You’re finally on board with some of the changes and new features Google’s rolled out over the last few years, along with watching the suitors as Yahoo and Bing (MSN) follow suit. You’ve come to grips that if you plan to succeed in your online business, you cannot let your online marketing sit idle. Investment into your online strategy is a necessity as the digital marketing landscape has evolved over time; Search, Email, Social Media have all drastically evolved the last couple years.

Searches evolution provides a significant source for lead generation and new sales for businesses on the web. And this evolution didn’t stop simply with organic / natural search rankings.

Google Local, launched in 2004, is one of the latest advancements by Google to undergo an evolution and compliment the various channels within Search that a visitor will use to find your business on the web. Its finally recognized in the arsenal of tactics with Search strategist to leverage in natural / organic search to accomplish top search rankings, and increased Search market share. One will hedge their bets a major shift in Google Local we’ll soon see is the evolution of Google Maps and Google Maps Street View. (more…)

Earlier this month we started down the path of “landing page strategy testing – is it worth it?“. Landing pages can be an extremely useful tactic to increase conversions in a campaign. Employing landing pages is typically utilized in paid search campaigns, internal conversion pages and more recently, email marketing campaigns.

This week I’ll continue the subject on landing page strategy and jump into the second step; Test Strategy – determining pages worth testing. Determine your target page for testing by working down the list in order of importance and priority of your defined goals.

Start with visitors who are already leads. These individuals are those who are in the “action-mode” and ready to convert (purchase/opt-in/download, etc). They have already begun the journey down your conversion path. Utilize your analytics (ex. Google analytics), ‘Goals’ (if set up) and the conversion funnels. The conversion funnel overview will provide insight into page attrition of the leads who area already in the conversion mood. By establishing KPI’s in the conversion path such as page attrition, will allow you to easily gauge any positive or negative impacts of visitors in the conversion path. This itself will speak volumes of where to begin testing and optimization.

Again, this may cover the conversion paths of your eStore checkout, or your opt-in page, or a paid search campaign. Whatever area you identify is most critical to the success of your goals, is the ideal place to start. (more…)

In my 11 years experience working in direct and indirect capacities with some well known national brands, I’ve seen leaders (directors, VP’s, managers, etc.) come and go. And in these foul economic times as companies start their South Beach diet to cut fat throughout the organization, the emphasis on your worth and your value to the company is essential in these times.

My hat rack shows my experience over the years as web marketing manager, entrepreneur, board director and director of Internet marketing. And working along side other management and leaders in the organizational structure, I’ve come to witness and learn first hand, common attributes, and tools that make some leaders great, and others leaders dissolve.

I’ve found great leadership does not have to be complex, whether it be a director of web marketing, media, information technology, coach and yes, even fatherhood.
All leaders in any level and capacity whom I’ve found ‘great’, are supported by the people they lead, and who all demonstrate common personal characteristics, which is one of two ingredients that lay the foundation of a great leader. (the other ingredient…..competence…more in another post).

Its a given great leadership typically comes over time, and some attributes of great leadership can be taught, and others born with. Though with a even mixture of experience, self-development and character, make good leaders great. Unfortunately this is not always the case. (more…)

2008 is coming to a close, and you may have embarked on your first, well-overdue, search engine optimization (SEO) project for your business. Many steps were likely taken in your SEO project through the discovery phase of assessing how friendly your website architecture is for search, keyword discovery around your industry/market/brand/product/competitors, research where your visitors hang out online, the physical optimization and improvements to your site, etc. Now that your website is SEO’d for Google and others, what’s next? (more…)

Chances have it you use a social network as Facebook or MySpace, or contribute to a social media platform, such as a personal or corporate blog. The online playground is full of social activities with everyone including your mother jumping onto the next latest and greatest way to connect with friends, family, professionals and groups of your related interests.

Even with the recent win of Barack Obama as America’s new president, his campaign tapped into leveraging social media and networks to reach out to the niche audiences throughout America – by ethnicity and age demographics. Whether a special environmental group locatd in Seattle, or the tens of thousands of non-voters between 20 to 30 years of age in Chicago and New York, social networks and media platforms were a successful channel to mix into the Obama’s marketing campaign to win new voters.

2009 will bring to the boardroom a number of conversations about how social network and media can fit into the upcoming marketing campaign or yearly marketing plan. Hell, any forward thinking company who’s marketing can shift as quickly as my snowboard will cut and curve down the hills of Whistler mountain this year, will be on the edge of trying to learn how best to fit social networks as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and social media as blogs and forums to into their marketing mix.

Sure, many marketers will use the excuse to invest into social network marketing as a brand exercise to build evangelists and advocates of their latest and greatest campaign. But the insightful managers and directors upstairs should also be looking for the hard pay off – to not assume that overal lift in sales must have resulted from the social network endeavors of the campaign. Better yet to understand what contributions to the campaign, specifically the social marketing tactics, can be monetized to drive new business and sales. (more…)