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By Neptune Moon, September 13, 2010 3:20 pm

Google rolled out its new “Google Instant” search this week and it’s got the the online world buzzing. The main chatter is about what it means for PPC (pay-per-click) or AdWords advertisers… but before we dive into that, what is Google Instant anyway?

We’re all familiar with search engines guessing what we’re searching for as we type in our search queries… start typing phila and you’ll have philadelphia in there in no time – along with popular recent search terms beginning with philadelphia! Whether you search directly in your browser’s toolbar or if you go to a search site like Google, Yahoo, or Bing, you’ve likely already experienced the drop down list of search term choices the search engine shows you based on what you’ve typed. It’s usually pretty handy!

How does the Instant service differ from this search term completion/suggestion function? It starts to populate the search screen with results even as you’re still typing, whereas the old way waited until you’d chosen your term and clicked search/pressed enter. Seems like a minor change, right?

For the end user, it probably is. Google claims that this new service saves 2 to 5 seconds off of a typical search, which they estimates takes an average of 25 seconds to execute. But, for AdWords advertisers, it raises a whole lot of new questions…

1. How will the Instant service impact keyword diversity? If the autofill function is pre-selecting options, how will this impact Search Engine Optimization and choice of keywords?
2. Will long tail keywords become less relevant as this technology builds more and more of our searches?
3. How will this technology impact impressions rates in AdWords campaigns?
4. Will we need to rethink our benchmarks for impressions vs. clickthroughs for PPC ads?
5. How will PPC and AdWords strategies need to be adjusted to maximize return with this new search dynamic?

Lots of questions… stay tuned in the coming weeks and months as we work with our clients to figure out the answers and create effective strategies to work with this new search dynamic!

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By Neptune Moon, July 28, 2010 4:19 pm

Google Maps are great right? Just type “tapas restaurant, philadelphia” into Google and in a split second you’ve got results before you, along with a handy map! Click on the links and you can visit the restaurant web sites or click on the More Info link and you can see the Google Places Page summary for the business.

Google Maps and the Places Pages they link to are great for consumers. They are not so great for businesses. Why not? If you claim your listing, you’ll show up in the Maps list for your target area and people can find you – what’s not to like?

Well, in addition to the information your provide them directly, Google pulls information from a variety of outside sources and aggregates it into your business’ Places Page. This can be problematic on multiple fronts:

1. It is often hard to tell exactly where a particular piece of information on the Google Places Page is actually coming from, making it hard to correct errors
2. Review and comments are prominently displayed within the Google Places Pages, but there is no mechanism for you, the business owner, to respond to a review within the Google system
3. It has been widely reported that Google’s Places Pages are often quite slow in having reviews fall off their pages that have been removed from the source web site
4. ANYONE can post a review about your business, including competitors, former employees or people who just don’t like you – there is no verification process that the reviewer was an actual customer of the business being reviewed

The effects of having a very negative review so prominently placed within a Google branded result can be devastating.

So what can you do? Start by claiming your listings. You’d be amazed at just how many places there are on the web where your business is probably listed. You can’t monitor something you’re not aware of…

Don’t have the time to claim and/or manage online listings? Consider hiring a professional to manage it for you – you’ll be glad you did! We’ve been doing a lot of work in this type of reputation management lately and would love to help you too!

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By Neptune Moon, July 9, 2010 5:18 pm

Google Social Media + Lead Generation and you’ll find a wide variety of opinions on this topic. I’d like to suggest that can social media generate leads, is not even the best question to ask. A better question is how can we use social media to best support our business/organization and our customers?

There is an interesting article on just this topic over at the American Express OPEN Technology Forum “Is Social Media Failing to Produce Business Leads?” – read it here. In it, the author suggests that perhaps social media’s “job” isn’t so much to produce leads, but to allow companies to better or more strongly engage with their customers.

I tend to agree with this premise. I think there is an almost involuntary urge to try to make every technology fit in to an old school box about how to use it and what it does. That kind of thinking is a mistake. While those of you who have read posts here before know that I do believe selling is still about putting the right offer in front of the right person at the right time - with social media, we have a whole host of new tools to help accomplish this task.

Social media can do a lot of things, but expecting to setup a Twitter account, a Facebook business page and/or even a LinkedIn profile and then just have the leads flowing in, is a completely unrealistic view of how these tools work. In order to get benefit from them, you have to actively use them. And not just to post your sales information or press releases, but to actually talk to your customers and potential customers.

Social media has opened up brand new ways for people and businesses to communicate and engage with each other, it’s true. But it is important to understand what these tools can and cannot do and how to make them work for you.

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By Neptune Moon, June 24, 2010 9:15 am

There was a ruling in a major lawsuit between Google (owner of YouTube) and Viacom this week over copyright infringement. But the case is about more than simple copyright infringement in the video and online world – it brings up a much larger question. In today’s world where social media is bleeding into nearly all web entities, just who is ultimately responsible for what users post?

You can read more about the case itself here, but I think this is a really interesting question to consider. Google’s stance is basically that as long as they have a policy in place that specifically states that users may not post anything they don’t have the rights to post and if they take stuff down when notified by the copyright holder of an infringement, that is enough. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act states as much and was cited in the ruling.

But what about materials that are not copyright protected? What about user opinions or reviews that may cause damage to you or a third party? Where does the responsibility lie to monitor this type of posted material? As social media outlets continue to increase in usage and popularity, and as more and more sites add some type of commenting or user-based interactive elements to their web entities, this question will become increasingly important.

Having a clear Acceptable Use & Terms of Service policy is critical. Just as having a Privacy Policy is critical in protecting yourself if you collect any data from users, having a well thought out Acceptable Use & Terms of Service policy is a step you should not skip if you’re inviting users to comment and/or generate and post content. By having a clearly stated policy about what is permissible and what is not, you strengthen your ability to not only monitor, but also remove offensive, defamatory or otherwise problematic materials from your site(s).

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By Neptune Moon, June 21, 2010 10:51 am

It used to be that you only had to worry about your own web site(s) when it came to your online reputation… not so any more! Try doing a search for your business specifically or search for your type of business in your geographic area. You’ll likely be surprised by the results.

These days, search results returned include not only your web site and blog, but will often include a link to entities such as: Google Maps, Yelp.com, SuperPages.com, as well as many other locally or industry focused sites. Did you even know such things existed? Do you know if your business is listed?

These sites take it one step further too. They let people post reviews about your business, often with no verification that they are or were an actual customer of yours. To make matters even more complicated, people often wait weeks or months before posting a nasty review about your business. Good luck finding them to even try to rectify the issue!

So what is a business owner to do? Don’t we all have a million other things we’re already managing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis? How can you possibly get a grip on this brave new world? You can start by claiming your business on some of the major local web sites. If you have not claimed your business on Google, do it now! If you advertise in any of the yellow pages, make sure your online information is correct. If you serve the public, I’d recommend checking out Yelp and InsiderPages and see what, if anything people are saying.

Managing your online reputation is incredibly important. Especially today when more and more people are sharing their views and reviews via local web sites and social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. Getting control starts with knowledge – find out where you’re already listed and claim your listings.

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By Neptune Moon, June 1, 2010 6:45 pm

So unless you’ve been living under a rock or in outer Mongolia for the past couple of years, you’ve probably found yourself wondering what the heck you should be doing to take part in this brave new world of social media to advance your career or business…

The prospect can really be quite overwhelming – which media to choose? How to choose? What to post? How often to post? How to interact with others? When not to engage with others? The questions can seem endless!

The good news is, that social media, like anything else is something you can figure out one step at a time. When you break it down into reasonable steps, it suddenly seems like an achievable goal. And don’t we all want to set achievable goals?!?

A few questions to get you started:

1. Who is my target audience?
2. Where do they spend the most time – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, YouTube, etc.?
3. How much time do you have to commit to social media on a weekly basis?
4. Who in your organization will be responsible for keeping your presence up?
5. Who will develop your social media policies?

Developing and implementing a social media strategy takes time and effort, but beginning to think about these questions is a great place to start!

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By Neptune Moon, April 16, 2010 3:00 pm

Spring always seems to inspire the urge to purge – at least it does at my house! Why not use the spring as a time to take a critical look at your web presence and strategy? This notion makes sense this year, even more so than in the past, as many of our target markets have undergone significant changes.

It is time to ask yourself:

1. What parts of our web strategy are working well? What parts are not working so well?
2. Who is our target market today? Are they the same demographic that they were 2 years ago?
3. How can we adjust our web strategy to gain traction in the new economy?
4. What can we learn from our competitors?

It is an important practice to critically review your web strategy annually – why not do it now and put your business in the position to have a strong 2010? There is a lot of opportunity out there – smart organizations realize it and know they can no longer sit on the sidelines and expect to be around in 2011.

Not sure how to get started or how to analyze your web strategy? Don’t really have a web strategy? Spend some time and money with a professional web consultant and get on your way to a stronger business and better bottom line!

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By Neptune Moon, February 15, 2010 6:38 pm

Conversion – it’s been a buzzword in SEO and SEM for the past few years, but with the sluggish economy, it seems to have taken on new vigor lately. It is, in many ways, the holy grail of web site creation and internet marketing.

So, how do you convert web site visitors into customers? How do you get the people who are ready to buy what you’re selling onto your site and then close the deal?

Here are the top web customer conversion factors I recommend focusing on:

1. Be Relevant. If you work hard to be indexed for a particular product or service, make sure you can actually offer that specific product or service. Nothing drives visitors off of your site quicker than feeling like they have been mislead.
2. Be Direct. Search engine optimize your site properly so that when a user finds a link to your site, they will go to a page that is specific to what they are interested in finding. This is especially true with PPC placements! Do not send all traffic to your home page and make them figure it out from there.
3. Ease Pain. From your web site, within a nanosecond a visitor can exit your site and move on to option two, three or four. Make sure that your site clearly spells out exactly what it is you have to offer and why it will make the visitor’s life better.
4. Offer Value. Chances are, you are not the only game in town. What makes working with you or buying from you better? Special expertise or experience? Free shipping? Giveaway products with purchase? Free consultation or report? Offer something!

I often tell clients, think about your own behavior when it comes to interacting with web sites. If something annoys YOU as a user, chances are it will annoy a potential customer. Design and optimize your site with THEM in mind and you’ll be amazed at the results!

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By Neptune Moon, December 28, 2009 11:27 am

Here we are, hurtling toward the end of the year and the beginning of the new year. For many organizations that can mean only one thing – it’s budget time! This year it is even less fun that years past, what with 2009 being such an awful year and all.

How do you go about setting realistic budgets for web work in 2010? It is not as difficult as it seems at first… Before you can establish budgetary ranges for the next year, you first need to figure out the scope of the work you will want or need. Easier said than done, but you can at least pull together a broad list of projects as a starting point, for example:

• Web Site Redesign: if it has been more than 3 years since your last design, it is definitely time to at least take a serious look at your web site
• Adding Functionalities to Your Web Site: time to start using ecommerce to sell products or process donations, add an interactive calendar, etc.
• Search Engine Optimization: if you’d like to capture more search traffic for your products or services, it simply won’t happen without conscious SEO
• Web Site or Internet Marketing: if you build it, they will come is not a sound business practice – you need a plan to promote awareness of your site
• Email Campaigns: email has enjoyed a revival and when a campaign is properly constructed, the results can be quite extraordinary

So how do you assign dollar ranges to these types of projects? There are a number of ways to do this. If you have a well defined project scope, you could seek proposals from trusted vendors. If you don’t have well defined project scopes, you may want to consider hiring a web professional to act as a consultant to help you develop your budget.

I know spending money on the budget process might seem a little counterintuitive at first, but it really makes sense. What better way to make sure that the budget figures in your upcoming budget will actually cover the projects you’d like to complete in the coming year than by asking a trusted provider?

It may seem like having a vendor help you develop the budget is a sure fire way to end up spending way more than you would have otherwise, without opening up the process to them. But, if that is how you feel about your vendors, you should really find some new vendors!

I run into situations all the time with clients who have great ideas and who want the sun, the moon and the stars but have only budgeted $2,000 for the project. It puts everyone at a disadvantage when unrealistic budget amounts are already in place. We try to do what we can to help clients in this type of situation figure out how to break their desired project into phases, but if they had had a more realistic budget range to begin with, we’d be starting work and not agonizing over how to get the foundation built without having enough money to do so properly.

It is worth investing at least some time, if not some dollars, to make sure your budget will match your projected work in the coming year. And remember, there is always someone willing to complete your project at any price point – realistic or not. But, you get what you pay for, so proceed carefully. A little planning and a real world budget will make for a better outcome for your future web projects!

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By Neptune Moon, August 26, 2009 8:36 am

I’ve got an article on this topic over on NeptuneMoon.com, but I thought it was worth mentioning here too. Times are tough – this isn’t exactly a news flash… Everyone, it seems, it looking to do more with less. And while we can certainly relate to that sentiment, taken too far, it can have the exact opposite effect.

How, you might ask, can that be? Isn’t looking for the lowest price always the best course of action – especially in slow times? For groceries, gas and cell phone service, sure. For your business’ web site and marketing initiaves, most definitely not.

Look, I’m not suggesting that price isn’t a factor – it is always a factor. I am saying that now really is a great time to make an investment in your business. When times get tough, most organizations immediately pull back on everything, with marketing being among the first items to get slashed from the budget. It’s an easy place to cut, but doing so is short-sighted.

Think about it – if all or most of your competitors are slashing their marketing budgets and efforts, doesn’t that make this the perfect time to get your message out more, not less? If they’ve gone radio silent and you’re still on the air, who will likely gain new business?

It can be a bit of a tough sell and more than a little scary to pony up dollars for marketing in a soft economy – but the risk of not doing it is a lot scarier!

Think about doing SEO if you haven’t already. Take a hard, honest and critical look at your web site from your customers’ perspective and make changes to make your web site more useful to them. Start an e-communication program – leverage your knowledge and add value for your customers and potential customers.

The right mix varies by situation – get out there and start revving up your business now! You’ll be glad you did.

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