a.m. Wednesday might perform better than 10:00 a.m. Thursday but not as well as 7:00 a.m. Tuesday. Remember to also consider holidays, as they also affect people’s email reading habits.

Subject Line
The subject line is a preview of what your recipients can expect in the email. It is often what people use to decide whether or not to open your email. For this reason, you want to make sure your subject line is optimized to maximize your clicks. Your subject line should be concise and informative while enticing your recipients to open and click your email. See our tips for creating better email subject lines.

From Line
When someone receives your email, who will appear in the “from” line? People tend to first look at the sender then the subject line to see if they believe the email is worth opening. To avoid deletion or being reported as spam, make sure your from line is easily identifiable by your recipients. You can test using an email address (i.e. info@yourcompany.com), your company name or a person in your company.

Layout
A well-organized layout increases conversions and leads while a poorly constructed layout has the opposite effect. It doesn’t matter how pretty your email looks if it doesn’t perform. Create multiple layouts and test them to see how they compare. Do bigger pictures or buttons make a difference? Should you have more text or less? Find out what elements make for an effective email newsletter.

Content
Good content is essential to successful email marketing. You can do everything else perfectly, but if you don’t have compelling, first-rate content, your email marketing efforts will be a disaster. Find out what types of content works best for your target audience by creating different articles and offers and A/B split testing them. Don’t forget to test and analyze the wording of titles, as well.

Let's Recap
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to keep your brand in front of your customers. It also serves as an instrumental tool for lead nurturing. But in order to get the most out of your email efforts, you must perform regular A/B split tests on your campaigns and eBlasts. Like an experimental scientist, sometimes your formula will work and sometimes it won’t. But you will always learn something in the process.

Have a question for our email marketing experts? Contact ROCKET MEDIA online today. Or, if your business is looking for help getting started with your own email marketing efforts, request a quote.

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• Who are my primary purchasers?
• What motivates my audience?
• What kind of needs can I meet?

How to Use Website Analytics to Increase Your Sales and Leads

Tracking your website’s metrics through analytic tools for your business can be overwhelming. (You are using analytic tools, right?) There are so many statistics and numbers available that it can often be difficult to determine which ones are the most important. To help, we’ve devised a four-step method to improving your site through the use of website analytics.

Step 1. Understand Analytic Terms
In order to improve your website and its function within your business, you must track, record and analyze the metrics that are most important to your company through the use of web analytics. Before we dive in, let’s take a look at some of the statistics and what they mean.

• Page Views – This number tells you how many pages were viewed on your site. It is usually given as a total as well as broken down per visitor.
• Unique Visitors – The unique visitor total tells you how many different people have accessed your site in the specified timeframe. If someone visits more than once within the period you’ve specified, they will only be counted as one unique visitor.
• Return Visitors – Analytic tools use I.P. addresses to track visitors to your site. This metric allows you to find out who has been to your site and who is a new visitor. Return visitors are usually loyal customers or higher-quality leads still trying to make their decision. Review their click path on your site to see where they might be getting hung up. If you see the same click path and no purchase on return visitors, this may signal that you may need to make some updates to your site to convert those visitors.  
• Bounces/Bounce Rate – A visitor is considered a bounce if they do not view more than one page before leaving your website. Search engines like Google, may penalize websites with high bounce rates because they see the site as not having provided relevant information.
• Conversions – If you are not tracking your conversions through your website analytics, you are flying blind. You may have a lot of page views with a high number of unique visitors but that doesn’t mean your site is successful. To be effective, your site must convert these visitors into leads and customers. At ROCKET MEDIA, we consider a web conversion to be the amount of times the “Thank You” page is seen. This would indicate that someone has filled out a form and provided his or her information to be contacted. We also track calls from websites and campaigns to see the other side of conversions, but that’s a different blog and another time!

Step 2. Track The Important Metrics
Now that you better understand the metrics your analytics software has been tracking, which ones do you pay the most attention to? No matter your industry, the most important statistic is conversions. This statistic tells you exactly how many of your visitors have accomplished the goal of your website (bought a product, filled out a form, joined a list, etc.). You cannot, however, ignore the other metrics listed in the explanation above, either. Each one plays a part in helping you increase your conversions.

• A high number of page views show that your visitors are engaged and your site is providing relevant content. 
• A low bounce rate means people are finding what they are looking for on your site (which will ultimately translate to more conversions.) 
• Return visitors show loyalty to your company or an opportunity to recapture visitors that didn’t convert the first time. 
• And unique visitors are important because if no one is viewing your site, then no one is submitting forms or buying your products.

Step 3. Analyze the Data
Now that you understand the terms and are tracking the right metrics, the next step is to look at the data your site has accumulated and find out how to improve. Do visitors click on your contact form page but fail to fill it out? Perhaps your form is too long or not displaying properly. Do visitors always exit on the same page? The content of that page may need to be tweaked or reworked.

Additionally, you may need to review your site to make sure the call-to-action buttons and instructions are clear and make sense to everyone. Watch how visitors get to each page and see if you can make it a shorter click path and relevant to what they are ultimately searching for and needing.

A page or website experiencing high page views and unique visitors but low conversion rates may be suffering from a lack of proper calls to action.

Step 4. Make Changes to Your Website
Once you identify a problem area, make the appropriate corrections to your website. If you see improvement in your important analytic metrics, you are on the right track. If your numbers decline, try to figure out why and how you can change it. Either way, at this point you return to step 2 and repeat.

Bottom Line
Websites are not “build it and forget it” marketing pieces. In order to maintain growth, you must continually monitor and measure your website metrics using analytics.

ROCKET MEDIA is an Internet marketing and web development firm that can help you track and understand your website’s analytics. Contact us today to learn more.

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What YouTube’s Re-Design Means For Your Business

YouTube has changed! Is your business ready? A quick visit to youtube.com will show you just how drastically the site has altered its design. The new layout places an increased importance on social interaction and channels. Here’s a quick walkthrough with 3 marketing takeaways.

The New Homepage
YouTube has ditched a homepage full of the recent, trending and popular videos in favor of one that looks, feels and acts more like other social networks. Your home page is now divided into three distinct columns.

The Left-Hand Column
One of the most obvious additions to YouTube’s new homepage is the ability to connect your Facebook and Google Plus profiles. By connecting these sites, you can now easily view videos shared by your friends on those networks from YouTube’s homepage.

The new left-hand column now also prominently displays your subscriptions and a button to add more channels. This highlights YouTube’s new focus on channels. You can now easily view the most recent activity of each of your favorite channels by clicking on them in this column.

The Center Column
The center column acts much like similar news feeds found on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus. The most recent activity of channels you are subscribed to displays here. By default, this includes comments, subscribes, bulletins and video uploads. You can change this to only display uploads at the top by clicking in the check box.

The Right-Hand Column
The column on the right of YouTube’s new homepage displays recommended videos. These recommendations are based on your viewing habits and your subscription preferences. 

The New Channel Pages
The new channel pages have come under a lot of fire for being less customizable in terms of fonts and colors. However, the four new layouts introduced give you more control on how your videos are displayed to your visitors. There are four new layouts available for your channel as shown on YouTube’s introduction page.

Creator
The creator layout allows you to display one main featured video at the top with featured playlists below. This is an ideal layout for companies that produce more topical content that is less time-sensitive because it allows your viewers to easily browse your content based on their preferred subjects.

Blogger
This layout shows your videos in reverse chronological order. You can set it to show your most recent activity or select a specific playlist. Video bloggers (vloggers) or companies that regularly upload new videos will find this layout to be useful.

Network
A network layout allows you to show a featured video at the top of your channel and a list of featured channels underneath. This could be a good layout for a parent company that wants to link to its other companies in the featured channels space.

Everything
The last layout does exactly what its name implies; it combines elements of the other three layouts. In the everything layout, you can display a featured video at the top with featured playlists and channels underneath. If the other channels seem too restrictive, this may be the one for you.

Marketing Takeaways
1. Increased Social - The ability to add Facebook and Google Plus profiles to their YouTube accounts means visitors are more likely to be exposed to videos shared by friends in multiple places. YouTube has solidified its place as a video-sharing hub.

2. Focus on Channels – YouTube’s increased focus on channels means it is important your YouTube channel is optimized with appropriate keywords to make it easy for people to find you and subscribe.

3. Increased Layout Customization – You may have less control over text fonts and colors, but you now can display your featured videos based on how your business utilizes YouTube.

YouTube is the second most popular search engine and the most popular video site on the web with over 800 million unique visitors each month. Make sure your business can be found there.

Contact us today for more information on how your business can better utilize YouTube’s new design.

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Turkey Day 2011 Fun

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Rocket Media!
Enjoy this little number featuring four new Rocketeers for 2011, along with the skipper, too!

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Is Your Business Listed on the Second Most Popular Search Engine?

• Increase purchase amounts – Online video viewers purchase 13% more than the average online consumer. Those viewing videos have been proven to purchase more products and services.
• Increase conversion – Websites with video convert 30% more visitors than sites without video. The visual aspect of video allows visitors to get a better idea of a product or service and make more informed decisions.
• Increase reach – By creating and submitting video to Youtube, you are populating another powerful search engine with your brand. Websites with video are now more likely to land on the front page of Google as well.
• Reduce bounce rate – Videos engage visitors while showing them the visual and audio information they are looking for. Instead of scanning a page and leaving, your viewers are interacting with your online video content.
• Less competition – A Google search of “furnace filter” returns 2.8 million results compared to Youtube’s 1,140. And Youtube’s search bar is the second most popular search engine! Certainly being on the first page of 1,140 is easier than being on the first page of 2.8 million.
• Integrates with other platforms – Videos and photos are the most interacted with on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. By using videos in these platforms you can increase engagement with your customers.
• Cross-platform compatible – A recent study by Google shows almost half of smartphone users watch videos on their phone. By simply having a video channel on Youtube or other video sites, you can engage mobile and desktop visitors alike.

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Fans and Followers: Quality vs. Quantity

As the popularity of social media continues to grow, it has become a powerful advertising tool for your company. But it seems some have a misconception of its primary purpose.

At their core, your social media arms are part of your marketing efforts. A thousand uninterested fans don't help your company grow and reach sales goals like a hundred engaged fans can. A smaller, targeted audience is much more beneficial to the well-being of your company. Interested fans will share, like, comment on and repost your material, which increases your exposure with your fans' friends.

That's not to say you shouldn't be concerned with the numbers. There is a real benefit to growing your fan and follower base with engaged individuals. 

For more information on how ROCKET MEDIA can help grow your fanbase with quality followers, visit our Social Media Marketing page or contact us today.

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Research Shows Smartphones Help Us Purchase

Google recently released a study that exhibits our addiction to smartphones and reveals just how powerful they have become as a purchasing tool. The revelations in the study have huge consequences for businesses from every industry of all shapes and sizes.

We’re Addicted
You didn’t need a study to tell you, but we use our smartphones everywhere: in the bathroom, at the store and while watching TV. We are so addicted to our smartphones that many say they would rather give up shopping, beer or cable TV than go without their phone. In fact, one out of three people surveyed would rather give up chocolate than go without their cherished handheld!

What Does This Mean For Your Business?
The mobile platform is a powerful method for your business to reach more customers. After all, the number one use of smartphones is to surf and search the web and your business should be taking advantage. You need a business plan that includes mobile.

• 74% of people have made a purchase based on a smartphone search
• 95% use their smartphone to find local businesses, deals and information
• 71% search on their phones because of an advertisement that was seen online, on T.V. or elsewhere
• 82% of smartphone users notice mobile ads
• 49% make a purchase based on a mobile ad
• 90% of mobile searches result in an action (see chart below)

These statistics point to highly motivated consumers. Eight out of ten use smartphones for shopping. Most people (67%) use their phones to do research before ultimately purchasing in a store while others (23%) research and purchase online. 

How Can You Capitalize?
Looking for a way your business can get a piece of the always-growing mobile pie? Google says 79% of mobile advertisers do not have a mobile-optimized site. To help you get your business ahead of the rest, we have outlined four things your business should do to encourage mobile purchases and visitors.

• Make sure your business can be found in mobile searches – The number one thing people use their smartphones for is to search the web. The number one place they visit on the web are, you guessed it, search sites. And half of those searches lead to a purchase. This makes it vitally important that your website and mobile site are optimized for search engines.
• Create a mobile website – Good mobile sites allow for simple, easy navigation of your business. In a separate study, Google estimates that 62% of users will not return to your website if it has poor mobile accessibility. Your ad may get them to your site, but they will leave quickly and are unlikely to come back.
• Take advantage of mobile advertising – 82% of people notice mobile advertising, 42% click on them and 49% make a purchase as a result of a mobile ad. Mobile advertising works because smartphone users are always on their phone, even while consuming other media.
• Incorporate location-based services – 95% use their smartphone to search for local businesses and deals – and 88% act on that information the same day. Yes, we wrote that correctly – the same day!

This study confirms what many already knew – those using iPhones, Blackeberrys and Android devices are an always-growing, motivated audience with a proven track record of purchasing. 

Don’t get left behind, request a quote today for your new mobile website or contact us to find out how ROCKET MEDIA can help your business establish a mobile presence. 

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The Life Of A ROCKET MEDIA Intern - Final Review

“Nate the Intern” here presenting the last inside scoop of the life of as a ROCKET MEDIA intern.  As sad as it is, this was my last week of my summer internship. I have packed up and am ready to hit the road back to Minnesota.  Don’t you worry, I wouldn’t dare leave without letting you all know how the last week went.
 
My final week couldn’t have been better, the ROCKET MEDIA team made sure I would leave with a BIG BANG!  It just so happened that they had already planned a surprise team outing to the Diamondbacks game Friday evening. The out of state employees all flew into Phoenix for this event and I was excited to meet everyone upon arrival.
 
The game was a blast.  I enjoyed getting to know the team members better and finally meeting some of the people from out of town who I had only spoken to on the phone up to this point. We had a club level suite, just left of home plate.  This was my first time having club level seats and I have to tell you, they were great!  It’s going to be hard to go back to my usual seats in the nosebleed section.  Not only were the seats great, ROCKET MEDIA provided a ton of food that filled everyone up.  There were subs, hot dogs, hot wings, veggie trays and much more!  Everything was delicious.  The D-Backs put up a good fight but in the end they lost to the LA Dodgers.  Despite the loss, Chase Field still opened up its retractable roof and put on a firework show.  What a memorable night!
 
The team fun wasn’t over Friday.  On Saturday, Ben and Lindsay, owners of ROCKET MEDIA, invited everyone over for a barbeque.  It is hard to believe but I think the food there was even better than at the game!  We all ate well and enjoyed each other’s company.  After dinner the team members, who were up for it, went out for a relaxing evening on the town. We spent the whole night talking about technology and our fun toys!  The weekend ended with everyone heading back home to get ready for another week of work.  Again, I have to say, it was a nice treat to see everyone and getting a chance to spend time with my coworkers I don’t get to see.
 
This week, I wrapped up my projects, completing ROCKET MEDIA's new phone system recordings (call us to hear my phone recording masterpiece), asset managment system and here and there tasks assigned by my project managers. It is sad to see the week, along with my internship, come to an end.  I have to start saying my goodbyes to everyone I’ve been working with these past couple of months.  I especially have had a great time getting to know all my coworkers here at ROCKET MEDIA, and they have made it easy for me to fit in.  Despite me being here in the dreaded Arizona summer heat, I know I will miss my time here with ROCKET MEDIA and their team of superheroes.  I have learned a lot from the company and hope to use the knowledge I gained and growth from this experience in my post graduation ventures this winter. Because of what I have learned in this short period of time, I now feel like I have the tech smarts and business knowledge, to take on the job market with confidence.

Thanks again to the ROCKET team, their clients, and their vendors - all who have helped me grow. I have had an amazing experience and am very thankful for it. My advice to future interns... buy a nerf gun and practice your pop-shot basketball skills!

"Nate the Intern" -- OUT!

The Life Of A ROCKET MEDIA Intern - Week 8 Review

"Nate the Intern" here again! Back to discuss some more of my experiences with ROCKET MEDIA!  Well, this past week was a pretty exciting and unique one. For the first time ever, we did a promotion called “Where is ROCKET MEDIA Day” with the intent to strengthen our social media networks, involve the Gilbert, AZ community and well lets just face it, HAVE A LITTLE FUN!
 
The event was great, and I was able to do a lot of the planning for it.  We met with Gayle, the Buffalo Wild Wings® owner in Gilbert, and she loved our idea to have our event at her location.  She donated a gift basket filled with lots of coupons, shirts, sauces and other goodies. ROCKET MEDIA also planned to give away prizes during our event such as an MP3 player and a free business mobile website.  To win the prizes contestants had to visit us at Buffalo Wild Wings® and do one of our challenges, each prize had it's own pre-determined challenge.
 
The event took place on Wednesday Aug. 3, from 12pm-4pm, so we worked a half-day from our office and then packed up our MacBook’s and took off for Buffalo Wild Wings®. The staff there had a section blocked off and ready just for the ROCKET MEDIA team and we all ate lunch together.  After lunch we got to work!  Man was it fun, being able to work remotely off of Buffalo Wild Wings® Wi-Fi during the work day!
 
Laura, our Marketing Director, and I were ready for anyone who wanted to try one of our challenges for one of our sweet giveaways.  Our first contestant, Sabrina, tried to complete the Blaz’n Hot Wings challenge to win our MP3 player.  Four wings and six minutes in, she couldn’t take the heat and surrendered.  However, Mike, our next Blaz'n Hot Wings contestant was waiting patiently to step up to the plate.  Two minutes later he had downed all 8 Blaz’n Hot Wings and was the winner of the MP3 player.  Next, Moni, was up to win the Buffalo Wild Wings® gift basket.  Her challenge was to do the chicken dance by herself in front of everyone in the restaurant.  She did a great job and walked away with the prize.
 
All and all everyone had an awesome time.  Check out ROCKET MEDIA's Facebook page for videos, pictures, and other recaps of the event.  I suggest that everyone keeps a lookout for any updates on when the next ROCKET MEDIA day is so you have a chance to win some prizes. 
 
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me as my time here is running to an end.  As much as I want them to, I don’t think my future employers will present this opportunity to me again.  One week left and one more team event at the Arizona Diamondback's game this weekend.  Stay tuned next Friday for my final recap of my internship and the awesomely wild shenanigans here at ROCKET MEDIA!

Where Is ROCKET MEDIA Day

Get ready to wear your investigative trench coat - ROCKET MEDIA has an announcement for you. We are having our first ever "Where Is ROCKET MEDIA Day!"

“So what is all of this about,” you wonder? “Where Is ROCKET MEDIA Day” is a special day where the ROCKET team works remotely from a different location other than the office. The location will, in most cases, be at local Arizona business, but you never know - someday we may work from the moon! Because we only need an Internet connection in order to get our job done, we can visit almost any location in the valley, and still please our clients with professionally designed website creations.

People who visit us on location will have many opportunities to to win some great prizes. All of our winners will not only earn a real prize, but they will also have the opportunity to get autographs and take pictures with the ROCKET team! Pretty special, right?

When Is it?
DATE/TIME: Wednesday, August 3rd 2011 -- 12pm-4pm
LOCATION: Buffalo Wild Wings® in Gilbert
                    970 South Gilbert Rd.
                    Gilbert, AZ 85296-3434

We have a great networking relationship with Gilbert Buffalo Wild Wings® owner, Gayle, and since our businesses have teamed up on committees at the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce a few times, we thought Buffalo Wild Wings® would be a perfect location to kick start our "Where Is ROCKET MEDIA DAY." We both plan to give away prizes from 12-4pm to both community members, and local business members of the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce. We hope this event will bring excitement to all participants and will mix community, business, technology and social networking in one big bowl of hot wing fun.

What Can I Win?
There are three chances to win some really great prizes. You’ll have a chance at some yummy free food, the opportunity to win a new mobile website design for your business and even a new mp3 player! We’ll be posting pictures and/or videos of our winners throughout the day, so be sure to check our Facebook page for updates. We hope you come by and visit us!

Promo #1 : Buffalo Wild Wings® Gift Basket
Time offered?   1:30pm-4pm
Who can win?   Anyone in the community
How to win? The first person who visits us at Buffalo Wild Wings® in Gilbert and does the following:
  1. Likes ROCKET MEDIA on Facebook
  2. Checks in at Buffalo Wild Wings on Facebook
  3. Lets us record and post a video of them doing the chicken dance (we'll provide the music)

Promo #2 : FREE 1 Page Mobile Website Design and Development (hosting and domain fees not included)
Time offered?   2pm-4pm
Who can win?   Any business representative from one of the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce businesses with membership
How to win? The first person who visits us at Buffalo Wild Wings® in Gilbert and does the following:
  1. Likes ROCKET MEDIA on Facebook
  2. Checks in at Buffalo Wild Wings on Facebook
  3. Proves to us with the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce website directory that their business is in fact a Chamber member
  4. Collects catering information from the manager at Buffalo Wild Wings®

Promo #3 : An Ambiguous SHUFFLING Mini Music Player Made By A Popular Fruit Company
Time offered?   2pm-4pm
Who can win?   Anyone in the community
How to win?   The first person who visits us at Buffalo Wild Wings® in Gilbert and does the following:
  1. Likes ROCKET MEDIA on Facebook
  2. Checks in at Buffalo Wild Wings on Facebook
  3. Eats an order of 6 Hand-Spun Wings™ with "Blazin"® sauce

For a recap of pictures, videos and comments check out our Facebook page to see who won what!  Thank you to all of our participants and to Buffalo Wild Wings® in Gilbert, AZ for putting up with us all day!

With all of three of these promotions and prizes, you may only win once. Must be 18 years of age or older.

The Life Of A ROCKET MEDIA Intern - Week 7 Review

Hello, my name is Nathan Kalkman, but people around the office like to call me "Intern Nate".  I am from Minnesota and attend St. John’s University in the small town of Collegeville, MN.  Some people might wonder why a guy like me would come down to Arizona for an internship in the widely known and dreaded hot summers here in the valley of Arizona.  Well, the opportunity came about through my cousin Ben Kalkman, CEO and founder of ROCKET MEDIA.  He offered to take me under his wing.  Not only did I see a great opportunity for an internship but a great way to see extended family time outside the office.
 
Well I have been working for seven weeks now and have about two left so I wanted to take a moment and describe my time here.  It didn’t take long for the company to fully submerge me with responsibility.  Two days in, I was assigned a task to research, find, and implement a digital asset management system with the hope of improving the workflow within the office.  Spending a lot of time on the phone, emailing, and setting up demos, I quickly learned the constant pace of the “real world” work environment.
 
After tackling the asset management task, I was given a chance to work through the backend of the sites.  Publishing blogs to our clients’ websites, integrating content, pictures, and navigation.  Learning about ROCKET MEDIA's content management systems and form systems that they integrate into their websites was very interesting and easy to pick up on after a little practice.   From there on out I have been able to help assist others in the office and bring the everyday task load weight off their shoulders a little bit.
 
What would an intern be if the intern didn’t get to play around with more aspects of the business, right?  Well in fact there wasn’t any Internet marketing services that I didn't get a hand in on.  I was given online reputation management and social media client accounts to maintain after extensive training.  I found it very interesting, the importance of these secondary marketing services ROCKET MEDIA offers.  These services might not be the #1 lead source for a company, but they are definitely a way to better extend their overall reach online to their customers and potential customers.  I believe I will benefit from these tasks because now I know how to effectively run these networks and use them in the right way for a business...not just for my own personal Facebook use anymore!
 
Being part of the social media team, I was able to attend a social media event outside the office where I got to listen to a panel or popular restaurant owners and social media managers who described their first hand experiences, the do’s and don’ts in the social media channels and how each of their businesses approach social media in response to their customers online.  This gave me great insight on different tactics and even led me to a chance to be a Student Brand Manager for Chipotle Mexican Grill once I return to college at St. John's in Minnesota this fall.
 
 Well this has been just a brief overview of my time here with ROCKET MEDIA but it isn’t over.  We have fun events planned for the rest of my internship here. I plan to write two more re-cap blogs to let you know how it is going and what I am learning, so stay tuned to read more from the "Intern's Perspective" in the coming weeks!

Google Launches New Social Networking Project, Google

On the coattails of the recent introduction of the Google +1 button, Google unveiled their new attempt at turning the search engine into a social networking powerhouse: Google+. The new social project is Google’s latest try at competing with social networking giants Facebook and Twitter – but with some twists.

With several new social features that will certainly rival other social networks, Google+ offers a unique flexibility coupled with a thorough approach to privacy, which sets them apart. Google+ is intentionally created to allow users more control over the degree to which they interact, find and share information.

So what’s Google’s overall goal? “To make sharing more like sharing in real life.”


Meet Google+

	Navigation Bar The Google home page now features a new navigation bar. This tool allows participating users to receive notifications, updates, profile information and content sharing options. You can also use the toolbar to see when you’re logged into the network and manage your online status.
	Circles Circles is Google’s way of letting you share information, with who you want, how you want. Users can create groups, or “circles,” of friends for family, co-workers, golfing buddies, and more and then drag and drop friends into and out of these different social circles. When you have something to share, you can simply select the circles of friends you want to be in the know – “just like in real life,” claims Google.
	Hangouts Like hanging out at your favorite coffee shop, Hangouts let you make yourself available to friends who want to connect. Instead of directly requesting someone join a group chat, users can “start a hangout,” or video chat room.  A notification will be sent to their friends in circles, letting them know the user is available to chat. Friends can then join in on the chat to video conference, connect and share.
	Sparks Sparks is simply a collection of content including videos, photos, articles and more, all grouped by interest. A user can tell Sparks what interests them and using what’s being shared by their Circles and Google +1 buttons, it’s easier for users to learn, discuss and share what they think matters. The goal is to help people with common interests connect and learn more about what’s important to them.
	Mobile Google is releasing mobile apps for Google+ to allow for group messaging and cloud photo storage. Google’s goal here is to make connecting on the go easier to do with features like location tagging and instant photo uploads. When using Google+ on your mobile phone, you can easily notify friends of where you are and what you’re up to with every post. Instant photo uploads offer an auto-upload feature, so anytime you’re using Google+ on the go, photos can be automatically posted to your computer and ready to share the next time you log onto your desktop.

As the Google+ project rolls out in stages the advantage they will likely tote is the flexibility in user control.  To use Google+, users will need to create a Google profile with basic information the user can ultimately decide to share or not. Google+ has been compared to Facebook and Twitter’s models of social networking, but with more control in what and how information is being shared. And if a user decides to leave Google+ they can take their user data with them.

Right now, Google+ is only available to select numbers of people. As the new social network unfolds, the test of time will be the greatest indicator of its success.

Learn more about Google+ by taking an interactive tour.

Top 3 QR Code Usage Tips and USPS Discount Offer

The United States Postal Service(USPS) is offering a special promotional discount for First-Class Mail and Standard Mail letters and flats that include QR codes (mobile barcodes). QR codes are the square, pixilated images that have started popping up everywhere lately - mail, products, websites, fliers, events, etc. These 2-D barcodes allow smartphone users to pull up their QR code application/reader on their phones, scan the code and automatically be taken to a web browser displaying a link the advertiser intentionally assigned to that QR code.

The USPS promotional discount is for advertisers sending mailpieces from July 1, 2011 - August 31, 2011. USPS states the following for this promotion:

For a limited time, the Postal Service™ is offering business mailers an upfront 3% discount on First-Class™ and Standard Mail letters and flats that include a mobile barcode. Read more about this offer and the rules that apply by downloading the USPS Mobile Barcode Promotion Fact Sheet.

The USPS is offering this promotion to show the advantages of commercial direct mail, and to demonstrate how adding mobile barcodes to your mailings can increase lead generation, if done correctly. ROCKET MEDIA offers QR Code services and we have a few tips for you to follow when creating mailpieces, or any marketing material for that matter, and including QR codes as your call-to-action.

Tip #1: Always make the url your QR code is pointing to as specific to the campaign as possible.
If you can, create a landing page just for that campaign with its details, promotions, rules, offers, etc. on the page. That way when people follow the QR code, the web page they see correlates exactly with what they recieved in the mail. This also helps with lead conversion because if you have your phone number and form fields available on the web page you send them to, they can contact you right away and not have to search around your website looking for the right information.

Tip #2: Consider having a mobile website created.
Because QR codes are used by people scanning them with their mobile devices, having a user-friendly mobile website to point them to will be even more of a benefit to your campaign. Mobile websites are designed to load quickly and display mobile-friendly content. They display only relevant content, are short and to the point, and have clear calls-to-action. Clear, strong calls-to-action always result in better chances of lead generation.

Tip #3: Offer something to your customers.
If you are going to have a QR code on your mailpiece or any other marketing offer, think about the customer first by putting yourself in their mind-set. Think if you were in their shoes and you get an advertising mailpiece with a QR code, what would motivate you to get your phone out and scan the code? Would the motivator be a give-away, special offer discount, valuable information, a discounted membership, or something else? Don't put a QR code on your marketing material just to send them to your home page for your benefit. Instead think of way to interest your audience in a way you haven't already before.

Let us help you generate a code that communicates the right message for your marketing needs. Contact us for more information!

Facebook Page Tagging - Photos and Comments

Facebook has released another update which brings Profile accounts and Page accounts closer to an equal playing field.

Facebook users can now tag Pages for brands, bands, businesses, causes, etc. to their photos. Before, the ability to tag a Page from a personal Facebook profile was limited to mentioning them in a post to your personal wall. While this is still an option, you can now also tag a page in your photos.

Why is this a big deal?

Lets use events as an example. If you go to an expo event as your company's business representative and take a picture of one of your co-workers at a vendor's booth, you can now upload that picture to your company's Facebook Page, tag your co-worker and tag your vendor to their booth.

This picture will now be published in three places: It will appear on your company's Page, on your co-worker's wall (depending on their permission settings) and on your Vendor's wall (depending on their settings). This picture and your relationship with this vendor would then be publicized to those 3 locations' groups of followers/friends. By tagging this way, you increase the probability for your company's introduction to new clients/vendors/fans.

How can I apply this to my business?

Think about this opportunity in ways that might apply to your brand, business, services, products, locations, etc. This even opens up possibilities for new promotions you could run for your fans to win prizes: "Tag our business Facebook Page in a photo you take of one of our service vans around town. The best photo wins  ____ !"  The possibilities are endless and it is exciting to see another outlet open up for Pages to get more publicity.

How do I just mention a Page in my status update?

As a refresher, if you wanted to mention a Page in your status, for either your personal profile or another page, you first have to "Like" the page you are going to mention. Then you would start typing your status...

"Today I met with (Insert "@"and start typing the name of the page you want to tag. A drop down will appear with a list of optional pages you can tag, click on the one you want to use.) ROCKET MEDIA. I can't wait for my new website to go live!"

If you still have unanswered questions about tagging and mentioning pages, feel free to contact our social media team. We offer services for individual and group training, as well as social media marketing services for your business!

How to clear your web browser’s cache, cookies, and history?

Google Introduces “+1”

Google has introduced a new recommendation feature and way to connect with your friends online. Tied to a user’s Google profile, people can now “+1” favorite websites similar to Facebook “likes.“

Check it out:

To learn more, visit Google's official +1 page.

Facebook Pages Upgrade

Facebook upgraded their pages layouts to look a lot like the recently upgraded personal profiles. Two similarities are very obvious:

1. Navigation (page tabs) are located under the page image in the left hand column
2. Photos displayed across the top

When you upgrade your page as an admin, Facebook has the following prompts to walk you through the changes so you don't feel completely lost. We thought we would record them for you in this blog post so that you have something to refer to if you ever lose your prompts or get lost. You can always contact our social media team anytime for pointers, tips and training, too!

Showcase Your Latest Photos : The most recent photos that you post to your Wall, or photos that you tag your Page in will appear here. This area will not include any photos posted about your fans. To hide a photo, roll over it and click the "x".

Navigation Where People Expect It: Navigation links are now on the left, just like on people's profiles. You can still customize these tabs and add applications to this listing by going to the "Edit Page" sectiion.

Show the Top Posts on Your Wall: You now have two Wall filters. You can show posts by your page and top posts from Everyone, a new way for people to see the most interesting stories first. As an admin, you'll have additional filters for viewing posts on your page. To set a default filter for your Wall, go to Edit Page.

Use Facebook as Your Page: You now have the flexibility to interact with the other areas of Facebook as a page. Get notification when fans interact with your page or posts See activity from the pages you like in your news feed Like other pages and feature them on your page Make comments as your page on other pages To try this new feature, go to your page account, and like shown above select "Use Facebook as Page."

New Settings: You can set defaults for your email notifications and how you post to your page - as yourself or your page. You can also select which featured pages appear in the left column. To manage your settings for email and posting preferences, go to "Edit Page" and Your Settings. To select which pages appear in Favorites Pages, go to Edit Page and Featured.

The "Learn More" link in the tour description boxes leads to a page that shares informative FAQ's about the new layout and functionality of your page.

If you find yourself struggling, or have questions, contact ROCKET MEDIA's social media team at (800) 339-7305.

Going Mobile : Do I Need A Mobile Website?

Definitely. At least to stay competitive in today’s market. With so many smartphone users in the market today (not to mention the iTouch, iPad and other tablets now available) mobile search is increasingly more common.  

Cheaper data plans and faster mobile broadband have made surfing the web on a mobile device more convenient than ever before. And as technology continues to develop, the number of mobile visitors to your website will only increase.

What does this mean for you?

Without a mobile version of your website, you could be losing customers - especially if your competitors already have a mobile website. For your web presence to be effective it should be friendly to iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or any number of other popular devices.

How is it different?

Your big flashy website, as informative and eye-catching as it may be, is simply not designed to be read on a tiny screen. Mobile websites, however, are optimized for handheld devices. The needs of a mobile site visitor are very different from a traditional desktop website visitor. A lot needs to be considered when creating a mobile version of your website.  

Layout
First things first.  Remember, the speed of mobile web experience is slower for many. So don’t make your customers waste time searching for answers. Mobile sites should be simple and straightforward. This means the most important stuff is at the top. Consider what will be the most useful to your users, and make that available. Keep it simple and clear.

Design
Good, clean design is best for mobile web. The content should be presented in a single-column. Avoid side column navigation and stick to top-down navigation. This eliminates the need for side-to-side scrolling and keeps navigation clean. Links and copy should be larger so thick thumbs can easily click their way through your site.

Content
A good mobile website will have much less copy than your regular desktop website.  Determine what content is most important or what you think mobile users would find useful. Cut the fluff and get straight to the point. The content should be an easy read and even easier to navigate.

Images
Pictures are pretty and can add extra pizazz to your website. But, the majority of mobile devices available today still load images slowly, so having them on your mobile website is not a good idea. If it does include images they should be relevant. They also need to be small enough in dimension and download time to keep your customers from growing impatient and leaving to find what they’re looking for someplace else.

Although these differences may seem minimal, their impact on your customers can be huge. The popularity of mobile search is soaring and if you want your website to be an asset to your customers, going mobile is the way to do it.

Are you curious about creating a mobile version of your website? ROCKET MEDIA can help.  Contact us for a free consultation and quote today.

Connecting to Your Customers With Google Boost

Yet another tool designed to help small businesses connect with potential customers is now available from Google. Google Boost Beta will allow local businesses to create online search ads that link directly from within their Google Places account.

Accessible right now only to a handful of select cities including San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington D.C., to name a few, Google Boost will be widely available before too long.

With Boost, when someone searches for a local business, product or offer, relevant ads will appear in the “sponsored links” section of Google’s web and Maps results. The ads can contain a variety of information including name of business, phone number, hours, location, a link to the business place page and even star ratings and reviews.

For Google Boost to work, you must have a Google Place page for your business. Following a monthly budget, Google will automatically set up an ad-campaign using keywords relevant to your listing. Ads appear almost instantly, and you’ll only pay when a potential customer clicks on your ad. Although relevancy will determine rankings within the Ads section of Google.com and Google Maps, Boost ads will not affect organic rankings for your business.

With Google Boost, small businesses will have yet another way to capture highly qualified and actively interested consumers. As Google Boost becomes more widely available, eligible businesses will see an invitation to begin using boost upon login to their Google Places account.

Interested businesses can fill out an online form to be notified when Google Boost is coming to your area.

Still have questions? Want to be ready, but still need a Google Places Page for your business? Contact us, we can help!

Google Instant Previews - Is Your Website Ready?

Google is at it again. They've debuted another new feature designed to enhance the way you do search. Right on the coattails of Google Instant, comes Google Preview.

Now when you search using Google, a little magnifying glass-shaped icon is included with each listing within the results. When you click on the magnifying glass, a preview window pops up just to the right of the listing. Once you’ve done that, you can hover over any of the other results listed to see its preview.

This preview gives you a quick snapshot of the webpage without having to actually visit the website. The quick glimpse also includes a highlighted excerpt containing relevant copy to your search terms, designed to help you evaluate whether the page is worth a visit or not.

With Google Preview, consumers will now be able to find what they are looking for more quickly and with much less effort.

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

It pretty simple, really. Looks matter. Yes, you read that right. The more attractive your website, the better the likelihood someone will actually click on your page.

“More attractive” doesn’t mean tons of pictures, multiple flash banners or six different fonts.  “Attractive,” in this case, means simple, clear and to the point. Especially if pages on your website are jam-packed with a million links and multiple calls to action, it’s a turn off.

Like the brick and mortar business, if you can get your customers through the front door, that’s half the battle. With Google Preview, if consumers can clearly see you offer what they are looking for, they’ll come inside for a look around.

What Should You Do?

• Take a good look at your website. Would you click on it if you saw it in Google preview? Does it look like a website your customers will want to visit to get the quick answers they are looking for?
• Make sure your website is clear. Don’t have too much copy and make sure the copy is scannable. Make good use of whitespace. If there is too much, it can overwhelm your visitors.
• Make sure your website is fairly simple. Try not to use too many typefaces; a couple should do the trick. The same goes for images and flash. Use moderation; less can really be more.
• Finally, make sure you have a single, clear call to action. Lesser important calls to action should fall towards the bottom of the page.

Google Preview has really made the look of your website relevant. When you only have seconds to create an impression, make sure it’s a good one. It will pay off!

If your curious about your website, and how it measures up, give us a call. We can assist you with finding areas that need improvement and help you make the necessary changes that will help get the attention you so deserve.

Questions? Contact us today!

QR Codes - What Are They?

What is a QR Code?
Have you noticed these odd-looking square images popping up anywhere from your local newspaper to business cards? They’re QR codes (quick response) and they function, basically, as a suped-up version of the barcode.  

QR codes are two-dimensional and can be read both horizontally and vertically. They were originally designed to help track auto parts but have quickly found their way into mainstream advertising, media and business with their ability to contain alphanumeric data that has the ability to communicate a large amount of information by using a relatively small amount of space.

How do they work?
With the right app installed on a phone or mobile device, the barcode can be read by taking a picture of the code with the cell phone’s camera. The phone’s software then either interprets the code and displays the results, or asks permission to launch a browser where the text, links or images can be displayed. This process is referred to as mobile tagging.

How are they being used?
While QR codes have already taken off in Japan, they are quickly gaining hold in the United States. Ideally, they are used to link the physical to the digital. What used to be difficult has now become easy when you add a QR code. Printed marketing pieces like direct mail campaigns, print ads, flyers, and business cards can now connect consumers with businesses’ Google place page, website, and other resources in seconds.

How to create and use your own.
QR codes are open source which means they are free for anyone to create and use. Some generators will allow you to use analytics to track the code, but many of these sites charge a fee for use. Here are a few free generators we found to work well:

• 
  www.delivr.com
• www.quikqr.com
• www.qrcode.kaywa.com

There are many different generators available, but always test them out first. (Some generators will force a redirect through their site when someone scans the code to get your URL or text.)

Once you’ve created your QR code, save the code as an image. Then upload it to your website, put it on your business card or anywhere else you see fit and you’re good to go. How cool is that?

Ready to start your own mobile QR code campaign? Contact ROCKET MEDIA for more information on getting started.

Elements of an Effective Newsletter

E-newsletters are a great way keep in front of your customers. They are an excellent tool for communicating the latest news about your business or industry - a way to share tips, tricks, information, make product announcements or share special offers.

If done right, email marketing can help you target an interested audience almost immediately, and for very little cost.

You have all the tools you need to be successful, so how do you make it so your customers will read and get everything out of the newsletter that you’re hoping for?

Keys to Remember

Include an identifying header.
Every newsletter or email campaign your business distributes should have a clear and consistent header image to help identify you. Particularly for branding purposes, it’s a good idea to demonstrate consistency across all marketing platforms. Having a header and email template design that reflects the general look and feel of your company website is always a good move.

Make use of prime real estate.
Studies show that a lot of online readers don’t want to have to search around for answers. When your customers open your email, make sure the content you want them to have is right there – front and center. In the printed newsletter world it’s called “above the fold.” So, if you have important calls to action (like buttons or forms to volunteer, donate, register, etc.) that information needs to come first. Pretend the top four inches is all the reader will see, and decide what needs to go there.

Use white space.
White space is a powerful tool. Many people feel they need to cram as much content into a newsletter as possible. Often, doing so can have an adverse effect on your readers. With e-newsletters, less is more.

White space helps create more scannable copy. Use it to break up chunks of text into shorter paragraphs and link to more in-depth content as necessary. It can be very effective when used in conjunction with varied leading and bold type.  

Don’t forget imagery.
When combined with your copy, photos and other images can enhance your newsletter aesthetically, and if done correctly, can help with readability by breaking up text and adding balance to the layout. There is a fine line between just right and way too much, so do keep that in mind.

Avoid display discrepancies and blunders.
Be sure to test your email in several different email clients. Just because everything looks great in your inbox doesn’t mean it will in others. It’s good practice to give your readers a link to view the email newsletter in a browser as well as a text only option for those getting your email on a mobile device.

With a little patience and hard work, you can craft exceptionally effective email newsletters. However, it’s still pretty easy to tell the difference between the DIY route and professionally crafted campaigns. If you want to make sure your campaign produces the results you’re looking for, consider hiring someone to help.

ROCKET MEDIA offers several email marketing options for your business from custom template design to campaign management. Contact us to learn more about how we can help your email deliver!
 

How Can Online Reviews Affect My Business?

Many owners are quickly beginning to realize the impact online reviews can have on their business. In an age where social media and consumer generated content dominates the Internet, it is only natural for your customers to be talking about you online – especially if you’re in a service oriented industry.

You’re probably asking yourself what this means for your business.

Reviews can have a significant impact on whether or not someone will choose to do business with you.

A recent Neilsen poll shows us the ways consumers are influenced to choose one brand over another is changing. Out of the people polled, 70% expressed they trust what other consumers post online.  

Whether your online profiles are flooded with good reviews or bad, people are reading them, and they are using what they find to formulate opinions of your business and it’s practices.

And it’s more than just what the reviews say. Take Google for example. When someone performs a Google search of the name of a local plumber, it’s not uncommon for the results to include the company’s website as well as a whole slew of consumer reviews, from a variety of sources. Reviews improve search rankings. It only takes a few quick searches of your favorite local businesses to see evidence of this.

When those reviews are appearing in search results, odds are good they’re also helping drive traffic to your website. Interested traffic means increased conversions!

It’s also good to remember that it’s always more difficult to counteract or remove negative reviews online. The more positive reviews already out there, the better the chances they will overshadow the one or two negative reviews of your business.  Encouraging your customers to post good reviews online can never hurt. If you find this difficult, signing up for professional reputation management services can also help you be proactive about maintaining a good online reputation.

Responses to negative reviews can have as much of an influence on your consumers as the negative reviews themselves. As a result, regularly monitoring your online reputation is crucial. Make sure your business is there to respond to negative reviews with genuine efforts to make the situation right or clarify details. Your consumers are not only reading the negative reviews, but they’re watching how you respond to them, too.

While word of mouth has always been valued, it can be fleeting. Today online reviews follow the word of mouth model, but are more public - and permanent. Thus, their impact has become quite powerful.

Know what others are saying about your business online, and be there to help control the conversation.

ROCKET MEDIA offers reputation management services to help you better monitor and improve your online reputation. Contact us today to learn how we can help you!

How Can a Blog Help My Social Media Efforts?

More than just a journal, a blog is an excellent tool for communicating your business to the outside world. If you don’t know this already, you should. When used intentionally, your blog can become one of your most powerful assets.
 
Independently a blog is great online marketing tool, but even more so when it’s coupled with your social media efforts. Consider what your blog is saying and how you’re sharing this information. There are a number of ways to use one to undergird your social media efforts. Here are a few:
 
Answer most frequently asked questions, offer tips and helpful advice. In many social media communities, consumers will frequently raise questions about your services or products. Consider taking stock of these and addressing them in your blog. Post your blog and/or link to it in response to the relevant questions. Write about your products and it’s features (without being too salesy). Give useful advice. Doing so positions you as a reliable and trusted expert who your consumers will grow to appreciate.
 
Address concerns; demonstrate your commitment to your consumers. Just as social media communities allow for questions, they are often a sounding board for complaints. Use your blog as part of your public relations platform. Tackle complaints and concerns head on and link to those posts in your communities. Use the power of your voice to your advantage.
 
Incorporate your blog into your RSS feeds. If you’re not already using a social networking site like Facebook to blog, you can use RSS feeds to link your blog into existing community feeds. Many networking sites like Facebook have this feature. Using it can improve the visibility of your content and brand, and if the blog is linked, increase traffic to your website.
 
Include social media community links in the surrounding blog area. Give people the opportunity to “Like” or share your blog with others. Use a sharing tool by adding it to each blog post. Some sharing tools like AddThis.com (www.addthis.com) even use analytics to make it possible to see who is sharing your content and what social sites are most popular among your visitors.
 
Social media is an effective means of spreading the word about your business and building relationships with your consumers. Couple that with your blog and you’re bound to boost your credibility and exposure.
 
Need help bringing the two together? Don’t have a blog or social media presence? We can help! Contact us to learn what we can do to give you a boost!

Is Pay-Per-Click Right for My Business?

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an excellent tool designed to drive targeted leads to your business by strategically creating and placing ads prominently on search engine results pages. PPC is an effective method for reaching customers because it puts a business in front of people who are looking for its products or services.

PPC, compared to traditional advertising, has become an important marketing tool for many businesses because they have improved feedback and greater control over the success of their campaigns. However, understanding how PPC works is essential in choosing to use the tool, or to use it in conjunction with other search marketing strategies.

Things to Consider

Relevancy. Should you decide to run a PPC campaign, it’s important to first consider whether people are searching for what you’re promoting online. If they aren’t, your efforts won’t produce the results you are hoping for and you’re likely to waste time and money.

Timing. In most cases, PPC offers quicker results than other online marketing efforts. If you’re launching a new website, featuring a new service, or special offer that will expire soon, PPC is a great way to quickly boost traffic to your website.

Budget. Since you’re only paying when someone clicks on your ad, PPC lets you control exactly how much money you spend on each campaign. This is great for businesses with a tight budget. However, the value of your keywords, size of your market and the overall level of search dominance you want to achieve will ultimately determine your PPC budget – and how successful the campaign will be.

Targeting. It’s good to direct traffic to your website, but it’s even better when you know that traffic is interested in what you have to offer. Like most businesses, you have a specific consumer in mind. PPC allows you to use keywords, geographic location and sometimes demographics, to target engaged consumers who have interests relevant to what you have to offer.

Measurability. In this economy, many businesses need to be intentional with their budgets – knowing how and where their money is best spent. When it comes to marketing, PPC has great tracking capabilities. Website traffic and conversions are simple to follow so it’s easy to see what you get for the money you’re spending. And unlike other more traditional advertising campaigns, PPC campaigns can be modified or shut down instantly, based on their performance.

Testing.  For most businesses, it’s not a good idea to approach SEO until you have done PPC.   The nature of organic search requires the same strategic efforts as PPC, but needs a significant amount of time to become effective. Using PPC can allow a business to evaluate the results of different campaigns, effectiveness of your website, sales pitch or help you be more intentional in your SEO efforts.

Campaign Management. Can you effectively manage a PPC campaign on your own? Businesses can certainly manage their own PPC campaigns, but many learn that to be successful, PPC requires constant attention and strategy. From identifying and testing the right keywords, offer descriptions, bid monitoring, ROI tracking, keeping up with the search engines and your competitors, PPC requires intensive management and analysis. What’s more, the market is constantly evolving so it’s important to be aware of new changes. Running effective PPC campaigns can be time consuming, so choosing to hire someone to run your campaigns for you can help you improve your ROI and save you money at the same time.

Want to know more about PPC or other Internet marketing strategies? Need help with launching or managing a PPC campaign? We understand you have a successful business to run. Let us help.

Is Your Website Converting Visitors into Leads with a Strong Call to Action?

What is a Call to Action, and What Should It Do?
A call to action is an important element in converting a visitor to your website into a lead. Simply, it is an attempt to compel them to take some specific sort of measurable action. Many businesses spend lots of money attempting to drive traffic to their websites. But, if your visitors don’t take any action once they’re at your site, your efforts have most likely been in vain.

When someone visits your website or arrives on a landing page, it’s important to think about what you want them to do once they’re there. If your call to action is buried at the bottom of the page, hidden in a lengthy body of text or not altogether very compelling, it’s going to be difficult to increase your website conversions.  

How to Create a Strong Call to Action
Make the process easy.
The simpler it is to do, the better. Avoid asking your visitors to click through multiple pages and links. Keep your forms uncomplicated and to the point. The more steps someone needs to complete, the less likely they are to comply.  

Make it obvious.
Most visitors who come to your site are looking for answers. They don’t want to hunt and peck to find what they are looking for. If your call to action isn’t immediately obvious, they probably won’t follow through. It’s best to locate the call to action “above the fold,” and use design to bring it attention.

Make it worth someone’s time.
Answer that ever-so-important question: “What’s in it for me?” It’s vital your website visitors see value in your request. Depending on what you are looking to get from your customers, offering an appealing incentive can work. If you’re trying to generate new subscribers to your newsletter for example, you might offer a coupon or discount on their next service with your business.

People don’t like wasting time looking around your site. Give them a reason to click, make it easy and make it obvious. Make this change, and your number of leads is sure to increase.

Are you wondering how your website measures up? Are you looking to drive more traffic that actually converts? Contact us; we can help!

How To Write Effective Page TITLES

QUICK TIPS

• Always use your primary keyword in the title tag at least one or more times.
• Try to place your primary keyword at the start of the tag.
• Avoid listing the same word multiple times in a row since some engines may penalize for this. Instead, use the keyword multiple times, but separate them by other words in your text.
• Use the longer form and the plural form of a keyword when possible. For example, if you use marketing in your Title tag, a search on marketing or market will yield a match on most engines. However, words like companies will not always yield a match on company since company is not an exact substring of companies. In these cases you'll want to try and use both forms of the word.
• Use Upper/Lower case lettering for keywords in general.    Example: Blue Widgets are sold here!
• Longer titles are generally better than shorter ones. However, shorter ones can be used if you need to better emphasize a keyword that is not ranking.
• Make your title interesting and compelling to the reader to convince them why they should click there.

The <TITLE> of your Web site is arguably the most important HTML tag or element of your Web site. All the search engines consider the keywords in this tag and generally give those keywords a lot of importance in their ranking system. In other words, you could create one page with a keyword in the title tag and another page with the same keyword in the body tag. The one with the keyword in the title will rank higher in most engines than one with the keyword only in the body.

Many search engines use the <TITLE> as the title of your site in the search results that appear to the user. What this means to you is that this <TITLE> must not only work to your advantage for keyword scoring, but also must be compelling to the reader.

There are two elements to every Web site listing in the search engines:

1. The site title, which will be blue and an activated link to the site.
2. The site summary description.

Of course both must be compelling, but the <TITLE> tag has a special relevance if only because so many search engines use it exactly as it appears on your page.

Here are the important principles to remember when writing site titles:

Longer <TITLE>s are often more effective because more words allow you to build a more compelling reason to visit a Web site.

People don't read text, they recognize words. Point "A" is that longer <TITLE>s work better because it takes a certain number of words to persuade someone to take action – remember, in a direct response approach it's difficult to offer the key elements of time, money and value in just 2 words. People often scan headlines in brochures and magazines, even when they don't read the article itself. Since the title is usually a hyperlink, it's a different color and is generally bolded and easier to read. When it's longer, there are more words with which you can "hook" a reader. Chances are people's eyes will scroll down a list of site titles and if something catches their eye, they will hopefully read the site description. If you've done your work, they will be hooked.

Educators know that people glance at words and recognize the words by the shape they see defined by the tops of the words. Don't believe it? Take a sentence in any newspaper or book and cover the bottom half of the words. You can still read the words with relative ease. Now cover the top of a different sentence. You'll find that the words are harder to read because there is not much difference in the shape or line of the words. This is because the bottoms of all words reach the bottom of the page along the line they're written on.

You see, you recognize words by the tops of those words, by the differences in the height of the different letters. You think to yourself, "interesting, but how does this apply to me and my marketing efforts?"

If people recognize words by looking at the tops of the words, and this is accomplished because the tops of words vary in height and appearance, then sentences that start with just one capital letter and then lowercase letters will be easier to recognize and will get read first. Every little advantage helps you!

WORDS IN ALL CAPS ARE HARDER TO READ!!! PEOPLE DON'T LIKE TO READ THEM AND DON'T READ THEM AS EASILY. RECOGNIZING THE WORDS IN THE SENTENCES IS TEDIOUS AND THESE LISTINGS ARE FREQUENTLY OVERLOOKED.

To further illustrate the "tops of words" principle, look at how difficult it is to read this sentence:

SeNtEnCeS ThAT VaRy CaPs AnD LoWErCaSe LeTtErS ArE mAdDEnInG

See what a difference the tops of words can make? For this reason, construct your <TITLE> and site title submissions with one capital letter to start the tag, and then use lower case letters for the rest of the site title. This little technique is just one more advantage that you can realize over your Web site's competitors and others who would compete with your site's listing in the search results.

Which Social Media Community Is Right for My Business?

If you are a business concerned about brand awareness and your reputation, the power of social media should not be underestimated. There are a plethora of social media communities on the Internet but with so many to choose from, how do you know which one is right for you?

We decided to take a look at four of the more popular social media communities and how they can work for your business.

Facebook
This community is an excellent way for you build more personal relationships with your consumers. By participating in this medium, you can help shape how your clients view you. Facebook “Pages” are a great utility for this. Pages help build brand identity and you can store photos, videos, and other information you want to share about your business. Your consumers can become a fan (“like”) and follow your information and updates via their home page newsfeed.

Twitter
Twitter is a great micro blogging tool perfect for distributing promotions offers, deals, tips and other resources to your followers. It is also a great place to share news about your business, employees, or other happenings in your community. All of this can help to create a lasting impression with your followers.

YouTube
Now one of the top search engines, YouTube allows you to set up a channel to reflect your brand and connect with subscribers. You can post how to videos and demonstrate your expertise with industry specific tips and best practices as well as share solutions to common product or service problems. With the added bonus of Google now indexing video, your business is more likely to appear at the top of search results.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great B2B networking tool. You can connect with other professionals; promote events, classes and webinars or share information and resources that others would find useful. LinkedIn is a great place to build a professional community and establish a trustworthy reputation.

Of course there are a multitude of social media communities available to you, and some may be better than others. Still not sure which one is right for you? Contact us, we can answer any of your social media questions today!
 

Ad Retargeting: Helping You Stay in Front of Your Consumers

You’re finally convinced that before winter arrives, you had better invest in a new furnace so you begin researching heating and cooling companies online for the best rates. After some extensive searching, and visits to a few promising websites, you decide to sleep on it and revisit the idea later. The next morning comes and you are back on the computer, reading your favorite online newspaper when out of nowhere, an ad appears and it’s from one of the heating and cooling companies you were researching just last night!  What a coincidence, right? Nope, not at all! That’s ad retargeting hard at work.

What is ad retargeting?
Today, many consumers research products and services online before choosing to engage with any one business. They may visit your website, look at some of your products, maybe even plan to make a purchase – but just not now. Ad retargeting comes into play when that person shows interest in you by visiting your site. While on your website, a cookie is placed on your visitor’s browser. Later that day, the next, or even days later that same visitor will be online again. While surfing the Internet, an ad for your business featuring your products or services will appear. When this happens, your helping to reinforce your brand’s message to the consumer - placing you in front of them once again. When this happens, the consumer is encouraged or enticed to come back to your website - but this time to convert.

When much of your advertising budget goes towards banner ads and offline efforts like TV and radio spots, ad retargeting helps guarantee those advertising dollars turn into revenue for your business. In the online advertising process, ad retargeting works to finish the job.

Do you want to know more about ad retargeting and what it can do for your business? Contact us today!

5 Tips for Better Email Subject Lines

Many people spend a lot of time polishing their content for their e-newsletter, but most don’t think twice about the subject line of the email itself. If you aren’t thinking about your open rate, then the time you put into great email content is wasted because nobody will read your email.

There are many suggestions about what constitutes a good email subject line – both tested and theoretical. Out of many we’ve compiled 5, we think, will help you increase your open rate or at the very least, avoid coming off as spam.

1.    Keep it short and simple. A good rule of thumb: write your subject line in 50 characters or less and choose your words carefully. If the subject is too long, it may not read correctly as many email carriers will only display the first 30-50 characters.

2.    Avoid spammy words. One of the worst things that can happen is your email gets trapped in a spam filter. Avoid words in the subject line like “sale,” “free,” “% off,” “call now,” act now,” “limited time,” and “free.”

3.    Use motivating verbs. Words that call people to action in a motivating way are more interesting to a reader and increase the chances people want to read what you have to say. Words like “achieve,” “boost,” “target,” “improve,” and “learn” are all great words to try.

4.    Answer, “What’s in it for me?” When composing an email subject, think about your audience. Consider what they want to get from the email, not what matters to you. Put yourself in their shoes and try to write the subject from their perspective.

5.    Tell it like it is. The best subject lines tell what’s inside, and don’t make a guessing game out of it. When you have a target audience and you’re familiar with their interests, taking this approach will win them over better than any other method.

Want more useful tips to help you market your business online? Check out our blogs where you’ll find great tips and other useful information.
 

Making the Most of Your Footer

Every website should have a footer. Usually it’s the place where visitors look for quick information. When they get to the bottom of the page, what do you want them to find?

We recommend you include the following in your footer:

• Generic Links. These are the most common links you’ll find in a footer. They include, “about us, “privacy policy,” “terms & conditions,” and links back to the web designer.
• Sitemap. If you don’t have a sitemap linked up on your website, you should. Sitemaps not only help your visitors quickly find their way around, but they help search engines, too.
• Social Media Hub. The footer is a great place to demonstrate your involvement in social media and help your visitors stay connected with you.
• Feedback. Providing a link for visitors to leave feedback shows you are interested in what they have to say. It’s also a great tool for generating leads.
• Resources. Providing additional resources like links to blogs, videos, and news items help to engage visitors and keep them from straying away from your site.
• Sign Up Forms. If you have a newsletter, putting a sign up field in the footer encourages visitors to stay connected.
• Search Fields. Keep your visitors happy and help give them what they’re looking for. A search field allows them to quickly locate the answers they need, cutting down on the risk of frustration.

The bottom of your website needs to be compelling and encouraging. Create a place for your visitors to engage, not just share your legalese.

Do you have some ideas and need help brining them to life? Contact us, we can help!

Tips for Getting Your Dream Domain

You have a great company with great services. Your brand is strong and your business is growing. There is just one problem: you’re missing the domain name of your dreams. (By the way, that’s not to be confused with a full URL – that’s the http://www. part added to your domain name.)

Now, since you’re reading this, we’ll assume that you haven’t been able to snag this super domain because someone has already claimed it. Well, if you’re like many businesses destined for greatness, you can’t just throw up your hands and settle for second best. You want what you want, and you want it yesterday. But, how do you get it?

So glad you asked.

If I don’t have it then who does?

 

The first step in acquiring your dream domain from someone else is to find out who owns the rights to the domain. Perform a “WhoIs” look-up. You can use your preferred domain registrar to do this or Google “WhoIs” to get started. Enter the domain name you’re looking to get into the search field.  Most of the time, the owner’s information is readily available. If it isn’t you might need to do a bit more leg work to get it, but it’s not impossible.

Once you have the owner details, contact them directly. Explain your reason for wanting the domain. Don’t expect them to immediately comply by handing over the domain; rather, anticipate that you’ll need to do some bargaining. Typically this can go one of three directions. Obviously, the worst outcome is the owner turning your offer down altogether. If you’re lucky, they will be willing to sell you the domain for a set price.

Let’s make a deal!

If this happens, and the owner agrees to transfer the domain over to you, it’s best to use a secure online transaction service like www.escrow.com or www.safefunds.com, to protect yourself from fraud and assure the transaction is both legal and legitimate. Although it can sometimes take 10-20 days to complete the transaction, if you do your research, it’s well worth the wait when it’s done right.

They say patience is a virtue.

When you’re not so lucky, the owner may decline your offer. Your next option is to play the waiting game. Several registrars like godaddy.com, gorocketmedia.com, tucows.com, and networksolutions.com offer options like domain monitoring or backordering.

Depending on the popularity of the domain, you might benefit from being in the right place at the right time, so-to-speak. You can improve your chances by monitoring the domain with regular notifications of changes to its status, expiration, registration or name server. If you get lucky, you’ll be able to swoop in and snatch it up when the time is right.

Another option is to decide backorder the domain from a registrar. Provided nobody else has taken this action before you, you get dibs the moment the domain becomes available. Many times this can get complicated. The whole process can turn into a bidding war because someone else can backorder the same domain from a different registrar. In these instances, in can simply come down to how much money you are willing to put up for the domain.

These tips are not absolute. But, if you follow them carefully – and have luck on your side – you’re likely to have the domain of your dreams before you know it!

Seven Tips for Writing Better Copy

Writing for the Internet should be different from writing for print because you have to work harder to gain and retain your reader’s attention. Follow these general guidelines and you’re on your way to writing better copy in no time.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Write for your audience. If your business offers legal services, odds are good your client isn’t a lawyer. Don’t use complicated terms and phrases the average person wouldn’t understand. A good rule of thumb: write at an 8th grade level. This isn’t meant to be insulting – you just want to aim for the middle. Keep your content simple by making it an easy read so your clients can effortlessly engage.

So what?
Help your reader know what you are trying to say by getting to the point. It’s usually a good idea to use the inverted pyramid model when writing for the web. Start with a quick overview and help the reader understand the purpose of the page right away. Put the most important information down first and follow it with your support.

Man sets mouth on fire.
Grab your reader’s attention with a good headline and use them to help move your reader through the copy. “Man sets mouth on fire” is much more interesting than “Man burns roof of mouth on hot coffee.”
If you’re concerned about improving your search optimization, it’s helpful to put yourself in the shoes of your client. What would they search if they were looking for your services? Instead of “Regular System Maintenance Helps You Save Money,” try “How To Save Money with Regular System Maintenance ” or “Five Ways To Save Money with Regular System Maintenance.”

IMO.
It’s a bad idea to use acronyms. Not everyone knows your industry’s jargon. If you want to communicate your product or service to potential customers, why would you create unnecessary barriers? Speak the language of your audience and you’re more likely to earn their attention.

Wright good.
Nothing turns a reader off more than poorly written copy. Pay attention to your spelling, grammar and mechanics, so if nothing else, you at least sound like you know what you’re talking about.

Keep it simple, stupid.
Often visitors to your site are looking for a quick answer. Keep your customers happy with short sentences. Challenged to write a story in six words, Hemmingway allegedly once wrote: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” We’re not suggesting you follow this model exactly, but you get the idea.

LOOK OVER HERE!!!!!
Yes, you want people to know how exciting your services are. But, if you use too many exclamation points, you sound unprofessional!!! CAPITAL LETTERS and all those extra modifiers are REALLY, REALLY not helping you make the sale.

Get to the point. Be clear and concise. Know your audience and have a clear purpose. Compose catchy headlines that guide your reader through well-written content. Remember these simple suggestions and your copy will deliver.

Google’s New Look

Google made changes to their powerful search engine today. View the video below to learn about the updates or visit their posting on the change here, or go to Google and check out the update for yourself.

Microsoft-Yahoo Search Alliance

Microsoft and Yahoo! formally announced that they have received clearance for their search agreement from the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission. According to a joint statement, the companies will now turn their attention to beginning the process of implementing the deal, which is expected to begin in the coming days and continue through to the end of 2010. The process will involve transitioning Yahoo!’s algorithmic and paid search platforms to Microsoft, with Yahoo! becoming the exclusive relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers globally. “This breakthrough search alliance means Yahoo! can focus even more on our own innovative search experience,” said Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz. “Yahoo! gets to do what we do best: combine our science and technology with compelling content to build personally relevant online experiences for our users and customers.” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer concurred with Bartz’s assessment. “Although we are just at the beginning of this process, we have reached an exciting milestone,” Ballmer said. “I believe that together, Microsoft and Yahoo! will promote more choice, better value and greater innovation to our customers as well as to advertisers and publishers.” Once the transition is in place, Yahoo! and Microsoft will each represent and provide customer support to different advertiser segments. Yahoo!’s sales team will exclusively represent and support high volume advertisers, SEO and SEM agencies, and resellers and their clients. Microsoft will represent and support self-service advertisers.

Five Easy Ways To Spread the Word About your Social Media Participation

 Follow these five easy steps to spreading the word about your company's social media participation and grow your communities fast!
You have been to class after class and watched webinar after webinar. You understand the importance of business participation in social media and you have gone through all of the steps to create your company's communities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Now that everything is setup, you wonder: How do I get my customers' attention and push them to visit these communities and participate?

Below are 5 easy ways to let your customers know that your business is participating in social media and how to start some chatter.

1. 
   
   Website Links - Include links to your most important social networking sites in the header, sidebar or footer of your website. This invites and makes it easy for not only current clients to become a social fan, but also notifies any potential clients that you are available anywhere they go. Directions for Facebook and Twitter buttons and widgets for your website.
    
2. Email Signature - You have probably seen graphical links as well as general text links included in email signatures. The general email signature rule: don't make your email signature longer than your average email length. When it comes to your social media links, you want a short and concise notification included in your email signature that encourages your contacts to join your communities.
    
3. Post Client Survey - Add the links to your client survey and advise them to leave additional feedback on your social networks.
    
4. Promotions - People always come 'a flocking when there is free stuff. In a blog or news posting, promote Facebook or Twitter giveaways, competitions and exclusive discounts. Then in the correlating social media community talk up the prize and competition before and after a winner is selected to motivate people to join your Facebook or Twitter.
    
5. Search & Find - Remember, in communities like Twitter, if you don't have anyone following your profile, the chances of others seeing your tweets are slim. Utilize the search.twitter.com tools and find "tweeple" that are located in your area that may have interest in your business. Follow those people, they will most likely follow you in return, and then you will have new potential clients participating with you in your social chatter.

Again, if you don't have fans and followers of your social media communities, it is easy to assume that very few people are reading your social posts. For more information on the do's and don'ts of social media, read our blog, A Social Media Guide For Your Business. We are also always available for phone or face-to-face consultations, give us a call at 800-339-7305.

State of Search 2010 - SEMPO

Measuring return on investment (ROI) is the top challenge facing marketers this year according to the recently released State of Search Engine Marketing Repot from SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization). The complexity of measuring ROI is the biggest challenge across channels - search engine optimization, paid search and social media marketing. The report estimates that the North American search engine marketing industry will grow 14% from $14.6 billion in 2009 to $16.6 billion by the end of 2010. Additional key finding from the report include:

• The rise of social media marketing budgets, although still modest compared to search engine optimization and paid search, represents the biggest opportunity for search marketers this year.
   
• Around half the companies (49%) are reallocating budgets to search engine marketing from print advertising. More than a third (36%) are shifting money away from direct mail, and almost a quarter are moving budgets from conferences and exhibitions (24%) and web display advertising (23%).
   
• The research highlights Google’s dominance as a search engine, with 97% of companies paying to advertise on Google AdWords. Nearly three quarters of companies (71%) pay to advertise on the Google search network while 56% use the Google content network (keyword targeted).
   
• More than half of advertisers (56%) and agencies (62%) say that Google keywords have become more expensive over the last year. Meanwhile, only around a third of advertisers noted an increase in Yahoo (32%) and Bing (29%) keyword costs.
   
• From a range of trends and marketplace developments, company respondents are most likely to say the personalization of search results is having an impact. Just under a third of companies (31%) say this is “highly significant,” and a further 44% say it is “significant.” Agency respondents felt the “rise of local search” was the most significant emerging trend with 38% saying this was “highly significant” with 47% labeling it as “significant.”

How to setup Facebook and Twitter links on your website

Including links to your most important social networking sites in the header, sidebar or footer of your website is a must. This invites and makes it easy for not only current clients to become a social fan, but also notifies any potential clients that you are available anywhere they go. In general, each social media site provides a graphical button or profile widget that you can share on your site. You can also simply link text for each community, like we do in our footer below.

Here are links and directions to Twitter and Facebook graphical buttons and widgets for you to display on your site and blogs.

Twitter:

1. Choose between a button or a widget here.
2. A button will display an icon with a link to your Twitter page connected.
3. A widget usually displays a running scroll of the most recent twitter posts to your Twitter page.

Facebook:

1. Go to your business Facebook page
2. Choose 'Edit Page' under your logo on the top left of the page
3. On the right side of the Edit Page , scroll down to the 'Promote your page' section and select 'Promote with a Fan Box'
4. Notice to the left of the new page you can choose between Widgets Home, Share, Fan Box and Page Badges. As you select between them, an example will show to the right of the page. Pick the one you like best and keep in mind the area on your site where you will be placing it.

With both Twitter and Facebook, you will be provided with a scripted code for you to grab and integrate into your website. If you have a content management system or blog, it will be easy for you to simply login and place the code where you want it. However, if you rely on a designer/developer to perform updates to your site, you will just have to email the code and tell them where you prefer to have your button or widget displayed.

What is the point of all of this? You built the communities, for a reason: to communicate with clients and potential clients. These links are on your site for all those on your site to see that you are readily available to answer questions and communicate in all forms of the Internet. The easiest way to get that point across is by displaying your participation on your website for all visitors to see.

For more information, contact ROCKET MEDIA online for comprehensive social media solutions, including training, setup, maintenance and campaigns.

Internet April Fools Jokes - 2010

You may have noticed a bunch of April Fools jokes out and about in your daily web travels and searches. The ROCKET MEDIA staff has compiled a list of favorites for you to enjoy. Happy April Fools Day!

Gmail
Today's Vowel Outage Google / Topeka - Topeka, KS

Google
Translate for Animals Funny or Die
"Bieber or Die" Let Me Google That For You

YouTube
TEXTp saves YouTube bandwidth, money

ThinkGeek
Free T-Shirt College Humor

Starbucks
Starbucks Listens to Customer Request for More Sizes

Groupon
Groupöupon

Woot
Woot Changes Business Model To Text-Adventure Format
Aviary - Bird Store Twitpic
Upside down logo HootSuite - HootSuite Goes 3D

12 Ideas To Improve Your Website

Making your website as accessible and simple as possible for your users isn't always easy. Luckily, there are many standards and practices that visitors expect on any modern website. We've boiled some of these rules down to our top 12 favorites for you to use as a checklist on your current website or next big project!

1. Layout: Studies have been done that prove Web users look at the top of a page first and then work their way down the left hand side (think of a backwards 7). Try to include your important text, navigation and headings in those areas to increase their visibility.


2. Contrast: Try to choose colors for your text and background that contrast well to make it easy on the eyes. If your foreground and background colors are too similar some monitors may not display the differences well enough to make your text readable.


3. Whitespace: It's tempting to try to include as much information on your page as possible, but overcrowding makes pages difficult to read or scan quickly. Use whitespace between paragraphs, content boxes, graphics and navigation elements to keep your pages digestible.


4. Treat Type Consistently: Keeping the sizes and typefaces you use consistent will help users read your content more easily. Headlines should be larger, body text should be in a single size, and try not to use too many different fonts.


5. Make Links Recognizable: Links should stand out from the rest of the text on your site. Common practice is to underline links and color them blue. If you don't follow these rules, keeping the design of your links consistent will help users know what's clickable.


6. Header: This is one of the first things a visitor sees on your site, so it needs to have a consistent design and persistent navigation on every page. Include your logo at the top left and link it to your homepage to help users quickly return home.


7. Footer: Just like your header, this area should be consistent throughout your site. Include your address, phone number, copyright info, and links to your social media profiles.


8. "About Us": Your about page should be clear and informative. It's the go-to page for people wanting to know more about your website and, if you're a business, why they should use your company over another.


9. Calls-To-Action: A call-to-action is an area on your site that elicits a user interaction, like a "buy now" button or link. Make sure your actions are clear and go where promised, try replacing "click here" with "view gallery" or "see all services".


10. Buttons on Bottom Right: People read from top left to bottom right. If you want users to move through to the next page, put your buttons or links near the bottom right. If you want users to go backward, put your buttons or links on the bottom left.


11. Clear Page Titles: If a page on your site shows the products you sell, call it your "Salon Catalog" or "Wine Tasting Menu", not "Page 4." This helps users when bookmarking a page and also promotes proper indexing by search engines.


12. Break Up Long Blocks Of Text: We read slower online and we read even slower still if all the content is one long paragraph. Break up your text into smaller paragraphs and use sub-heads or graphics to help users scan more easily.

Web Development at 10,000 Feet

On a recent return flight from Salt Lake City, I encountered that inevitable time when electronic devices must be powered off and stowed. The absence of iPod, phone, Kindle, and computer left a void in my usual entertainment pursuits, but provided a chance to observe my fellow travelers in action. I discovered that the basic ways people take in and distribute information is easily found at 10,000 feet, with seat backs up and tray tables in their full upright and locked position.

When creating an online presence, it’s important to think about the basic ways people want to receive content. A carefully configured website interacts with many people simultaneously. By structuring a site around six basic pastimes, you can attract visitors and keep them coming back for more.

The Readers

Many people relax with a book of fiction. Readers are people who are more concerned with the words on a site. They want to be told a story, and they want it to sound good. Readers think, “Is this captivating me?” A good way to attract readers is to have multiple sources of regularly updated content. Well-written landing pages, email campaigns, blogs and news articles stand out to the word-centric.

The Puzzlers

Crosswords, sudoku, anagrams, and word searches are also popular. There’s something rewarding about figuring out the answer one step at a time. Puzzlers think, “What is the answer?” To reach a puzzler: be the solution. Puzzlers look through every solution online until they find the one that fits them best. Have a strong home base website with thorough coverage of your services, products, history, and current events. Best of all, reach out to puzzlers through search engine marketing. If you are the answer the search engine provides, puzzlers will choose you.

The Self-Helpers

Self-helpers read nonfiction, self-help books, newspapers or magazines in an effort to improve themselves and understand the world a little better. Self-helpers think, “How can I actively use this?” You can reach these people through no-nonsense methods such as FAQ sections, and "how-to" blog articles. Be available through social media, and online forms to answer questions. Show a self-helper your expertise, and they will come back to you when they want to learn more.

The Sleepers

No doubt about it, the world is a busy place. Sleepers take advantage of any time to get some shut eye, because the moment the plane touches base, they are up and working. Sleepers think, “What is the best and fastest way to get my work done?” The best way to reach an airplane sleeper: great website design. An aesthetically pleasing and well-structured design looks and feels professional. It also provides obvious links to key pages and forms.

The Talkers

This social bunch wants to have a continual conversation with you. They are curious about you, and they want you to be curious about them. Talkers think “Am I being heard?” Be a supportive listening ear, and talkers will give you excellent feedback. The best way to reach a talker: social media, a great way to develop deep relationships through ongoing conversation.

The Lookouts

Lookouts like the window seats. They look for a break in the clouds so that they can see the landscape. Lookouts want to know where they are and what is happening. They are search engine pros who subscribe to RSS feeds and seem to know everything the second it happens. Lookouts think, “What is going on?” The best way to reach a lookout: search engine marketing and search engine optimization. Regularly update blogs, news and other site feeds, and take advantage of search engine marketing and search engine optimization.

One thing is for sure: when the plane lands, most people head straight to the Internet. When they find your site, you want it to be impressive, interactive, professional, and visually striking. If you think your site might need reconstruction, consult ROCKET MEDIA.

A Social Media Guide For Your Business

It seems every business these days is trying to figure out what social media is and how to leverage it effectively. One thing that everyone seems to agree on is that focusing on listening to and engaging customers, as well as using social media platforms to increase service opportunities, is the best way to get started.

Social Media 101
Social media allows for the creation and sharing of user-generated content and community building. It can be a great tool for businesses looking to connect with customers online, or gain a competitive edge on the competition. Although social media takes a number of forms, there are a few big names you should be familiar with:

Social Networking: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow users to share information (both personal and business-related) about themselves with online friends.

Community Sites: Yelp! and Local.com let users create and share reviews of businesses and services online.

Blogs: Many businesses create and share content on the web using Wordpress or other blogging software, engaging potential customers and community members with the brand on a more personal level. For example, ROCKET MEDIA runs our own blog called ROCKET eBlog

Listen Up! Perhaps the most important strategy is to use social media not only to promote your organization or brand, but to listen to what people are saying. Social media is a great opportunity to find out what people are saying about your company and address these issues. If it’s a compliment, thank the person who gave it to you. If it’s a criticism, apologize and offer to fix whatever went wrong.

Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp! and Local.com are all great tools for managing interactions with your brand online.

Get In On The Conversation
Similarly, your goal in using social media should be to create a community, and that’s best done by using it to have meaningful conversations. You can find out so many useful things - why do people use your product over other similar products? What does your company do well? What could it do better? What could your company do in addition to what it already does? And, if these questions aren’t being asked, lead your customers into asking them. Essentially, social media is a great way to manage your firm’s public relations conversations.

Six Tips To Remember About Social Media

1. Don’t Just Talk - Listen First
2. Don’t Defend The System - Solve The Problem
3. Don’t Tell How It Is - Ask How It Is
4. Don’t Solicit - Service
5. Don’t Preach - Converse
6. Keep Up With The Crowd

The Most Influencial Internet Moments Of The Decade

The Webby Awards, handed out by New York's International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, have announced their list of the top 10 Internet moments of the decade. With just a quick scan, the list is impressive and underscores the incredible impact the Internet has had on most every aspect of our lives. For our purposes, let's take a look at how these innovations have changed the business world, and what they might lead to in the future.

Craigslist online classified site expands outside San Francisco (2000)
Craigslist is one of the most heavily-trafficked sites on the Internet. It's also a prime example of how a website doesn't have to be beautiful to be highly effective. While design is important, craigslist shows us that functionality rules supreme. The site has also become a major online revenue generator for many businesses. Craigslist also drastically shortened the space between buyers and sellers while, at the same time, forces good old fashioned person-to-person sales.

The launch of Google AdWords (2000)
Perhaps nothing changed the online economy more than Google AdWords. What started as a search curiosity suddenly became an economic boom to Google, and thousands of online businesses. In fact, many business owe their entire existence to AdWords. Look for Google to keep innovating and never underestimate their power to make lightning-fast changes to the online business world.

The launch of online encyclopedia Wikipedia (2001)
Wikipedia was arguably the first major online success built by volunteers. It also showed that even the best intentions can be sullied - Wikipedia quickly came under fire for being a pool of innacuracies and marketing ploys. However, Wikipedia is solid proof that, given the opportunity, users will take the time to contribute just because they can.

The shutdown of file-sharing site Napster (2001)
Napster taught us that the Internet might be untamed, but it is not without law. Napster also showed how quickly business plans can be changed and implemented online and that no online business is ever down and out, unless the business owner decides so.

Google's initial public offering (2004)
Perhaps one of the most fascinating companies in the history of business, Google is here to stay. With a $180 billion market capitalization, the loyalty of millions, and a dedication to and track record of producing stellar products and services which support its advertising initiatives, Google is the standard by which all exceptional businesses will be measured for decades to come.

The online video revolution led by YouTube (2006)
YouTube is amazing. For the first time, John and Jane Doe could be seen and heard by millions with the click of a mouse. YouTube has revolutionized our public eye. For online businesses, YouTube is an opportunity to add life to just about any product, and gives the chance for exposure that used to costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter launches (2006)
The social media and networking revolution officially took hold in 2006. While the creases continue to be ironed out, social media is not a trend - it's become a major part of the online economy for those who work it properly. in fact, an entirely new workforce has been built around it. Businesses are realizing the power of social sites and should be getting involved, starting with a solid strategy. Social media has given businesses the ability to reach farther, faster. It's also forced businesses to be responsible for the quality of what they produce - the people have been empowered like never before, and they are using it to demand accountability.

Apple's iPhone debuts (2007)
The iPhone was a tremendous leap forward in mobile technology that has yet to be surpassed. Users have never had more power in the palm of their hands. It's also structuring a new industry, from apps to mobile banking and beyond. "Mobile" has finally arrived - and it all started with the iPhone.

The use of the Internet in the US presidential campaign (2008)
Barack Obama won the 2008 election in large part due to his campaign's mastery of the Internet. "Yes We Can" rang true - the public's voice was never stronger. Politics changed forever in 2008 and it also proved that grass-roots movements had a most powerful ally in the Internet. One of the lessons we can learn from the 2008 race is that success online is not free - Obama spent more than $7.5 million advertising on Google. And millions more on multiple other online channels.

The use of Twitter during the Iranian election protests (2009)
The Iranian protests are just one example of how Twitter can spread a message to millions of people in a matter of seconds. Where Facebook relies on friends, Twitter relies on loosely connected associations. But while loose, these connections have the ability to influence millions. Twitter also shows us how quickly businesses need to understand new technologies - before they are used against us.

A Birthday for Firefox

This week marks the 5-year milestone for Mozilla Firefox, a popular Internet browser. Though their celebration is relatively quiet, it is anything but uneventful.

Importance of Firefox

A standard web browser is the average person’s portal to the Internet. When big-thinkers began to realize that browsers could be used for more than web surfing, programs like Mozilla Firefox and Safari were born. While Safari has gone in a direction that focuses on accessibility and web development, Firefox has enhanced the areas of user-friendliness and communication. The video below talks about the problems Firefox has solved, and the vision it has for the future of Internet use.

5 Years, You Say?

That’s not long at all – to a dinosaur. However, Internet startup companies aren’t known for long life spans. In Internet terms, 5 years is very successful. Recognizing user needs in a constantly changing environment, and adapting to major trends is the key to staying afloat.

Everyone is invited

The calendar is full on spreadfirefox.com, with the celebration lasting from November first until the end of the year – and everyone is invited to attend. The main focus of the festivities is to promote Firefox through lots of forums, presentations, galleries, and other communications. Anyone who wants to share their enthusiasm can contribute opinions, photos, graphics, and videos. A constructive project forum allows collaboration on building the program. Firefox is also hosting parties around the globe, as the program becomes available in different countries.

Projects

Promote Firefox - Of course, the company is taking every opportunity to promote their product. These include Mozilla Campus Reps, Community@SFx, Spread Thunderbird, Firefox in India, and Firefox in Brazil. Affiliates of Firefox can enroll in a competition to market the browser.
Forums - Perhaps the most impressive part of the birthday celebration is the forum corner, where discussions are taking place about "100% Organic Campaigns", the best anti-virus software, coding problem-solving, and technical support. Calls are coming out from many countries, seeking Firefox communities. This adds to a more globally united web.

As a browser, Firefox brings a lot to the table. What will the next 5 years bring?

Online Video - Proving Importance In Marketing For Your Business

In the 10/2/09 issue of the Phoenix Business Journal, comSource Inc.'s numbers and charts were shared, showing the popularity of online video. Included below is the article shared as an image for all to review. This article points out that Google ranks as the top U.S. video property, obviously, because they own YouTube. After reviewing the facts shared for July 2009, "81% of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.", This is inspiring information to share with business owners and marketers. Displaying video online about your company or participating in Pay-Per-Click Ads and Banner Ads with YouTube and Google is something we highly recommend for reaching a larger audience.

Online Video

There are tons of examples on YouTube of how businesses are creating videos with intriguing content that then becomes viral videos and shared with millions. Most people can probably think of at least one example for almost any type of business/industry. From ROCKET MEDIA's experience, ''How To, Recorded Webinars/Seminars, 'Customer Testimonials' and 'FAQ' Videos the most successful for service industry businesses. For product based businesses it is all about interaction - 'Video Blogs', Video Sent In By Customers, 'Customer Testimonials'. None of these examples HAVE to be professionally created by production companies. In fact, people like to feel the personal connection with your company. Creating a video with a hand held camera in your office without a script is totally okay! But please, for the audience's sake, try to keep the camera steady and don't make the video too long because of lack of script/plan - YouTube doesn't allow anything over 10 minutes anyway. The other key is, once you have uploaded your video to YouTube, make sure you fill in the "Keyword Tagging" field with keywords that you think people would type in to find your video.
ie. For a 'How To' or 'Do-It-Yourself' plumbing video about un-clogging a toilet, recommended keyword tagging would be: plumbing, plumber, plunger, clog, clogged, toilet, bathroom, DIY, do it yourself, home service, etc.
 

Banner Ads & Pay-Per-Click

When it comes to running a campaign using Banner Ads and Pay-Per-Click Ads, leave it to the professionals. There are lots of tricks and rules that must be followed and if your company doesn't want to risk loosing money on learning the hard way how to run these campaigns you would be better off hiring a professional. A Search Engine Marketing professional can help you by mapping out your campaign, define and suggest the most successful keywords, geo targeting, design, wording and layout of a banner ad, consulting, monthly reporting, ... the list goes on.

If you are interested in creating video, banner or PPC campaigns for your business, feel free to give ROCKET MEDIA a call (800) 339-7305 for ideas, tips and pricing! Good Luck!

 

Social Media Revolution

Social Media Revolution: Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore.

Need help putting together a social media plan for your business? Let our social media strategists assist you, give us a call. This video was produced by Socialnomics

Office Update - Having Fun With Technology

The sounds of drilling and and hammering echoed through the office on Friday, as two brand new iMacs were installed in the ROCKET MEDIA reception room. When the dust settled, our staff gathered around to admire the aesthetic technology. Forget paintings and other embellishments - we've got iMacs on display!

These two computers are engineered to provide a continuous display, making it possible for showing cohesive presentations between the screens. Visitors to our Gilbert office will be able to enjoy these presentations soon. Also at our disposal is the virtual receptionist program, which allows any member of our staff to monitor the front room remotely. This will be a great tool as our office expands in size. Visitors will be welcomed via video chat. Of course, this doesn't eliminate the human element in communication with clients and other guests, but enhances immediate interaction with them. Fancy, fun, and functional.

Our new iMacs are the perfect addition to ROCKET MEDIA's home base.

Q3 Search Engine Ad Update

AdGooroo released its third quarter Search Engine Advertiser Update this week highlighting the advertising differences between Google, Yahoo! and Bing. According to its results, Google is still the number one place for search engine traffic and ROI. Yahoo! is second with a lower volume of clicks but average higher conversion rates, and Bing third with lower traffic than both Google and Yahoo!, but higher conversion rates than Google and Yahoo!. This report included new information about high-price keywords. Google sold at least one keyword for $99 per click, Yahoo sold one keyword for $60 per click, and Bing $55.

One interesting highlight from this report is the difference in top advertisers by search engine. Google experienced many big brand retailers such as Walmart. Whereas Yahoo! had more shopping engines such as Expedia, and Bing had more unbranded comparison engines like Nextag. Other interesting highlights from the report include:

• Bing’s first-page advertisers dropped by 8 percent; Google and Yahoo were unchanged
• Google advertiser share is 81.2 percent; Yahoo, 26 percent, Bing, 12 percent

“Personally, in analyzing the data, Q3 struck me as a quarter of maturation for the industry. Each of the engines seems to be developing its own niche within the industry, and it will be interesting to see how they continue to evolve in the coming quarters and years ahead,” said AdGooroo founder and CEO, Rich Stokes in the announcement.

Photoshop Mobile

Web design work requires constant attachment to the job. We find ourselves connected through online chat, email, telephone, and (or course), our iPhones. We go to great lengths to make sure the job is done right, and new iPhone apps make us faster and more efficient. Our designers are big fans of the Photoshop Mobile app, which allows for editing images and uploading them to the Internet. Though Photoshop Mobile does not provide the extensive editing option of the Adobe Photoshop software, it is a sophisticated tool for completing projects on the go. Here’s why designers like Photoshop Mobile

• Images, and other similar data, need to be stored somewhere. Servers and computers work nicely for this, but large files take up a lot of space on a mobile device. Through Photoshop Mobile, up to 2 gigabytes of information can be stored on Photoshop online, which is instantly accessible through the iPhone.
• Images are easy to edit, upload, and share with coworkers and clients.
• Features include: cropping, flipping, and rotating photos. Also available are colors, filters, and other effects.
Even though Photoshop Mobile is free to everyone, the really great results are made when put into the hands of expert photo editors. We're glad this app is so helpful for our designers.

Social Networking Sites Ad Spend Up

Nielsen released new data highlighting the importance of business involvement in social networking and blogging websites. And it appears businesses understand that importance. The amount of ad spend on these sites increased 119 percent from $49 million to $108 million. Why is this? Nielsen also reported that consumer time spent on social networking and blogging sites consisted of 17 percent of all time spent on the Internet last month – triple the time from one year ago. Businesses understand they need to advertise where their customers are active.

Facebook is one social networking site that many businesses choose to spend their ad dollars making Facebook the number one social networking site advertised on by 10 of 13 industries. MySpace ruled the other three industries (entertainment, financial services, and hardware and electronics).

Targeted advertising, custom options and different types of ad spend make social networking appealing to businesses. Facebook advertising allows businesses to reach its 300 million users by targeting by demographics, location, education and more. Advertisers can choose between pay-per-click (PPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM), and they can manage ads any time of the day by visiting the Ad Manager website through Facebook. And for those who are unfamiliar with creating ads for this platform, Facebook has an Advertiser Guide to assist with designing ads.

MySpace advertising also has targeted advertising for demographics, location, education and more. According to MySpace, you can reach more than 70 million users through its advertising, and can choose between PPC or CPM. Advertisers can upload, create, and manage ads all on its MyAds homepage.

But you also must know where your customers are active. Looking at Facebook's 300 million users is impressive compared to MySpace's 70 million - however your customers may be using one network more than the other. Nielsen Claritas recently released a study on Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn users. The results showed that affluent and urban consumers use social networking - with the top third lifestyle segments related to affluence more likely to use Facebook, and the bottom third related to affluence more likely to use MySpace.

While this increase of 119 percent is impressive, it's important to keep in mind that this medium is still relatively new.Nielsen released new data highlighting the importance of business involvement in social networking and blogging websites. And it appears businesses understand that importance. The amount of ad spend on these sites increased 119 percent from $49 million to $108 million. Why is this? Nielsen also reported that consumer time spent on social networking and blogging sites consisted of 17 percent of all time spent on the Internet last month – triple the time from one year ago. Businesses understand they need to advertise where their customers are active.

Facebook is one social networking site that many businesses choose to spend their ad dollars making Facebook the number one social networking site advertised on by 10 of 13 industries. MySpace ruled the other three industries (entertainment, financial services, and hardware and electronics).

Targeted advertising, custom options and different types of ad spend make social networking appealing to businesses. Facebook advertising allows businesses to reach its 300 million users by targeting by demographics, location, education and more. Advertisers can choose between pay-per-click (PPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM), and they can manage ads any time of the day by visiting the Ad Manager website through Facebook. And for those who are unfamiliar with creating ads for this platform, Facebook has an Advertiser Guide to assist with designing ads.

MySpace advertising also has targeted advertising for demographics, location, education and more. According to MySpace, you can reach more than 70 million users through its advertising, and can choose between PPC or CPM. Advertisers can upload, create, and manage ads all on its MyAds homepage.

But you also must know where your customers are active. Looking at Facebook's 300 million users is impressive compared to MySpace's 70 million - however your customers may be using one network more than the other. Nielsen Claritas recently released a study on Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn users. The results showed that affluent and urban consumers use social networking - with the top third lifestyle segments related to affluence more likely to use Facebook, and the bottom third related to affluence more likely to use MySpace.

While this increase of 119 percent is impressive, it's important to keep in mind that this medium is still relatively new.

Should We Drop IE6 Support?

A little while ago associates of ours announced that as of 1 January 2010, they will be dropping support for Internet Explorer 6. While we all know that IE6 is the bane of any web designer / developer’s existence, here’s an interesting look at why this move would be viable:

According to w3schools.com, from the high in November 2003 of 71.2%, IE6 usage had dropped to 32% in January of 2008, and 18.5% in January 2009. By January 2010, this percentage should be around 6-8%. With the introduction of Windows 7 this fall, this percentage could be even lower.



This is something we’ve been contemplating for a while now as well… Why? Because IE6 really is an ancient browser; especially in terms of how fast technology generally changes. If we were to drop support for IE6, it would mean:

• All future sites/projects would not be tested in IE6; and
• Existing sites/projects would however continue to support IE6.

We can most definitely not take this decision alone, as ultimately we need to keep our clients happy. So do you think we can drop support IE6? Drop us a line and let us know what you think.

Are Keyword Meta Tags Worthless?

How much does Google use the keyword meta tag? Not at all according to a post today on the Webmaster Central Blog.

Does that comes as a surprise to you? For many it won't but it's always nice to have some verification and today it came in the form of a video from Matt Cutts, Google's Head of Webspam. Google does (or will) use the meta description tag occasionally as a snippet for the description which appears in the search results, but it is important to note that Google does not use the description meta tag in how it ranks sites.

A rather insightful comment was posted by Michael Martinez on the post who said it would be helpful to Webmaster if Google used it in their Custom Search Engine solution and/or site-specific searches. I agree completely. The keyword meta tag is used by the Google search appliance but it does not influence organic results at google.com.

So should you leave the keywords meta tag empty or not include it at all? According to a some respondents on the post, some search engines (Yahoo! and Ask) still do use the keyword meta tag. Keeping it might offer some "insurance" just in case some engines do factor the keyword tag into their algorithm.

Do you know what your customers are saying and where?

Social media has turned traditional word-of-mouth on its head. Your customers can broadcast their thoughts of your company, products and their experience with you faster and easier than ever before – and reach a much larger group of people. Traditionally, you could assume that one person would likely tell a handful of people about their positive experience, or 10 people if they had an unpleasant experience. But that has grown exponentially with people broadcasting thoughts to hundreds of Twitter followers and Facebook friends. So what are your customers saying and where? There are many online resources available that can track what's being said and where. Some resources cover all social media platforms such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc., while others are specific to the social media platform such as only blogs or Twitter. You can choose from management, monitoring or both. Management tools help manage conversations, social networks and other information - adding specific qualities to certain information. Monitoring tools provide you with the conversations and where they are occurring. Below are a handful of online reputation resources ranging from monitoring to managing, depending on your business goals.
 

• WhoLinksToMe: Released in March, this tool analyzes inbound links to your website. The philosophy of this company is that links have replaced traditional word-of-mouth, making online management key to any business’ marketing plan. This is a free Web-based tool that evaluates links in real time. According to the original announcement, the company plans to offer more robust offerings for businesses.
• BlogPulse: Produced by Nielsen (one of the most credible data companies), BlogPulse tracks blogs, linking to blogs, trends and conversations. It can tell you the most cited blogs, trends, links, phrases and more. You can add your blog for free to its blog search engine for content syndication and analysis. 
• TweetBeep: A free tool that also offers premium accounts with additional features, TweetBeep tracks conversations about you occurring on Twitter. You notify keywords or URLs that you want TweetBeep to track and you are notified anytime someone uses those words in tweets. You can set how often you want to be notified of TweetBeeps – making your response to those talking about you faster. For example, last week, Website Magazine received a TweetBeep about a reader who wasn't able to read an article on the website because they thought they needed to buy a pro-level subscription. Website Magazine saw the tweet, and responded quickly to let the reader know she only had to log in to read the articles. Quick response can turn frustration into satisfaction. 
• StepRep: StepRep is another free tool that monitors what people are saying about you, and helps manage your reputation as well as build it. StepRep can tell you everything from people are talking about you on Twitter to posting photos about you and even videos. In regards to managing, StepRep allows users to syndicate content through its website or add a widget to your site. In addition, StepRep has its own social network site where users can interact with customers.
• Trackur: Built by prominent Web professional Andy Beal, Trackur monitors news sites, social media sites, blogs, images, videos and other websites based on your keywords. Trackur results are populated on a dashboard allowing users to add and refine keywords, view trends, and add sentimental tagging. The sentimental tagging allows you to tag items based on positive, negative or neutral sentiment. Trackur has different pricing plans to appeal to individuals and large companies. Pricing starts at $18 per month to $197 per month for the enterprise level. 

Human Powered Reputation Management?

CARMA International: This organization looks at online measurement a different way. Instead of software and programs, it uses humans to determine how people are talking about you online. Recently, CARMA updated its methodology as well as introduced three additional features: Social Media Access, Tone, and Customization. Social Media Access allows users to combine social media coverage results with traditional media including blogs, tweets, forums and more. Users can choose to have this coverage display in an interface with the traditional media results or separately. Tone provides users with a rating on the tone of articles which was evaluated by CARMA’s team. And Customization provides users with additional data and charts.

Facebook’s New @Mention Feature

Facebook has launched a new feature that allows users to tag their friends, groups, events and fan pages in their status updates. When something or someone is tagged, or, "mentioned" in a person's status update, viewers of the comment can easily click the name of the mentioned person to be taken to view their profile. If it is a business fan page mentioned in a comment, users will be taken straight to the fan page where they have the option to also become a fan of the page or just look around and learn more about the business. On the flip side, if you are "@mentioned" in one of your friend's updates, you will be sent an update notification and a note on your wall will be published. An example,



To use the tagging feature, write your status update as you normally would but where you want the tagged person, group, fan page or event, type the "@" symbol and then the name. An example - @ROCKET MEDIA . Wait before publishing right away, this is not exactly like Twitter! Facebook will pull up a listing below where you typed the mention phrase. You will have to choose from the listing which company you are meaning to tag. Once chosen, Facebook will automatically link that page to your comment. You are going to start to notice in your friend feed now, more ways for you to learn more about your friends and connections. Enjoy!

Anatomy of an Email Blast

When sending emails to a large list, you really want to make them stand out. Whether you are blasting marketing messages, tips and tricks, or exciting news about your company; whether you send it to affiliates or customers; your emails are a reminder to all that you are the expert in your industry. Incorporating professional design and content into your email blasts makes them enticing and memorable. Below are a few tips.


 

1. A Banner Like No Other
   Always include a banner with your company logo and name, and link it to your website. This is the first image people see and a professional, aesthetic banner will lure them farther into your message. A few bells and whistles don't hurt either. Give your email blasts a name (we chose the "The ROCKET ORBIT) that will resonate with every message you send.
    
2. Catchy and Relevant Content
   From title to closing statement, your content should be what people want to read about. Put only a paragraph or two in your email, and provide a full link to the article on your web page.
    
3. Mini Banners
   If you have a recurring section in your emails, give it a special banner. This makes the section easier for readers to find, and easier to remember as well.
    
4. A Personal Element
   Add a picture or a company catchphrase. Your company has its own personality; show it with pride. This is one element that really distinguishes you from all the rest.
    
5. Multiple Sources of Information (and lots of links)
   Nowadays, people sift through information quickly. They skim through content to find the information that is pertinent to them. Organizing content to take advantage of space and catch the eye is a plus for every email blast. Place your most valuable and intriguing tidbits first, since people are more likely to click on links toward the top of the communication. If you have one message that is a focal point, direct people to that message.
    
6. A Strong Contact List (Not pictured in diagram)
   Email marketing is more involved than just sending out emails and hoping that people read them. Email blasts are your chance to repeatedly prove how great you are to your contact list. You probably won't know all of your subscribers personally, but you can easily find out what they want to hear by looking at email analytics (provided by most email marketing vendors), or adding a required interest field to your sign up form.
    
7. A Sizzling Subject (Not pictured in diagram)
   Walking the thin line between a spammy subject and an enticing one is hard, but it really pays off in the end. If your message subject passes the spam filter test and reaches the inboxes of your subscribers, an interesting subject will do the rest.

Email marketing is a intricate collection of do's and don'ts, but these are some do's for any message you send. Subscribe to The ROCKET ORBIT newsletter.

Upgrade to Snow Leopard

The next big cat is out, and we're installing it. In other words, the latest version of Apple's Operating System, Snow Leopard was released today. We have loyally depended on Mac products in the past, and are looking forward to the benefits of Snow Leopard. Overall, this new operating system will aid in organization and communication as well as run faster and use less disk space on our computers. Thanks for the step up, Apple!

Many Use Social Media

The USA Today published an interesting article on how more marketers use social networking to reach customers. The study is based on marketers who closely follow social media. You can find some enticing statistics to justify their online strategies within the article, here are just a few.

Facebook • More than 10,000 websites use Facebook Connect, a service that lets Facebook users log in to affiliated sites using their Facebook account and share information from those sites with their Facebook friends. • About 30 million Facebook members access it through mobile devices.

Twitter • Twitter users spend 66% more dollars on the Internet than non-Twitter users, says market researcher ComScore.

LinkedIn • LinkedIn has more than 365,000 company profiles. More than 12 million small-business professionals are members of LinkedIn.

MySpace • More than 1 million small businesses and individuals promote their goods and services on MySpace.

Smartphones power the trend As smartphones such as iPhone and BlackBerry take off, more people are updating their Facebook and Twitter profiles while on the move. Smartphone shipments are expected to surge to 164 million this year, up 13% from 2008, says market researcher Forward Concepts.The mobile social-networking industry is expected to become a $3.3 billion market worldwide by 2013, ABI Research predicts.

Be sure to check out the full article from USA Today.

Get the best use out of your pictures.

One of the best ways to keep a visitor's attention throughout a website is by using pictures to accent pages. Sure, killer content, design and media are other ways to draw attention, but we're focusing on pictures right now. The right picture in the right place gives each page a theme, and sends a message in one glance. It comes down to one thing: images take less time to absorb than any other media. What many people don't know is how to make images more effective on their site. Take these extra steps to make the viewing experience ten times better.

Select good stock

Some people are more selective than others when choosing images. The Internet has a sea of photos that are available for use, but stock photography sites are great sources to find the images you need. Some stock sites have membership fees, and some are completely free. No matter the cost, you will avoid copyright infringement and have many images at your disposal when you use stock sites. A favorite blog, Smashing magazine recently published a compilation of stock photography sites, complete with a comparison table at the end.

Size up your pics

If your images are loading very slowly, or are blurry or pixellated, you are in need of a re-sizing tool. When a photo takes a long time to load, it means that the image is a large file and will take a longer time for the browser to process. When pictures are pixellated, it means they are smaller files that have been stretched to cover a larger area. Re-sizing tools adjust images proportionally so that they look right on your web page. If you do not already have a re-sizer on your computer, they are usually free to add on, and do not take up much space. Check out our favorite re-sizing tool for Mac.

Presentation is Key

Most photo editors allow extra effects to be added for a polished effect. You can add borders to your images, align them around text, and put buffer space between the image and other content. By making these extra changes, the page will be more attractive to viewers.

Optimization

It's important to describe your pictures in your content. Search engines cannot read images, and will not pick up on valuable content on your without a short descriptor. Making these extra steps part of your image adding and editing process has a few benefits that will save you time and frustration in the end.

Default font faces to be updated @ Google

Google announced they will be changing the default AdSense font type. Testing revealed to Google that different font types and styles work better in different ad formats and the network is changing to try and optimize ad unit performance. The default font faces launching for the ad units include:
• Arial: 728×90, 336×280, 120×600, 120×240
• Verdana: 300×250, 160×600, 468×60, 250×250, 234×60, 125×125, 180×150
• Times New Roman: 200×200

Now is a good time to test how each of these ad sizes and unit fonts perform on your own sites. What has worked best for you in the past?

Conversion Rates Don’t Vary Much with Ad Position @ Google

Google released data which seems to indicate that ad position does not affect conversion rates for single advertisements.

Google’s Chief Economist Hal Varian stated that many advertisers believe that since Google ranks ads by the bid x ad quality, those ads in higher positions tend to have higher quality which leads to higher conversion rates. Clearly a correlation between auction position and conversion rates but Varian argues that “the real question is how the conversion rate for the same ad would change if it were displayed in a different position.”

Varian and his team at Google have used a statistical model to account for this effect and found on average that there is very little variation in conversion rates by position for the same ad.

For example, for pages where 11 ads are shown the conversion rate varies by less than 5% across positions. In other words, an ad that had a 1.0% conversion rate in the best position, would have about a 0.95% conversion rate in the worst position, on average. Ads above the search results have a conversion rate within ±2% of right-hand side positions. Have you seen better conversion rates from keywords you have a top position for, or is your conversion rate fairly steady for a single ad?

Is It Time For a New Logo?

What does your logo say about your company? You might find that your logo is a little outdated, or no longer fits with the services that you provide. You may also find that your company has grown to become very different from the logo that represents you. Changing your branding midstream can be done. Revamping your look will show that you are willing to grow in the ever changing market, no matter what business you are in.

You may feel "stuck" with the same design because you fear that your customers will not recognize you, or that they will think your company has new owners. Creating a new look, while keeping some of the same familiar elements of the old logo is a great way to avoid starting from scratch with your design. Check out the article below, which talks about some big names that decided a new look was just what they needed. To name a few: Apple, IBM, Starbucks....they didn't all start out with powerful and recognizable branding. If they can do it, you can too!

Yahoo Finance - Whats in a New Logo?
Article and Images Courtesy of Yahoo Finance.





Too Legit to Spam

One of the biggest challenges for email marketers is getting their messages past spam filters and into the inboxes of their audience. Spam filters have become complex, intelligent barriers on an email's journey between sender and receiver. Spam filters are added, yet necessary complications. Spam filters are like forts. They have an outer wall that screens for obvious spam, as well as inner security that scans the full content of the email. While email platforms have different strategies when it comes to spam, there are a few methods that increase your chances of getting your marketing messages to their final destination.

Remember...

Spam happens

There's a lot of spam floating around out there. Let's be honest, it's kind of gross. Valueless promotions (probably rip-offs) are sent every day to purchased lists of emails. These messages are what spam filters guard against. As spam makers get smarter, it gets harder for spam filters to distinguish between what is trash and what isn't. The idea is to always send emails that are the opposite of spam. However, even the best emails get marked as spam. As long as the percentage of these emails is low (about 10-20%), you can consider your campaign a success in the spam department.

Enthusiasm = Obnoxious

Putting a little passion into your work is always attractive to readers. Quality is recognized and appreciated. Screaming to your readers in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS BAD FORM. Using neon text colors is also annoying for readers. Anything promotional, gaudy, or in any way resembling the Las Vegas strip is usually marked as spam.

Avoid Wipeouts

Messages sent in bulk are associated with spam. Big waves of emails trigger alerts in spam filters. Send your emails in little waves, or segment your list into groups.

Keep it Clean

Naturally, you want to steer clear of racy subjects. I'm talking about working on a clean, clear-cut layout. Don't dump content wherever it fits; carefully place text, pictures, logo, etc within the email. Have clearly defined sections with titles, subtitles, and banners. Make it look pretty, and everyone will be happy.

Do Unto Others...

You want to receive emails from trusted sources. You don't want your email address bought and sold on vast commercial lists. When creating and sending to your own lists, do the following:

• Send only to contacts who you know, or who subscribed to you
• Provide a reminder in every email about why people are receiving the message
• Use merge tags to personalize emails with contact names and interests
• Before you send your first email to a large list, send an "opt out" email. This tells contacts that they are signed up to receive regular emails from you. If you have been collecting contacts for a long time, but haven't sent anything, this is a courtesy.

Avoid the Gossip Mill

Spam filters are great watchdogs. They are also busybodies. In order to be successful, spam filters communicate their activity to each other. If one of them notices spam from you, most likely others will mark your ISP address as a spam source.

Though there is a lot to watch out for when sending mass emails, following these general rules leads to successful delivery, and happy recipients.

Selfless Design

I often hear from clients and even other designers, "I want ..." or "I have to have". Although the client should always be more than satisfied with their website project, I do believe that sometimes it is easy to lose sight of exactly who we are creating the website for, and why we're doing it. Instead of focusing on personal taste, ask yourself what you think would be good for your users and good for the general functionality of your site. After all, you won't be using your website, your users will. Take yourself out of the equation.

Here are some things you can ask yourself when changing or thinking up new ideas for your site.

• What will be gained/lost by adding/removing this change or idea?
  Will this change or idea complicate, or compliment your design or process? Anytime we are adding something new or changing something old, we are changing the mechanics of, and are altering how your user interact with your site. Make sure what you're adding should be there. Ask yourself if something more effective could be in its place
  .
• Is this the most efficient way of conveying this message?
  Anytime you have alterations you need to make, or anytime you have a new idea you'd like to present, ask yourself if you are doing it in the most efficient manner possible. How will your users use or interpret your change or idea. What can be simplified? Things can always be simplified.
   
• What is an even better idea?
  When you go to buy a car, you don't look at one car and drive off the lot, you look at many of them and take the best one; do the same process with your ideas. Anytime someone has an idea, no matter what it is, try to think of a better one. You'll be surprised with what you can improve on your current idea by thinking up alternative ways to do the same thing. Get feedback! All in all, if you are unsure of your ideas, pitch them to other people. More often than not, you'll find that other people's views on your idea are not what you think! Even if their idea isn't in line with what you're looking for, it could spark some new ideas of your own. Keep an open ear and an open mind!

Benefits of a Content Management System (CMS)

As a recently hired employee of ROCKET MEDIA, I have discovered the benefits of a content management system (CMS) for website owners.
 

• Allows employees to be responsible for content in their area of expertise with access to manage it themselves
• 24/7 accessibility to the website for content additions/adjustments
• Ability to make changes as you see fit within template guidelines
• Have control over what goes on your website and when
• Better sense of ownership - More pride in a website you’ve developed
• Complimentary training and support with the CMS integration
• Have as much or as little input as you want on your website content

“Facebook: How To Effectively Engage Others On Social Networks”


Event Re-Cap: “Facebook: How To Effectively Engage Others On Social Networks”
Event Date: Tuesday, Aug. 11th 2009, 6pm-8pm

This event was put on by the Arizona Interactive Marketing Association (AZIMA). We gathered at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel, which is located right off of Mill Ave., in Tempe. The turn-out was great! Tons of top marketing representatives from all over the Phoenix metro. There was an hour of social networking, mixing and mingling with great people, and then we were all called into a large ballroom for the, much anticipated, presentation put on by Facebook’s marketing staff representatives. To start the presentation, Facebook’s most recent social media usage trends were shared in a PowerPoint presentation. Below are a few highlights that I found interesting.

These stats should be very compelling for companies that may be considering the idea of jumping into Facebook “engagement ads” (paid ads). 

• Facebook makes up 73% of the Internet’s population.
• Facebook has over 250 million users worldwide and 70 million users from the USA alone.
• The average user spends about 5 hours on Facebook per week.
• Of the total usage population, 57% are female and 43% are male.
• The largest populated age demographic is the 35+ segment.
• 47% of moms use Facebook, the average spending about 8 hours per week on Facebook and of those moms surveyed.

The marketing team noted that when creating engagement ads and promotions for your company on Facebook, always make sure that your campaign solves one of the “5 Main Emotional Benefits” that users are most apt to be engaged by.
1. Connection
2. Discovery
3. Escape
4. Control
5. Status
After the main emotional benefits for using Facebook were explained, the Facebook crew briefly discussed: Engagement Ads, Pages and Case Studies of large companies using Facebook. The Facebook marketing representatives were very knowledgeable and had tons of ideas to share with the room full of Phoenix Marketing and PR professionals. It was a great event and we look forward to more just like it put on by AZIMA!

ROCKET MEDIA Resources: ROCKET MEDIA's Facebook Page

Contact ROCKET MEDIA to help your company strategize its Social Media campaigns.



Video Engagement Video Report

New Research Finds 68 Percent of Respondents Watch Videos During the Day With Consumer Behavior and Consumption Evolving, Study Uncovers New Way to Measure Video Engagement Online.

An interesting study released today by Yahoo! Inc., Interpret LLC, Havas Digital, Warner Bros. Media Research, and PHD explores how consumers interact with online video, and how marketers can use this information to drive greater engagement with their target audiences online.

The new engagement model identifies three key measurement variables, including completion of the video (a strong indicator of engagement), attention to content (a strong indicator of passion and the potential opportunity to make an ad impression), and actions taken (before, during, or after watching the streaming video).

It should come as no surprise that high engagement videos are what drive consumer behavior. High engagement levels translate into high satisfaction for viewers, high brand recall for advertisers, a greater inclination for consumers to seek product information, and potentially more money for publishers. According to the study:

27 percent of respondents who remembered seeing an ad searched for more information about the product featured after watching high engagement videos, versus only 13 percent for low engagement videos. 28 percent visited the website of an advertised brand or product after viewing a high engagement video, versus only 10 percent for low engagement videos. High engagement videos account for nearly half (47 percent) of ad recall.

“This propensity for sharing and ad recall translates into improved viral ‘buzz’ for advertisers and their ads – if they take advantage of online video opportunities properly,” said Liz Huszarik, senior vice president, Warner Bros. Media Research.

Perhaps most interesting was that the study showed spikes in online video consumption among men, women, students and full-time employees during the hours of 12 p.m.- 3 p.m., and then again between 9 p.m.- 1 a.m. Regardless of time of day, one-third of people who watch a video share it with friends, family members and colleagues.

View Article Source - Yahoo! Press Room

Blogging - The Finer Feature

When deciding on the finer points of a site makeover, many companies attempt to cut corners to save on the initial cost. They opt out of Content Management Systems, Social Media, Email Marketing, and Blogging services (among others). While these features may seem peripheral to website function and therefore unnecessary, companies that choose to omit them from their online strategy find themselves behind in the end.This image in used by the permission of http://www.weblogcartoons.com/. Blogging in particular is one area that companies skip in order to save a few dollars. They may or may not have a blog, which they might occasionally revisit. In most cases, a blog gets left in the dust. It is easy to see that design and content are the structure of a website. A closer look shows that the blog is the beating heart, pumping out information and nourishing business, and Internet marketing. Professional blogging services take a site to the next level. Here's how:

First Impression = Big Impact

The first time a potential client visits your site they look at it closely. They want to find out if your company is competent. They want to see something that relates to them. They don’t spend a lot of time doing this. Once a visitor sees what services a company offers, they need something to spur more exploration. A blog in the main navigation says “Hey! Click here! Check me out! I’m the interesting part”. A blog gives opportunities to display a variety of subjects, which shows that the company does know what they’re talking about. The more entries, the more likely that the blog will provide the information visitors want.

Coming back for more

Once someone has seen your site, they know that they will find the same “about” page and the same “contact” form. The blog is the part of the site that changes. Supplying useful information will encourage people to refer to you in the future.

Internet Marketing

This is the number one sales pitch about blogs. Search Engine crawlers look for sites that are not stagnant. Regular and pertinent blog entries attract search engines to the site. Linking blog entries to related and affiliate sites will increase your ranking as well.

Personality

Sharing your company’s unique qualities adds a personal tone to the site. The more people feel like they know you, the more likely they are to ask for your services. Supplementing entries with media, such as pictures and videos boosts the personal factor too. To some, “blog” is just a silly tech word. For those who know the ins and outs of blogging, it’s one of the best tools on the Internet. Learn more about ROCKET MEDIA's Blogging services.

Community Manager Resolution Advice

In social media marketing for businesses, brand and company community mangers may find themselves in a constant spot light. Feeling as though what ever they submit is up for criticism or compliment and it is up to the community to decide. This is a very touchy position to be in especially when representing your entire company or brand. My own advice to community managers out there - Always put yourself in the consumer's point of view before submitting your posts/comments/blogs/etc. The consumer wants to know that you are down to business, always working for them and on their side. If they have a complaint, do what is mentioned in the article below, start working on resolving it immediately. If they have a question or request, get on it! I really like the point made below that instructs community managers to stay in touch even after the complaint has been resolved. Personally, if I had a complaint with a company, it was resolved and then they contacted me later, just to see if everything is going well, I would feel a bond to that company because I know they really care. The article listed below by Doug Meacham and Chris Brogan outlines the main resolution tips to keep in mind. Try to apply them to your campaigns. Good luck! You are Always On (Chris Brogan) This post by Doug Meacham is interesting. It reports on a Twitter exchange between Doug and Best Buy CMO Barry Judge, where Barry comes off as a bit harsh and off his game. The comments in the post are the best, and there’s a great perspective shared by Scott Monty of Ford. I’m not going to analyze the exchange further myself. Instead, I’ve got a few pointers for people who find themselves as the stewards of their company’s brand, regardless of their level (intern or CMO). You Are ALWAYS On (Doug Meachan) As representative of the brand, you are always on. The lights, camera, action started when you lit up the social channel. People judge the whole experience, not the best moments. That said, here are some thoughts for when moments come up where you feel a little sub-par, or when someone catches you off-guard. Here’s one way to consider approaching the problem resolution that leads to these kinds of issues.
• Step away from the mic. Services like Twitter aren’t magical. We type into them. If you’re feeling a bit heated, take a step back. Speed of response is important, but so is level-headedness. Take a break for a moment. Step away.
• Disarm. It’s one of the best things Stephen Covey ever taught about human relations. When someone’s on the attack, accept that they see things differently. Embrace that. It also relates to the fabulous method, the three A’s: acknowledge, apologize, act.
• Apologize. Don’t necessarily assume blame, but apologize for the other party’s frustration. Restate what he or she has shared with you. “I’m sorry for your frustration. It sounds like you feel unheard.”
• Offer an offline connection. In social-media-based customer service, one of the most important shifts is to move into a more one-on-one medium like phone or email. There are two reasons: 1 is that it’s more personal ; 2 is that logging an entire customer service resolution in real time on the web isn’t always useful to either party.
• Engage the right people for the job. You might not be the right person to bring resolution. Don’t hold onto a problem for a long time before you realize this. Move all issues through internal channels, so that the people who can resolve the issue get involved quickly.
• Check back a few days after resolution. A nice move is to connect with the person who raised the issue a few days after it has been resolved (whether or not this was to the satisfaction of the customer, it shows that you care). If the problem is taking a while to resolve, a mid-solution check-in isn’t bad, either.
This Could Be You There are plenty of days when I know better than to jump into Twitter or start lashing out on blogs. I’m human. So are you. We all let the world get to us from time to time. Don’t be so quick to judge or to take the high-and-mighty response. There’ll be a day when your chips are down. As more and more of us are finding our way into the role of trust agent for our organization, in some regard or another, I predict we’ll have more and more experiences like the one Doug chronicled. Hopefully, we’ll have tools in place to help us be human and friends to keep us sane in the mean time. Say cheese. Photo credit Saquan Stimpson/monstershaq2000 Original Article Link

June 2009 Search Engine Rankings | ComScore

It's important to continually measure and review the mechanisms for which you advertise in. The report below is direct from ComScore.

In June 2009, Americans conducted more than 14 billion core searches, with Google Sites accounting for 65.0 percent search market share. Microsoft Sites grabbed 8.4 percent market share, a 0.4 percentage point gain versus May, after introducing its new search engine, Bing.

June 2009 U.S. Core Search Rankings
Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in June with 65.0 percent of the searches conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites (19.6 percent), and Microsoft Sites (8.4 percent). Ask Network captured 3.9 percent of the search market, followed by AOL LLC with 3.1 percent

.

* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

Americans conducted 14 billion searches in June, down slightly from May. Google Sites accounted for 9.1 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites (2.8 billion), Microsoft Sites (1.2 billion), Ask Network (552 million) and AOL LLC (439 million).



* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

June 2009 U.S. Expanded Search Rankings
In the June 2009 analysis of the top properties where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the search market with 13.1 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.9 billion. Microsoft Sites ranked third with 1.2 billion searches, up 3 percent from May, followed by AOL LLC with 736 million. Facebook.com experienced the highest growth of the top ten expanded search properties with a 9-percent increase.



Source: comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace.

How Can I Measure Success?

In order to quantify the effectiveness of your web effort, you should determine what a particular action is worth to you - what is the value of an email address vs. a phone number vs. an appointment vs. a sale? Knowing this will help you determine the return on your investment for any, or all, of the strategies mentioned above.

The web's greatest marketing advantage is its ability to test different methods quickly and cheaply. You can set up different landing pages on your web site that will greet visitors from multiple sources, so you can measure which communications are more successful and traffic-generating. Each page serves as a "front door" to your sire, so the information presented needs to be relevant to the ad or site from which the user is coming.

Ultimately, much of the expertise you use to run your business can be applied online. With the basic understanding of how the web operates and how customers use the web, you can make the Internet a powerful marketing tool for your business.

How Can Search Engines Build My Online Profile?

Search engines are the primary way people find information online, so it's important to have a strategy that combines both natural and paid search to help your website be more prominent via this channel. Natural-search results are those which the system returns automatically based on how popular sites are, while paid search generally refers to the ads that appear adjacent to the natural results.

Since complex algorithms are used by search engines to generate natural-search results, great technical expertise is required in this arena. One approach to begin with is to identify and ask the owners if the related web sites to link to yours, as the more sites that link to you, the higher your site will be ranked by the search engines.

Data from the research firm Eyetools indicate that 70 percent of the clicks occur on natural-search placements; this avenue can be a good option for many businesses as results are seen more quickly and require less expertise to execute.

Website Design: How Much is Too Much?

When planning a site, it's easy to make a list of the features you want. It's also easy for that list to become long and complicated. We're very supportive of sites that are up-to-date and use the latest technology, but we also think that too much STUFF can get in the way. Here are a few pointers on how to get your design just right.

Focus on Your Goals

Add features that facilitate site goals. If you want to entertain, direct visitors toward your entertainment. If you want to sell a product, make lots of calls to action. Anything that detracts from your website goals is not helpful to you.

Bare is Bad. Busy is Bad.

People can surf through sites fast. You want yours to draw enough attention for people to stay and look. On the other hand, a cluttered site comes off as a dizzying frenzy of content, which drives people away as well. Create a happy medium.

Need > Want

Stick with what you need. Flash banners and music are fun additions, but they take longer to load and are sometimes unwanted by visitors. Don't add features that frustrate users.

My Site’s In Shape, How Do I Attract Visitors?

Your online marketing is a natural extension of what you do offline. Many customers become aware of your site through your current marketing activities, so give your web address (or URL) a prominent position on all of your business cards, mailings and advertisements. The more ways you can think of to get your web address seen, the more traffic you can expect at your site. Moreover, if you have a network of like-minded business partners who routinely provide referrals, it could be a good idea to link to each other's web sites. Creating an "email-a-friend" link from the product information pages of your site also encourages visitors to pass on your information and drives more traffic to your homepage.

Another way to get people to notice your web site is through affiliate marketing, in which links to your site appear on sites that cover subjects related to your business. As your affiliates promote your site, you pay them an agreed-upon sum for each sale they generate. It's possible to arrange affiliate relationships directly via your network of customers or vendors, but if your goal is scale, there are many firms from which to choose. Sites such as Linkshare and Commission Junction can oversee the process - from identifying suitable affiliates to keeping track of the billing.

Do I Need To Invest In Stand-Out Web Design?

A unique and innovative web design can create a buzz, which can work as a useful support, but shouldn't necessarily be the goal you set out to achieve for its own sake. If you have access to the design talent, you might want to try creating a strong visual impact or intriguing interactive effect but not at the expense of getting the basics right. A good checklist is:
• Is your site simple to understand and easy to navigate?
• Does it load quickly?
• Is it relevant and focused on customer information?
• Does it provide customers with an easy way to contact you?
It's important to be practical about your site's layout so that it attracts and retains your customers' attention, whether it's about product display or the delivery of your sales pitch. In either case, your web site should be customer-centric, staying focused on helping your visitors with their decision-making process.

Affiliate Disclosure

Since December 2006, The Federal Trade Commission has required marketers to disclose their connection to affiliate links on the Internet. This applies to blogs, podcasts, social media pages, customer reviews, and any other media by which word – of – mouth marketing is exercised. This week, the FTC made public their plans to target bloggers who don’t adhere to this requirement. Basically, this means that if you promote anyone on your blog, podcast, etc; you need to tell how you are connected to them, especially if you work for them. While some look at this regulation as one more stuffy rule to follow, most well – known bloggers view it as a way for blogs to be more trusted sources of information. It also weeds out bias in what is ideally an honest environment. Some bloggers have been cashing in on the opportunity to plug a company for monetary and other incentives instead of posting their honest opinion. The Washington Post covers the problems in more detail . The FTC’s actions will bump blog reputability to a new level. Not only will corrupted sources be plucked, but bloggers who desire a good reputation will actively contribute to their blog quality. Brian Clark of Copyblogger, one of my daily sources for blog information, has a great article on how to disclose in a more suave manner. Some of his advice is to be honest and to have confidence in your disclosure – two great and simple rules to follow. Disclosing your affiliates doesn’t detract from your content. Referencing an affiliate is like giving your friends an online shout out. With the Internet being an exchange of information, those who you disclose can return the favor. It’s beneficial to your blog and your reputation as a blogger.

Internet Causes Historical Postal Rate Hike

Internet accessibility is more prominent and necessary than ever in our society, but having the world at our fingertips comes at a price.  Do we rely on communicating through the Internet so much that we have almost completely cut out the need for our US Postal Service?

The convenience of the world wide web has eliminated the need to send out a paper invoice or a hand written letter to mom, and the Postal Service is suffering, forcing rates to be driven up. In 1885, a first class letter cost two cents. Now as of May 22, 2009, postage rates have increased to 44 cents making this the sixth rate increase since the turn of the century.

Email newsletters, online forms, blogs and forums, instant chat services, online shopping, instant access to newspaper and magazines articles online. We have come further than our ancestors could have ever dreamed and built a society that relies on technology to survive, but have we eliminated the need for our postal service in the process?

To read more, check out this article historical stamp price increase.

A Popular, Quality Web Browser

The latest browser news on the web: Apple’s Safari 4 reach 11 million downloads in the first three days of availability. After testing the Beta version of the software in February, many people were happy with what it had to offer. So happy, it seems, that they were waiting by their computers to press the “install” button.

While the reviews have differing reports (some say that is doesn’t keep up with other browsers, where others say Safari 4 is exceptional in it’s usability), we are on the positive side. Apple products are well marketed, well packaged, and well – delivered. But you get more than just pretty packaging with them – you get a high quality product.

According to a Computer World review, Safari 4 has faster search capabilities. Compared to other popular browsers Mozilla Firefox 3.5 and Google Chrome, Safari 4 had an average search time of 0.54 seconds. Chrome clocked in at 1.14 seconds and Firefox had 2.82.

CNET News said that Safari 4 has a “polished” look, “better search abilities”, and that it “takes advantage of site revisitation”.

Specific features of Safari 4 are detailed in a previous post “Safari 4 Beta”.

What we like about Safari 4: It is a great tool for web developers. Safari 4 understands many different kinds of code (internet language), including the most recent HTML 5 and CSS 3. It is also compatible with Macintosh Operating Systems as well as Windows.

Safari 4 has an interface that takes the abstraction out of the internet. It works as an interactive tool.

We recommend Safari for any browsing needs!

10 Steps to Setting Up a Facebook Business Page

Facebook is generally one of the main social networks that people choose to start with when getting their feet wet in social media for their business. The following is a list of 10 general steps in setting up a business Facebook page!

Step 1: In order to setup and run a business Facebook page, you must first setup a personal Facebook profile. 



The personal profile can have as much or as little personal information as you want. For you people out there that want to share as little personal information as possible, the main things that are required are your name, email, and birth date. These are required in order to:



• Help you socialize and help friends find you (name)

• Have a way to help you out if you ever loose your password (email)
• Verify you aren’t a bot/spammer (all)
• Make sure you are of legal age to be seeing certain things (birth date)

If you are still hesitant to share this information, you can make up the name and birth date and you could create an extra yahoo or gmail email address to use specifically for your social media accounts. Before you can begin filling your profile with your information, you will be asked to verify your email address by logging into your email that you provided Facebook, finding the verification email that Facebook sent you and clicking on their provided link. From there you are able to proceed in completing your personal profile.

Step 2: Once your personal Facebook profile is created, you are ready to create your business page.

Follow this LINK to create your business page. Make sure you are already logged in to Facebook with your personal profile. Choose your category, fill in the name of your business as you would like it to be searched in Facebook and type in your electronic signature under the authorization button. The electronic signature name that you type in must match the name that you have listed for your personal profile. Keep in mind also, that the name you choose for your business page should be the general name people/clients/customers/staff know you as. Stay away from abbreviations and other random names.

Step 3: Fill in your business information. 



You will see an image square at the top left hand side of the page. When you wave your mouse icon through that box you will see a link appear that allows you to add a profile picture. Choose that link and upload your company’s logo as a .jpg or .psd. When your logo is up, look for the “Info” tab at the top middle of the page. Select that tab and continue to fill out the suggested information for your business. Be sure to select the save button after each section you fill in so that you don’t loose your content. Note that none of the information that you input is permanent, you can always go back and edit anything you put on your page.

Step 4: Become a fan of your own page.

As people become a fan of your page you will see their personal profile pictures appear in the “Fans” box. Become the first fan of your business page by clicking the “Become a Fan” link at the top of your business page. The link should be in light blue. Once you select the link and refresh your page you will see your personal profile icon appear as the first fan in the fans box, on the left hand side of your page, below the company information. You are a fan now, ya!

New Like Button:

Old Become a Fan Button:

Step 5: Settings and “What’s on your mind?”



Choose the “Wall” tab which is at the top, to the left of the “Info” tab. You will see a box below the tabs that asks “What’s on your mind?”. This is where you can share links to helpful and related articles or thoughts for your fans to see. Fans of your Facebook business page can also write comments on your posts as well as leave their own posts for discussion. If you don’t want fans to be able to interact, you can fix that in the settings. The settings link is below the “What’s on your mind?” box on the right hand side. ROCKET MEDIA recommends putting your settings at “Posts by Page and Fans” as your view for wall, “Wall” as the landing tab and we select all check boxes because we want our fans to interact with us.

Step 6: Publish your page.

Under your business page logo there are a few links that you can go through to enhance your setup. Start by choosing “Edit Page”. This will walk you through all of the different controls you have for each section of your page. Starting with “Settings”, click on the small blue pencil icon to the right of the settings box. Choose the “Edit” link that appears in a drop down. Unless you have 18 and older content on your business page you will want to choose the “Anyone (13+)” option in the age restrictions area. Below that you will choose the “Published (publicly visible)” option for the published area. Publishing the page is the most important step of creating your page, otherwise you would be the only one able to see it, and what good will that do you?


Step 7: Jump In!

Review the boxes down the left side of your page and the other tabs across the top of the page. Feel free to fill them in with your company pictures, videos, events, Notes(blog feed), discussions, etc. Don’t be afraid of messing up, you can always go back and edit or delete.

Step 8: Stay on top of it.

You are making this business page to interact and share with your community of fans. It won’t be a highly visited page if you never update your page, so stay on top of it. Take pictures at team events, write blogs to share, create discussions but always stay relevant to your company and your industry.

Step 9: Returning to your business page.

If you can’t figure out how to get back to your business page after logging out of Facebook, here is your answer. You must first log in to your personal profile account to do anything. From there go down to the bottom of your window and select the button that looks like a small “f” with a blue and green background (image example below). A new screen will appear, look for the lower case link that says “View Page”, that will take you right to your business page and you will be able to edit, add and socialize from there! If this is a difficult operation for you to remember, you can always type in your business page title in the search bar at the top right of your screen.

Step 10: Make sure people know that your company has a Facebook page.

If your company does a monthly, bi-monthly or annual newsletter in email form or even as a mailer, try to have an article telling about your new page and sharing the link for people to find you. Tell your clients and associates to become a fan Include the link to your Facebook page in your email signature. Below is my email signature, feel free to mirror with your own information. You can also use ROCKET MEDIA's Facebook business page as an example for ideas for your own business page, just as long as you become a fan of our page too. Thanks for reading and good luck with your Facebook business page!

----------

Laura Kalkman
Director of Social Media & Marketing
ROCKET MEDIA
(480) 422-6134 :: Direct
(866) 346-9142 :: Fax
(800) 900-4958 :: Toll-Free x107
http://www.rocketmedia.com
Follow us on Twitter : @rocketmedia
Fan us on Facebook

Online Utilities

You might go to a mall go clothes shopping, or you might go to the grocery store to buy food. You might go to Costco to get both in bulk.

The web is swimming with sites trying to be the “Costco” of the Internet. It seems that every site has a place to “become a member”. Many web developers have seen the benefit of being everything to everyone. This concept is also advantageous to users. Life is easier when you only need to go to one place to get everything you need. When it comes to choosing the place to go, you have nothing but options. The problem is narrowing the selection.

Google is a very popular and successful site that provides a whole slew of utilities. Email, documents, media, news, finance, maps, books, shopping, and a customizable home page are all powered by the Google search engine. Open that all up in Google Chrome, and you're good to go.

While Google is a prime example, it is not the only utility powerhouse in cyberspace. MSN and Yahoo are also very powerful. Download - able applications are also available, like Flock for Social Media.

People are also clamoring to have the highest function of cell phone. The iPhone has provided a way for people to make their own applications and download the ones that make the most sense for their life.

Here's a video from the WWDC conference last week. This is a wall that shows all the iPhone applications, organized into the color spectrum. When an app is purchased, it pulses. 

So, when shopping for a utility for your life, which one do you love more? Consider these:

Price

MOST utilities are free. However, be prepared for a small cost on some. iPhone Applications most always have a free "lite" counterpart, but might not have all the bells and whistles you need. This does mean you need to invest in an iPhone first. Online utilities are the best way to go for cost freedom.

Lifestyle

While one person might never be without their phone, others prefer hopping on the computerfor the Internet. If you go home to your XBox or Playstation , those are great hubs of connectivity as well. Stick to whatever is the easiest for you to access.

Interface

Different technologies have different strengths. Some edit documents better. Some are better for games. Pick the one that works best for the activities you do most often and use that one the most. You don't need to hack down to one utility though - use the best one to get the job done.

Famous or Infamous?

A large portion of the selection online are start up companies with catchy names that lure you in, but might not last for very long. Consider the success of the company behind the utility. If it looks like it might go down soon, stay away. You don't want to waste time setting up and customizing an account just to have to do it all again soon.

What’s the Difference between DIY and Professionally Crafted Email Marketing?

Regular email posts to your contact list has marked benefits in customer retention and satisfaction. It comes down to this: people want to know that you care enough to inform them and give them deals.

Composing your own email campaigns is an inexpensive and easy road to getting the job done. The downside is missing out on the benefits of having your emails done professionally.

Email Strategy

Professional email marketers can optimize the frequency of your campaign, its segmentation, format, and the time of sending that will best promote your company. They can also help you achieve the ultimate goals of your email marketing.

Customization

You want your emails to resemble you, and not just use the same template that everyone else does. Knowing programming languages like HTML and CSS are essential to email customization. Skilled professionals can whip up a custom template that fits your content and your strategy perfectly.

Graphics

Crisp and clean, artistic and edgy… No matter your style, a good graphic designer can make a template that will make your email shine. They can incorporate your logo, make mini banners, and make your email a unique extension of your website. Good use of graphics make all the elements of the email flow together, instead of looking boxy. They also use your space wisely, so that you take advantage of your full email real estate.

Analytics

Another plus is having professionals to analyze the reception of your campaigns and plan for the future. They have tips and tricks to get your click rate higher, and get more readers to your site. Professionals may also have their own Analytics systems that can connect to your site and let your view results there too.

Professional assistance helps get past the roadblocks people face when doing DIY email marketing. The results are great, and they take less time to achieve. To learn more about ROCKET MEDIA’s email marketing services, click here.

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The Game Projection

Getting what you want when you want it is no longer being spoiled…it’s part of life. With technology like the iPhone and like models, we are able to access anything online at any time.

Businesses of all types are embracing this. Last week, the San Francisco Giants launched their Digital Dugout, which lets iPhone and IPod touch users see the score of the game, see game highlights, and find a concession stand near them. Features like this will likely be available on more models in the future.

Along with the idea of Web 3.0, where the Internet is a “smarter” web of information, media and real time stats, applications like the Giants’ Digital Dugout are a move toward connectivity at all times and places. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.

We already have connectivity when running around the park with Nike + Ipod, and communicate internationally with message translation in gmail. Facebook announced its new OpenID status, that will allow users to connect to facebook through anywhere on the internet. The list goes on. One of our essential accessories is our mobile connection - we are never without it.

Here is Microsoft’s view of accessibility and connectivity in the future. (Yes, we are Mac people here at ROCKET MEDIA, but this commercial is a great example.)  Finally here is what we might do if we took a step down in technology.

The Power of Suggestion

Thanks to the recent experience of a friend, I have a renewed respect for review and recommendation sites like Yelp and Get Satisfaction. These sites are hubs for online opinion sharing, which has a powerful pull on consumers and companies alike. My friend had been having a hard time with his family - owned cabinet and remodeling business. Because of the economy, he had fewer clients. He finally put out an ad on Craigslist and got a job doing small repair jobs for a day. The woman who hired him liked him so much that she posted a raving review (the only review of his company) on Yelp. My friend did not know anything about Yelp, and was surprised when he got two calls for major remodeling jobs just from one reference. He got just what he needed. From a consumer’s point of view, if I am looking for a place where I can get my kitchen redone, I want a place where I can sort the good contractors from the bad. While I might rely on my friends for leads on who they have used for their kitchens in the past, my main resource will be the internet. Sites like Yelp not only let you see the reviews of others, but allow you to post your own opinions. There is also a rating system for reviewers, so that you have a better idea of who you can trust. From a business point of view, review sites let you get feedback on your services. ROCKET MEDIA invites their clients to post on Get Satisfaction. We recently decided to put “Give Feedback” links to our Get Satisfaction site in our email signatures, blogs and newsletters. We want to know what people think. It goes beyond business reviews though. Yelp has a section on events, where past and future events can be commented on. So say you are looking for something to do this weekend. With Yelp, you can see what is coming up, how people liked last months event, and if people are planning to go this weekend. Many people trust the review of a complete stranger over the review of a company about itself. People are looking for a good experience, and are willing to weed out the companies they don’t want in order to find the ones they do want. Overall, review sites are part of the social bridge between business and clients. Check them out! ROCKET MEDIA on Yelp Give Us Feedback Fan Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter

Twitter’s Big News has Huge Implications for Search

Twitter's VP of Operations, Santosh Jayaram, has come out and said that Twitter will soon start crawling and indexing links included in tweets. That's big.

Take a look at TinyURL's home page - they claim more than 222 million links have been shrunk for Twitter. That's without the host of other services out there like budurl, cli.gs, bit.ly and any number of others. That's an enormous index of content available to be crawled. And it's all been taking place in under three years.

Another interesting factor is the analytics data available from link shrinking services like budURL, bit.ly and cli.gs. In fact, in no small coincidence, Twitter's default link shrinker recently switched from TinyURL to bit.ly - meaning that if a user tweets a long link, bit.ly will automatically shrink it. Now, Twitter has access to all the analytics data from those links. It's easy to see those links with the highest number of clicks, those that have been forwarded the most, etc. You can bet that will figure in the rankings. It's also a good argument to start using bit.ly to shrink your links for Twitter. Jayaram also confirmed a reputation ranking system. Details are few, but it's conceivable that a user's number of followers, retweets and other social factors will be considered when ranking pages linked within Twitter.

That leads to the most compelling possibility - Web pages could be ranked according to user interest and relationships with other users. So, rather than relying on incoming links and - dare it be said, SEO - links to Web pages and their content could be ranked by actual user interest and how relevant that content is to you those in your Twitterverse (followers and those you follow). And another factor - how many times have you searched for something to get results from a page more than five years old? That could be far less of a problem with Twitter search. In essence, we're looking at a type of semantic search, often discussed as search's Holy Grail.

What does this mean to you? Get cracking on building your profile in Twitter. Not only your number of followers, but the quality of the links you tweet, and pay close attention to those links you retweet. It also means building a solid profile - making strong, meaningful and relevant connections.

This goes well beyond a "better" search for Twitter. It's hinting at a new, user-centric way to search the entire Web.

Did that 800 pound gorilla just shudder?

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The article you just reviewed was written by Mike Phillips.

Website Workout



Taking a good look at your website (instead of a quick glance in passing) can be introspective and scary, but it is a necessary evaluation. You may look your site up and down and be completely satisfied. This is wonderful! Get out there and strut your stuff. On the other hand, you may wonder how all of a sudden, your site looks more like a word document than an interactive, multi - dimensional online representation of your company. Where did those empty links come from? Has it really been that long since your last blog post? Not to worry. Life is busy and the best of sites often go without updates while we check off other items on our to-do lists. A few exercises will help get your site back on track.

Nutrition

You are what you...admire. Look for inspiration and new ideas from your favorite sites. Also, look at sites that share the same function or target audience as yours. This will shed light on how you can improve your site and be different for everyone else.

Shed A Few Pounds

Delete any graphics or words that repeat or aren’t needed. Repeating content is monotonous to visitors, and makes search engines more likely to skip over your site.

Increase Your Reps

Continuously add content to your site via blogs, news, or your portfolio. Search engines gravitate toward fresh information. People are constantly searching for something new. You don’t have to update the world on what you are doing every day (that’s what Twitter is for), but a routine of adding content makes a strong website.

Rotate Workouts

While always keeping in mind your site as a whole, focus on different components and pages of your site. Look specifically at your home page, or on your layout. Also, seek out the opinions of others at your company. Perhaps they can assist in writing blogs or give insight into what really stands out on the Internet these days.

Get A Membership

Go to a place where everyone has a common goal. Signing up for a social media networking account is a great way to communicate with other businesses, current and potential customers and the public in general. Join niche communities for groups looking to improve their sites. Social media links people to your site, and facilitates a connect with the online community.

Clean Up

Workouts can knock the wind right out of you, but be sure to clean house when you're done. Picking up your yoga mat or lining up your weights at the end of a workout is just like checking the internal and external links on your website. Also, check your facts for accuracy and spell check your content. If in doubt, a workout partner is always a good motivator.

Contact ROCKET MEDIA today and we'll help you out.

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Social Media Driving Business for Small Firms

Below is an article (link no longer accessable through The Chicago Tribune) we found that highlights small to medium size companies, from all over, that are now implementing social media marketing into their business plans. All cases discuss the positive business growth that they are receiving because of their campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Article: Facebook, Twitter, Other Social Media Help Drive Business For Small Firms (article link no longer accessible through www.chicagotribune.com) The most significant information in the article is the following excerpt.

"While just a few years ago the mediums were associated with the teenage and 20-something sets, that's changed. Two-thirds of all online users visit social networks and blogs, according to data from Nielsen Online. And the largest growth in social media users last year came from the 35- to 49-year-old group."

This is a shocking fact that business owners and decision makers are not realizing. It is important to find your audience in these networks and to start addressing them.

The most common complaint that we hear about social media for businesses is, "I don't have the time to learn, setup and maintain all of these accounts for my company".

Well, get excited! You can now outsource your social media needs for setup, training, optimization and maintenance to ROCKET MEDIA!

Let us know if you would like to learn more about our services.



Words 2.0

During a normal day, we talk about what is going on in our lives. We talk about what we did at work and what we watched on TV. We talk about what websites we have discovered, and complain about how the DVR is broken. As we do this, we don’t think we are doing anything abnormal. But the same words we use every day are words our grandparents might not understand. (Although some grandparents are very good with keeping up with the times). Most of the new jargon we have added to our vocabulary can be attributed to the Internet. Words like Web 2.0, blog, and anything with an “e” or “i” preceding the word are new to our time. New technology not only brings new concepts to us, but new words and new slang. With new inventions popping up as fast as they are, it’s important to stay on top of what is happening. Here’s how:

Use the latest technology

This doesn’t mean you have to run out and grab new gadgets. Stay in an get online. Social Media is the latest invention to sweep everyone off their feet. It’s also free. People are discussing future developments in every area imaginable, so participate in those and you will keep up with the pack.

E- News

Whether it be via feeds, or actually visiting the New York Times page, stay up on news. The major newspapers update their news as close to real time as possible.

Share

Using Social Media, share your ideas or discomforts about current events. Troubleshoot about your DVR over Twitter. Information isn’t just something that comes to you. It can be catered to you if you just ask a question or give a statement.

Learn more about Social media Give Feedback Request a quote from ROCKET Media

March 2009 Search Engine Market Share | Nielsen Online



Google
March: 64.2%
February: 63.5%
Change: +0.7

January 2009: 62.8%
Change: +1.4

Yahoo
March: 15.8%
February: 16.7%
Change: -0.9

January 2009: 16.2%
Change: -0.4

MSN
March: 10.3%
February: 10.4%
Change: -0.1

January 2009: 11.2%
Change: -0.9

ASK
March: 2.1%
February: 1.9%
Change: +0.2

January 2009: 1.9%
Change: +0.2

AOL
March: 3.7%
February: 3.8%
Change: -0.1

January 2009: 4.0%
Change: -0.3

Data scoring techniques tend to change over time making past data inaccurate. As always, information here is for entertainment purposes only.

Source: Nielsen Online

March 2009 Search Engine Market Share | ComScore



Google
March: 63.7%
February: 63.3%
Change: +0.4

January 2009: 63.0%
Change: +0.7

Yahoo
March: 20.5%
February: 20.6%
Change: -0.1

January 2009: 21.0%
Change: -0.5

MSN
March: 8.3%
February: 8.2%
Change: +0.1

January 2009: 8.5%
Change: -0.2

ASK
March: 3.8%
February: 4.1%
Change: -0.3

January 2009: 3.7%
Change: +0.1

AOL
March: 3.7%
February: 3.9%
Change: -0.2

January 2009: 3.9%
Change: -0.2

Data scoring techniques tend to change over time making past data inaccurate. As always, information here is for entertainment purposes only.

Source: comScore

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