The Forrester Research report “US Interactive Marketing Forecast 2011 – 2016” states: marketing dollars are shifting away from traditional forms of advertising (TV, radio and print) to various forms of online and interactive venues. Interactive is now cannibalizing traditional media.

Search Marketing leads overall Interactive Spend as more and more companies embrace Search Marketing tools such as PPC (pay per click) Advertising, and SEO (search engine optimization).

Forrester points out that 70% of marketers are already utilizing social media (Facebook) in various forms. Most of these companies have only “dipped” their toe into social media marketing. The next move is to monitor user activity, listen to what consumers are saying, increase engagement, and increase brand loyalty.

Mobile Marketing is gaining considerable momentum. 45% of the adult population has a smartphone or PDA with full browser capability. Apple iPhones and Google Android devices are leading the way as consumers become more comfortable using their PDA’s for practically everything – map directions, couponing, product reviews, and online purchasing.

This is indeed a major challenge for businesses because the marketing strategies they’ve executed on for the last 30 years may be totally redundant within 2 years (if they aren’t already).

The World Cup of Soccer is the largest single sporting event in the world and the opening ceremonies were sponsored by Adidas. What was particularly interesting was that the advertisement displayed on the TV screen as follows:

This was the first time that a major sponsor had used its social media page as the focal point or  marquee. It was a defining point in the advertising world.

This paradigm shift will no doubt create new business opportunities – and a  few casualties along the way.

Typically, websites are made in a very linear fashion. There is always an entry point, which is typically a home page or landing page. This is followed by a handful of single pages, all in a very clearly set row, defined by either a horizontal, or vertical navigation bar. Simple, right?

There are certainly websites that exist in an almost organic, very dynamic fashion. These include news websites (Canoe.ca, NYTimes.com, etc.), and user-driven websites (Facebook.com, Reddit.com, etc.). Search engines have been making a shift to user-generated content for years, and not just because it’s fresh and more frequently updated, but in part because of the linking structures that are built into the website architecture.

Let’s face it, most small to medium sized businesses have what are called ‘defensive’ websites. These are websites that exist purely because they want to put the URL on their business cards. These sites are also built in the most linear, straightforward way possible. Below is a depiction of one of these websites:

On these websites there exist a handful of pages, with some content here and there. The only way to access any page on the website is always done through the navigation bar… which I HOPE are not images… but that’s for another day. This, my friends, is a typical corporate website. Go look for yourself, and you will see.

One of the most effective ways of increasing the ‘importance’ of a website is by inner linking words and phrases found within the content, to other relevant pages within the website. You might ask “Why does it matter… these aren’t as good as getting links from other websites, so why bother?”. While not as valuable as a backlink from another high traffic website, inner linking has been proven to be a very effective method of increasing search rankings. It’s also making changes to your own website which you have full control over, so why wouldn’t you do it?

It’s a very simple process, but it should be done in a way that it assists the visitor. The end result will be a more connected website with highlighted content for Google and other search engines to pinpoint for future search queries. An example of an inner-linked website can be found below:

Not only are the pages connected through the website’s navigation, but since relevant keywords have also been linked, it will create a much more connected and intertwined system, boosting the authority and importance of not just specific pages, but the website as a whole. This will, in turn, increase the likelihood of pages showing up in search engine results.

Here are some other related articles that you might find interesting:

• 10 Quick Search Engine Optimization Tips
• Think Your Website Is Too Old To Optimize? Think Again!

It’s a new year, which brings with it the promise for more frequent blog posts. Our plan of posting one article per week hasn’t exactly panned out over the past few months and it’s something that needs to be rectified. There is no shortage of news and techniques or tools, it’s just a matter of getting those ideas down and posts finished. Hmm… sounds like something familiar.

Also, we want to hear from you! If you have found a specific topic to be especially useful or informative, let us know so we can dig deeper and provide more of it. We want to hear your comments and any critiques you can offer. Don’t worry, we can take it

Just leave a comment on the blog, or head over to our Facebook page and tell us what you think.

Creative writing can be an incredibly challenging mental activity (and physically, depending on how much coffee you’ve had). This doesn’t just apply to novelists or marketing copywriters either, it can affect anyone who is actively required to generate content. And yes… this includes blogs. TRUST me.

Coming up with a new idea for a blog post each week is not as easy as it may seem, which is something we have admittedly been slacking with here at Glacier Digital HQ. The last few months we have experienced some growth and have only squeezed out an average of 1 blog post per MONTH. This is one of the reasons this exact blog post has been written. If your business already has a blog or is planning on proceeding with one, updating it once a week on average is industry-wide best practice.

Why post once a week?

Unless your business is completely dependent on online ad-driven traffic generated by frequently updated content, posting an article on your blog once a week should suffice. It will compliment your business’ activities and will provide your customers with something to look forward to on a Friday afternoon (which, is the optimal time to post).

What do I talk about?

You would be surprised at how much your customers DON’T know about your business and your ongoing activities, in and out of the office. This includes industry news, tips, opinions and just about any relevant events or information available online. A great technique which can help generate ideas and catalogue them more effectively, is to create a list of topics, whether as draft posts in WordPress or Blogger (or whatever blogging platform you use), or even good old paper and pen *gasp*!

More often than not, I will revisit an old topic that I jotted down during a brainstorming session and see if any ideas stick. Sure, there are times that I find myself starting at the keyboard, sometimes with my head in my hands, frustrated that I can’t get a specific sentence to sound…. just right. That’s when you look at it from a different angle, work on a different paragraph, or work on a different post entirely.

PLEASE… let your customers talk!

Taking the leap into social media is a big deal for many businesses, there is no doubt.  However, one of the worst decisions a business can make is shutting out the ability for users to provide feedback, whether it’s good or bad. This goes for not just Blog comments, but Facebook and other tools that have discussion or commenting systems built in. Worried that you will get a LOT of bad feedback? Well, instead of denying customers the right to ask questions and vent their disapproval, perhaps you should ask yourself why they have these concerns (or better yet, ask the customers!!). One of the many benefits of social media in general is the ability to bring the conversation down to a more personal level. Don’t give customers the “corporate cold shoulder”, let them feel as if you are attending to their issues in a way that makes them feel like a priority.

Blog writing is still writing, regardless of your opinion. Sure, sometimes facts and data are provided to fuel the content, but it is still written… by hand… by a human. As long as that’s the case, there will always be the possibility of “Blogger’s Block”.

What is a conversion, you ask?

It is the single most important aspect of any online business presence, plain and simple. Are you converting your website visitors into anything meaningful, in order to grow your business? Do you fully understand the act of converting a visitor? Do not fret, you will now!

The Call To Action

Whether your website receives 10 visitors a day or 10,000, providing them with a Call To Action is the most effective way of  helping them take that first step, and guiding them towards your goal. A typical Call To Action would consist of a message, such as “Contact Us Now For A Free Quote!” or “Buy Now And Save $100!”. Something that creates a sense of importance or urgency, attempting to lure the visitors a step further into the Sales Funnel.

It should be located in plain site, above the fold and be bold, colourful or stand out in some way. If the Call To Action makes a claim, it must be backed up with detailed information on the destination page and must require the most minimal effort from the visitor. How much do you enjoy jumping through hoops just to buy something?

The Sales Funnel

Once a visitor lands on your website, you have approximately 2 seconds to provide them with a compelling reason to continue onwards. The Call To Action will aid in this process, while the Sales Funnel will help to determine the optimal path for qualifying a visitor as a potential lead. For instance: Are they viewing product specifications before moving to the ‘request a quote’ page?

Through diligent tracking, any exits throughout the sales funnel path can be pinpointed for improvement. For instance: Are visitors adding products to a shopping cart, but abandoning the sales? Perhaps the checkout process is too difficult to use?

Finally…. the Conversion!

Once the visitor has been warmed up, informed and has fulfilled your predetermined goal, they will have been converted. What are they being converted into? Well, a lead of course!

A B2B website is typically only a lead generation tool, not a sales tool. Once a lead gets in contact with a salesman, it is up to them to close the deal.

What can be classified as a conversion? Well, not every business will measure this in the same way. A conversion can be:

• The download of a specific file, such as a PDF brochure or flyer.
• Submission of a contact form, or a ‘request a quote/more information’ form.
• The act of viewing a specific, promotional page (typically, a page that is accessible only from a specific source)

It’s tough these days to find the time to spend tracking down and sifting through the thousands of websites, blogs, forums and videos available online, just to receive conflicting advice.

Well, we are enamored that you have chosen our blog as your go to guide for Search Engine Optimization tips. We don’t go wild with our theories (well, we try not to), we instead take a more conservative approach. We stick with what works. Gauging how well something works mind you, is not up to us. That’s up to the search engines and their teams of mathematicians, who toil away at their ever adapting algorithms. Which, at the end of the day, are there to help you find EXACTLY what it is you’re looking for.

Anyways, enough about us!

I really wanted to keep this blog post short and sweet, by offering up a list of 20 simple things you should be doing to help improve your website. The list may seem SEO-centric, but regardless of how it’s handled, every point is there in order to help boost traffic, increase usability and ultimately, generate more leads.

Improve Your Website, One Step At A Time

1. Your corporate website is not a blog, so why are you using WordPress?
2. Your corporate blog is not a website, so why AREN’T you using WordPress?
3. If you do have a blog, use RSS to link it up to your website.
4. If you don’t know what RSS means or what it can do, spend some time to learn.
5. Hire a designer! Your website is a representation of your business. If it looks out of date, then you are as well (at least in the eyes of a potential online customer).
6. Learn HTML… even just a little. It’s REALLY not that hard, and even if you are using a CMS, it can come in very handy.
7. If you don’t already know, find out what a CMS is. You will love them.
8. Get a contact form on your website. Don’t be too pushy though, just ask for SOME information (Name, Comments, etc.). It’s not a sales tool, it’s a lead generation tool.
9. Optimize all of the graphics. Don’t know how? Use some of the tools available online, or download Gimp (think of it as a free alternative to Photoshop).
10. Look at your website in more than one browser. We know most people still use Internet Explorer, but that number is shrinking every day. Does your site look the same in Firefox, Chrome, or on an iPad?
11. Get rid of the Flash. This is more of an opinion than a written rule, but much of the work that Flash can provide, can be done in a much more search engine friendly manner through the use of HTML, CSS and images. (Not to mention it doesn’t render at all on iOS devices).
12. Make sure your website’s goals are clear. Ask yourself why people would want to be there and what you want them to do.
13. Keep the navigation consistent. When menus and buttons jump around, visitors don’t just get lost, they get frustrated. Frustration = lost revenue.
14. Update your content, whenever you can. Chances are, even if your site is only one year old, the content hasn’t changed at all. Fresh content indicates to search engines that your site is worth crawling more than once a year.
15. Make sure you don’t have any 404 pages. Broken links or removed pages can cause errors for your visitors. Minimizing and controlling how they are handled is incredibly important.
16. Make your website mobile friendly. Mobile device usage is only going to grow, so get this done now. Ask your agency or developer what they can do.
17. Promote your social media efforts. Do you have a Facebook page, Twitter account, Youtube channel, LinkedIn Company profile? Get them on your website asap.
18. If you have a single location, prominently feature the contact information (especially the phone number) on every page. This will not only help with local based organic search, but will provide visitors with an easy way to contact you, without having to hunt for the info.
19. Update your Page Titles. Look up at the title or tab bar of your browser. Having Home – Acme Company on EVERY page doesn’t help anyone.
20. Get an SEO company to help with the really nerdy stuff like META Descriptions, Open Graph, Anchor text, rel=”nofollow” and “canonical” and all of the other stuff that doesn’t make any sense.

There are hundreds of factors taken into consideration by search engines when determining where your website will be displayed for a specific search keyword. The exact list, and importance of each factor is under a higher level of security than the pentagon (maybe?), so integrating every technique possible is the only way to ensure that your website is in the best possible position.

If you found this at all helpful, please let us know in the comments. Also, there  are some recent blog posts below that you might find informative.

• Think Your Site Is Too Old To Optimize? Think Again.
• 10 Quick Search Engine Optimization Tips
• Online Marketing : What NOT to do

So, your new website is done and it’s online. Now, you just sit back and wait for visitors, right? ….Wrong! You need to get out there and promote the heck out of it, using one or many of the ever expanding number of options available. Promotion is just as important as design, development and content, combined. Can you imagine if Ford built a great new car, but decided not to tell anyone? I’m pretty sure that sales would not be too stellar.

Speaking of promotion, two of the most effective methods of promoting any website, are by building organic search (Google, Bing, etc.) and by gaining website referrals (i.e. Site B has a link to Site A). It can be just as difficult to climb the search ranks as it is to generate a new referral, but thankfully the two methods feed off of each other in many ways. So how on earth do these things called Backlinks come in?

How Do Backlinks Effect Organic Search?

Google takes hundreds of factors into consideration when they decide who ranks high on their organic search rankings, and for what keywords. Some factors carry more weight than others, including content, url structure, page load speed and of course… backlinks! Imagine if Site A and Site B feature very similar content and have been established for roughly the same amount of time. Site has 20 backlinks from smaller, relatively insignificant blogs and forum posts. Site B on the other hand, has 50 backlinks, some of them from established online news publications, and a couple of popular blogs. It doesn’t require much thought to determine that Site B will carry more weight, thus helping to boost its ranking.

Ok I Understand, But How Do I Actually Get Backlinks?

Most websites are not likely going to go out of their way to provide you with a link, unless of course you give them a reason to. Perhaps you have some great content, or perhaps you feature a niche product or service. Or perhaps you’re an industry leader and people just want to be associated with you. There’s also the tried and tested method of asking nicely! You would be surprised to see how generous many business owners, blog writers or forum posters are, if you simply ask. Often, they may ask for you to reciprocate, which depending on your type of business and website, may not be possible, but that’s up for you to decide. Regardless of the method, having links from other websites is one of the single most powerful contributing factors for determining a website’s placement within search rankings.

Some Websites Charge For Backlinks, Are They Legit?

As a general rule of thumb, if you need to pay for anything outside of your monthly SEO fees, it’s not necessary or worse, it could hurt your rankings in the long run. Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t truly beneficial services out there. Website link farms have given paid backlinks a very bad name, by flooding pages with hundreds of links, rendering yours (that you could have paid $100 or more for) almost useless.

Look for websites directly dealing with your industry, that feature only a handful of highly relevant links. Also, sponsorships are a good way to drive relevant traffic (if you have the ad budget for it). These typically consist of a banner located in a static area of a website. They can be costly, but the returns can be significant especially for a brand awareness campaign.

So there you have it. Backlinks are helpful in a variety of ways, but most importantly, they ultimately help drive more targeted, relevant visitors to your website. So instead of sitting back waiting for viewers, get out there and secure those backlinks!

A common concern from business owners is that in order to climb the ever changing Google rankings, they will need to update their aging website, potentially spending tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. This may not necessarily be the case, and in fact, optimizing an existing website may be easier than you think.

While there are hundreds of factors that Google uses when determining a website’s search ranking, a lot of them are under your control. A lot of Content Management Systems (CMS) have made this process incredibly easy, sometimes even automatic, but by no means does it mean that older websites cannot be optimized. The process may require more manual adjustments, but the underlying effect can still be pushed to search engines.

Do you have access to your code?

Regardless of whether your website was developed in-house, or by another agency, you should have access to the website code, whether it’s via FTP or a control panel.  This access is critical in order to manipulate or adjust the code for Search Engine Optimization purposes.

Whether you decide to hire an SEO agency to do this work for you, or do it yourself, changes in rankings will not happen overnight. In fact, they could take weeks or even months to have a real impact. Optimizing a website however, is the first step in building a powerful online sales tool. Not only does optimizing a website help search engines effectively crawl, scan and index the pages and content contained within, but it also helps visitors and potential customers find what they need more easily. This will ultimately create more sales conversions.

Quick optimization tips

• Make sure every page has a descriptive, concise Page Title. This is what users see first when they are sorting through the hundreds of search results.
• Write informative, unique META Descriptions. These are the second part of a search result that users see when viewing search results. If you do not have a Description, you leave it up to Google to determine what it will say, which can have negative effects.
• Give all of your images ALT tags. Think about it… does prodshot126.jpg mean anything to you? No, of course not. Google sees the same thing, so renaming the image to 3-iron-golf-club.jpg instead all of a sudden gives the image value and meaning. Can’t change the name of the image? By adding an ALT tag to the image, you provide a similar value.
• Do you have links to other websites? Add this code to the links (rel=”nofollow”). Not only will the links remain, allowing your visitors access to the same valuable resources, but you will retain all page authority (the importance of the specific page in Google’s eyes).
• Content Content CONTENT! If your site is a week old or a decade old, you will always have the ability to change content. There is a gap between what makes sense to humans and what makes sense to robots. Trying to bridge that gap will pay dividends, as users will be informed with quality content, and search engines will be convinced that your website is providing content relevant to visitor search queries.

Just by implementing these few steps, your website will become much more search engine friendly. No matter how old your website is, it will still output HTML. The techniques used above are very basic, however they are also very important and powerful. Also, nothing is ever final so feel free to tweak and change content. As mentioned earlier though, be patient as organic SEO (in case you couldn’t tell, these are basic SEO tactics) can take time. Good luck!

So, unless you’ve been completely disconnected for the last few weeks, you will have likely heard about Google+. This is Google’s latest attempt at breaking through in the very competitive and rapidly expanding social media realm. It’s not their first attempt mind you, but we won’t go into too much detail about Wave, Buzz and their other… let’s call them.. experiments.

They have quite a lot more invested in this project though, and have gone as far as planning to rename the incredibly popular Picasa and Blogger websites to Google Photos and Google Blogs, respectively. Last time we looked this change hadn’t gone through, but it’s planned to happen during the public launch of Google+, since it is still in invite-only beta stage.

Getting an invite however, is as easy as asking one of the over 20 million current users (as of July 19th, 2011)  for one of their unlimited invites. I had approximately 50 coworkers, family members and friends up and running within a few days. NOTE : In fact, leave a comment on this blog post and I would be happy to extend an invite.

After 10 days of frequent use, I have had a great deal of fun using Google+ but it’s not perfect. Here are some of my Pros/Cons.

Great features of Google+ 

• Integration With Other Google Tools.
  When you  want to share a video on Facebook, you need to either have the link ready, or upload the actual video to Facebook. With Google+ it not only features the option to add a video link, but you can also search and post directly from Youtube, or add videos from your cellphone (provided you are using the Instant Upload feature).
  
• That Amazing Notifications Bar.
  The updated toolbar that is present in nearly every Google tool has deep integration of Google+ Notifications. Not only can you check your Google+ notifications while reading your Gmail, but you can comment or +1 the comments without having to visit the Google+ site itself.

  

• Already A Google user? You’re Ready To Go.
  I have been a Google user (or… Google super nerd, Google Poster Boy, etc., depending on who you ask) for as long as I can remember. My phone is running Android, I have been using Gmail forever, my Contacts have been stored on Google’s servers since I got my phone, my Calendars, both personal and professional are, well…. you get the picture. Anyways, upon setting up my Google+ account, I was greeted with a list of contacts taken from my Google Contacts, making it very easy to invite everyone. My Picasa photos were automatically linked up to share, and I can only imagine what else will be enabled in the coming months.
• The Mobile App Might Be Basic, But It’s Already Great
  Last time I checked, mobile usage is growing. Having an app to compliment the great online service seemed obvious and Google doesn’t disappoint. Nearly everything you can do on the browser version can be done on the Google+ mobile app. In fact, the ability to have photos, videos and chats are makes even more sense on a mobile device, while you’re out and about.

Room For Improvement 

While not so much technical aspects of the service itself, there are potential roadblocks that could severely hinder any possibility for future success of Google+.

• Where is everyone?
  At last count, I had 75 people in my circles, however it seems as if only 3 people are actually using it. Don’t get me wrong, I am completely thrilled with every word they type (Hopefully they are reading this), but it would be nice to see a more engaged group. I’m sure this is something that will happen over time but it puts a damper on an otherwise very solid platform.
• The big blue elephant in the room.
  With Facebook amazingly continuing to increase its userbase to now over 700 million, it seems that nothing can possibly get in its way. Google doesn’t just have a hill to climb, it has to find a way to catch up with a speeding train with no signs of slowing down.
• No Business Support (Yet.)
  There is an ‘entity’ request form available for businesses, but until then there is no sign of how the business accounts will appear to the public. One of the issues I’ve found with Facebook is the occasional business account that posts dozens of times a day, cluttering the news feed (my apologies if you feel that way about us!). Keeping business accounts separate is a great idea.

Danielle K. a grade 8 student at Toronto’s Hodgeson Senior Public School afflicted with Epilepsy wanted to raise awareness and money for a cause she intimately believes in – finding a cure for Epilepsy. Danielle and her grade 8 classmates created a campaign they affectionately called “Purple Palooza” which would do just that – raise money for Epilepsy research. Danielle’s class (and teacher) organized a fundraising campaign that would make Donald Trump of  ”The Apprentice” proud. The students collaborated on a campaign that included several business elements such as: idea brainstorming, strategy, branding, marketing, and tactical execution.

Additional support by teachers, school administrators, and volunteers contributed to the overall  success of the campaign, raising over $1200 in an effort to increase awareness of Epilepsy and to help Epilepsy Canada reach their research goals.

Enabling the power of social media, the students created their own blog to track the progress of the campaign which created incremental visibility beyond the class to include other classes, grades, and parental connections. One of the students indicated that the campaign had stalled midway – but once social media (blogging and Facebook)was utilized – the campaign took on a life of its own resulting in a positive outcome.

Bill Hutchison – CTV’s  news anchor and Honorary Spokesperson for Epilepsy Canada, was there to say a few words and commend the students for their remarkable effort. Gary Collins, Managing Partner of 4Growth and Epilepsy Canada Board Member, was also suitably impressed and accepted the cheque  on behalf of Epilepsy Canada.

The students (and school administrators) all shared in the success of the campaign. Our hats are off to the Purple Palooza team as they are a very “enterprising” group of kids who demonstrated a strong passion and belief in a worthwhile cause.

View some of the snaps from the event below.