Web Helper Blog

Linked:In can be used to find jobs, new leads, clients or customers, gain valuable information related to your industry, and more, but of course, in order to achieve any of these goals, ample time must be spent associated with others on the site (it is a SOCIAL media site, after all). Additionally, Linked:In can be very lucrative for those who know how to properly optimize their profile for increased visibility.

Display your website along with keywords on your Linked:In profile
Linked:In is all about networking, and getting your information in front of others who might find it interesting and/or useful. To help you accomplish this, Linked:In allows you to showcase a link to your website, along with a tagline that can be customized to include keywords or key phrases, thus increasing the chances of your profile ranking high in organic search results. Additionally, you can also showcase your blog, and any additional websites you deem valuable.

Syndicate your blog feed on your Linked:In profile
If you desire, you can also syndicate your blog feed directly on your Linked:In profile page by utilizing the blog feed application made available through Linked:In (access this through the “Edit Profile” page.)

Display your Twitter account and Twitter updates on your Linked:In profile
Linked:In, like many other social networking sites, now also works in conjunction with Twitter. Display your Twitter account on your profile, as well as any Twitter updates if that is your preference. This can also be especially useful if you make sure to insert keywords into your tweets!

1. Thoroughly examine the features of your website. Ask yourself if some things are totally necessary, and if there is anything that might be missing. More importantly, is your website user-friendly? Imagine yourself a user visiting the website for the first time. Is navigation easy? Can you find what you are looking for quickly? It’s understandable that you might be proud of your website and object to making any changes, but at the same time, ego should never stand in the way of progress.

2. Keep information fresh, concise, and interesting. Visitors to your site don’t want to wade through several paragraphs of information to find the one key element they might be searching for. Cut out the fluff and give them exactly what they want.

Additionally, maintain an area of your site to provide interesting, industry-related news, expanded product information, or articles and press releases. This type of rich, informative content is what keeps users coming back, and also serves to increase brand awareness. It also reinforces your image as an authority in your relative industry.

3. Analyze the best and the worst of your site, and make any necessary changes. Utilize your in-house website technician or an outside source if necessary to analyze your site for things like broken links, pages that display incorrectly, pages that load slowly because they might contain too many pictures, movies, music, etc., and other factors that may annoy and frustrate visitors.

Additionally, analyze what areas of your site appear to be the most popular: which pages are users visiting the most, which pages do they spend most of their time on, and perhaps most important, how are they discovering and arriving to your site. Knowing these things can give you greater insight into what paths to take to ensure your website traffic remains consistent, and what steps you might take to keep it growing.

4. Build a community. Whether you utilize the advantages of social networking, or pass out business cards at a tradeshow, or even if you start a conversation with someone in passing on the street, there is potential to build your community. Consider everyone you meet, speak to, email or connect with a potential visitor to your site. Remain active in your community. Engage, interact, ask and answer questions, send out newsletters, start a blog, leave comments on other blogs (with a signature linking back to your site), etc. There are endless possibilities enabling you to build and expand your community.

5. Repeat steps 1-4. Regardless at how successful your efforts might be to increase traffic and improve your website, there is likely still always room for improvement. Set dedicated intervals to refocus your efforts on the above steps. The Internet is constantly changing, and competition is always active, possibly engaged in the same thorough examination, analysis, and community building as you. You must remain ever vigilant to ensure that your website traffic does not decline as you lose visitors to the competition or as a result of other factors, such as outdated information or lack of contact with the community.

New Century Direct (NCD*), a manufacturer and direct marketer of archival quality storage products and printed merchandising products, through its strategic partnership with Active Web Group, converts five websites to New Century Direct’s new ‘superengine’ web technology.

In addition to creating the ‘superengine’, the Active Web Group helps supports NCD’s team in building three main marketing platforms of improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO), managing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) programs, and creating targeted email blasts with unique and compelling promotions.

Findley continues, “Each one of the ‘superengines’ marketing efforts have a positive ROI. We will continue to drop catalogs in a manner that supports the dual approach of a modified catalog circulation plan with aggressive web marketing techniques.”

Read the full press release here…

Email Marketing

Email marketing is cost-efficient, effective, quick, and easy. Create email lists based on specific target markets and launch a campaign based on those particular markets. Have that newsletter yet? Email it. Wrote a press release about a new product, or an important industry event? Email it. People spend a good portion of their day reading email, and if your emails are creative, informative, and engaging, you can reach thousands in an instant. For more information about the benefits of email marketing, visit Active Web Group.

Depending upon the nature of your business, there may be other things you can do to increase revenue and beat the competition, but these five fundamental concepts should be applicable to any company.

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Offer Information

You might offer a great product or service, but couple that with valuable information, and you’ve got a winning combination that keeps customers coming back consistently. Offer a newsletter on at least a monthly basis, create press releases, and start a blog and keep it regularly updated with industry-related news and information. Many businesses tend to underestimate the high value of a regularly updated blog or periodic newsletter. These simple company expansions are a great way to reign in new customers and keep the existing ones.