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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

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posted by benbcraig at 10:18 AM 0 comments

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Social Networking: Could it really save your life?

Anyone in the marketing industry knows that social networking is a great way for business owners to reach a broader audience that they might not otherwise be able to tap into. Social networking is also a great way to brand a business and possibly even obtain clients from this marketing effort. However, could social networking save one's life? It certainly did for one lucky gentleman.

This gentleman, Carlos Sanchez, made a status post on Facebook stating that none of his friends nor family members were acceptable kidney donors for him. When the mayor of East Haven, Connecticut, April Capone Almon, (whom Sanchez was just one out of her 1,600 friends on Facebook) saw his status, she was tested and turned out to be an acceptable match for him. She ended up donating a kidney to a man she barely knew.

On April 8, 2010, Sanchez successfully received his kidney transplant. Think Facebook can't save your life? Think again. For more information about this story, click here: http://www.newser.com/story/86784/mayor-gives-kidney-to-facebook-pal.html.

posted by Mandy W. at 1:24 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Twitter's Big Announcement

Facebook has advertisements, Google has pay-per-click, Youtube has commercials before videos, and it was simply a matter of time before Twitter would find a way for companies to advertise on its popular site. On April 12th, Twitter introduced its concept of advertising, "sponsored tweets." Here is a short overview of this new form of advertising.

What are sponsored tweets?
Sponsored tweets are ads that show up on the top of search pages. These ads are simply tweets, which means users can re-tweet them, reply to them, link to them, and favorite them. The idea behind this is a business' relevant tweets will now be available to a large market. Here is an example of a sponsored tweet from Starbucks, which is currently displayed on Twitter's blog:


Will users be overwhelmed with "sponsored tweets?"
No. As of now, only one promoted tweet will show up on each page. These sponsored tweets will be clearly labeled as being promoted. Twitter COO Dick Costolo claims that profitability is not the goal with this, and they plan to slowly introduce this so they do not overwhelm users.

How will these promoted tweets work?
Co-Founder and Creative Director of Twitter, Biz Stone wants these promoted ads to be beneficial to users. Twitter will measure the success of these ads based on resonance to ensure that only relevant ads are showing up. The way this works is if an ad is not connecting or "resonating" with users, it will not longer show up. The ads will work the same way as paid Google ads; advertisers will bid on keywords.

Should I invest in sponsored tweets for my business?
At this point in time, the answer is no. As of now, only huge companies such as Starbucks, Virgin America, and Bravo are embarking on this new method of advertising. We will continue to follow these exciting new developments. If you are interested in learning more about sponsored tweets, please read AdAge's article, "Twitter Has a Business Model: 'Promoted Tweets.'"

posted by Tiffany at 4:03 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Twitter Announces New Money Making Plan

Twitter, a popular social marketing site, has been a highly trafficked site since it's launch in 2007; they finally decided to cash in. The company announced Tuesday that they plan on rolling out a new business plan, which they refer to as "Promoted Tweets" Advertisers will soon be able to buy search terms and come up in the Twitter stream. Only one ad will show up alongside the other search results.

It has been 3 years since the company launched, so it is not surprising that they have decided to come up with a new way to make money. Twitter has become increasing popular for businesses over the last few years. My clients are starting to embrace social marketing more than I would have ever imagined, and it is great to see them use creative and new ways to reach and build relationships with potential patients and clients.

For an example of how you can use Twitter to your advantage check out our Page 1 Solutions Twitter page!

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posted by Ashley Martin at 8:45 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Does Your SEO Company Answer the Phone?

I had a client recently tell me that getting the registrar information for her site might take a few days because "my old company doesn't answer the phone." She was required to submit all her requests for changes and service through their website and would then be given a "ticket number" and a response when someone got to it.

I was surprised to hear this. In the world of internet marketing, conversations are the only way to truly understand a client's business and their marketing objectives. How can an SEO company be sure they are delivering the right results if they never speak with the client?

At Page 1, all of our SEO clients have an account manager they can call directly and have conversations with. Account managers can help you make the most of your internet marketing by helping you decide the best keyword phrases to target and techniques to get you first page listings. And when something at your practice changes, we are here to help you update your website and marketing accordingly.

So, if you SEO company doesn't answer the phone, give us a call!

posted by Erica at 2:49 PM 0 comments

Monday, April 5, 2010

Facebook's New Search Capabilities

The week of March 13th, 2010 marked an epic achievement for Facebook. It was during that week the world's favorite social networking site became the most visited website in the United States, beating Google for the first time ever. With Facebook's continuing improvements to their search feature, this may become a more common occurrence.

According to Comscore, in January 2010, search queries on Facebook climbed 13%. Although the amount of searches on Facebook are extremely small compared to search engine giant, Google, Facebook is aware that people are searching for information through their site, and are making the right changes to support these users.

Last Tuesday, Facebook made an announcement on their blog about new improvements they have made to their search feature. Not only will search results instantly pop up as you type, but a new menu feature titled, "See More Results" will also show up. Facebook engineer Wayne Kao claims, "You'll see a wider variety of relevant results and be able to discover new connections you might want to make on Facebook right as you're entering your search."

These time saving changes make Facebook both more user friendly, and allow visitors to better connect with their community as well as the world. With over 400 million members, Facebook currently has the visitors and now is planning on ways to keep them on the site.

If you are interested in creating a presence for your business on Facebook, please contact Page 1 Solutions today!

posted by Tiffany at 1:57 PM 0 comments

Universal Search & Real Time Search - What Are They?

Recently I've spoken to a few clients who have heard about Google implementing Universal Search or Real Time Search. With all the new features and applications that Google has recently rolled out it can easily be confusing as to what each does, and more importantly how it will affect your internet marketing strategies.

Universal Search
Google's Universal Search now incorporates listings from its news, images, videos, local, book and blog search engine results into it standard website search listings. Now when you do a search on Google you may see results from more than one of these areas along with the regular website listings. Think of this as Google's way of cutting back on the clicks necessary to find what the searcher may be looking for.

Below is an example search I did for Cosmetic Surgery. Instead of only seeing listings for websites, Google has incorporated news results, local businesses, blog posts and book results along with the regular website results!

Real Time Search
Google's new Real Time Search automatically pulls in new results as they happen. These results are displayed in a "Latest results" area. The feed will constantly stream new results while the user is viewing their search results. Results are pulled from Twitter, Facebook fan pages, Google's News and Blog searches, new web pages, recently updated web pages, MySpace updates, Google Buzz and a number of other social networking sites.

However, the Real Time Search feature will not always appear in your search results. For the section to appear there must be a real-time component to the topic. If Google sees a sudden spike in queries or information for a certain topic, then the section is activated. Results are ranked by time and only appear if they are highly relevant to the topic.

For example, on the day I did these searches Jason Elam retired from the Denver Broncos. Since this is a newsworthy topic the Real Time Search feature appeared in the results (see below). It continued to scroll new results as they were pulled in. When I searched for Jason Elam a few days later the Real Time Search feature did not appear since the timeliness of the information was no longer relevant.

What Does It Mean For Your Business?
With both of these new features you do have an opportunity to gain more exposure for your business. Want to increase your chances in showing up in the Real Time Search? Then, if there is a specific topic that is gaining considerable attention in your industry discuss it in on your social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, or write a blog about it. If your blog and social accounts continually have content relevant to your industry, its very likely that each is already acknowledged as being focused on specific topics concerning your industry. Continue to post relevant topics on a regular basis, build your authority and utilize that to your advantage.

Google's Universal Search also opens up plenty of new opportunities. This search silos information from multiple search areas. Not only could your website appear in the search listings, your business's videos, images, news, blogs, local listing or social networking pages could also appear. Increase your chances of being found by utilizing these different areas. Have business videos or client testimonials? Post them on YouTube. You can also increase your chances by verifying your local business listing and developing a social networking presence. Below is an example of a search for Dr. Terry Bass. Not only does his website appear in the listing, but so do his Facebook fan page and his videos!
Want to learn more about how to maximize your business's online presence? Contact your Account Manager to discuss what is right for your practice, or if you're new to Page 1 you can contact us to learn more about how we can help your business.

posted by Jessica at 10:03 AM 0 comments