Recent Posts

05/22/2013

Denver Social Media Marketing Group Adds Advertising to Social Media Strategy Plans

In May, 2013, Denver, premier social media for business group turned its attention to Advertising on Social Media Networks. Video Courtesy of Conversation Starters Public Relations    The group added a feature to its presentation: A Twitter Fountain. Thanks to our friends at Multimedia Audio-Visual for consulting with us on how to make it happen. Highlighted tweets from the event: Facebook users are getting older. The kids have gone elsewhere to misbehave. - @DebDrive LinkedIn is the office, Facebook is the water cooler. - @PaulMerrill Facebook and Twitter …

05/15/2013

Denver Social Media: Advertising on Twitter Now Accessible for Smaller Businesses

Twitter has introduced Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts as an affordable way to increase reach on its social media network. This service level was rolled out by invitation in March, 2013 (Webolutions® was invited), and made available to all users in late April. Twitter’s initial foray into social media advertising fell into the, “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it,” category. $15,000 to get started. Surely, that price structure saved a lot of time for sales reps calling upon small- and medium- sized businesses. That’s a pretty aggressive propositi …

05/14/2013

Current Marketing Trends - Humanize Your Business

All trained salespeople have most definitely heard the statement, “People do business with people they know, like and trust.” But, this simple phrase also has huge implications for those in marketing, especially in the age of social media. As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends . We also provide insights as to how the world of marketing is changing and how current marketing trends must evolve for smart companies, those with vision, to stay ahead of the curve. To see how this simple statement applies to the world of marketing, w …

05/11/2013

Facebook Gets A New Look (Again)

The continued long and drawn-out death of skeuomorphic design took another step forward this month with a redesign by the world’s biggest social media site, Facebook. While redesign and Facebook have become somewhat synonymous over the years, something feels different this time. While the redesign promises to add features, it actually strips much of the clutter, specifically in the fresh new logo and the News Feed page. For starters, Facebook has simplified the logo, dropping the odd reflection strip at the bottom of the logo that always looked like something from clipart circa 1998. Th …

05/03/2013

A Child's Experience at a Day in the Life of Dad

Expanded in 2003 from the original Take Your Daughter to Work Day, Take Your Child to Work Day is designed to include both genders and to provide both boys and girls with the opportunity to explore and experience careers and a day in the life of the professional world.    Here at Webolutions, we wanted Take Your Child to Work Day to go beyond the average “shadow” of an adult.  We wanted them to experience what the parent in their lives does during the work day and present them the value of their education and help them discover the power and possibilities associat …

05/02/2013

Experiential Marketing Agency Tips: Happy Employees Make Happy Customers

How excited were you to go to work today? Did you pop out of bed with a smile, knowing that your day was going to be full of good fun, camaraderie and fulfilling customer interactions or did you trudge to work wishing you could be anywhere else in the world? While it might be a lot to ask that every employee face each day with a smile, it is certainly something to shoot for and something that has been proven to pay back with dividends. To prove this point, let’s analyze the case of Wild Blue Car Wash. In 2010, Colorado Springs car wash owner David Begin was at his wit’s end. H …

04/26/2013

Web Analytics: The Monetary Value of Your Website Conversions

Your website exists to make you money. Now, I must acknowledge that there are particular organizations that are not driving revenue through their web presence (schools, for example). However, for the vast majority of us, a website is a tool to generate an actual flow of revenue, as well as awareness for one’s brand and/or products. So I go back to my first point – your website exists to make you money. As such, it is extremely useful to have a web analytics platform that monitors the activity of your website, from visitors to bounce rate and time on site.  All of these metr …

04/25/2013

Denver Social Media Marketing Group Links Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to Strategy Plans

In April, 2013, Denver’s premier social media for business group focused its presentation on SEO--the fourth chapter in their social media marketing plans. Webolutions® Director of New Media Strategies, Mike Hanbery, led the presentation. The material and discussion comprised Chapter Four of the custom Social Media Strategy Plans group members are developing. The group meets on the third Friday of each month at at the South Metro Denver Chamber (@bestchamber). While irreplaceable benefits of attending in person include business networking and the handout for the plan, live and arc …

04/12/2013

Denver Social Media: Search Engine Optimization and Your Social Media Marketing Plan

The inevitable and necessary integration of search engine optimization and social media is picking up speed. Another significant development—an update to the Google Penguin algorithm--is expected soon. Social Media and Search Engine Optimization: The Story So Far Once upon a time, the novelty of returning a list of links to websites offering information, products or services relevant to a search query was amazing. It is now mundane. Today, a Facebook user can take a few moments to post a query on Facebook such as, “Where should I take my mom to get her hair done?” a …

04/10/2013

Experiential Marketing Agency Tips: Creating an Experience Worth Talking About

Remember a time you couldn’t stop talking about a place to your friends? I once had a dentist whose hands were so tiny, she could work miracles and you hardly knew it was happening. I told everyone I knew that I’d found the key to painless dentistry, and those friends that visited her showered me with thanks. I realize that small hands isn’t exactly a change most dentists can easily make to create more buzz around their practice, but every business needs to think about the experiences they create for their customers each day and determine if they are the type that will ge …

04/09/2013

Current Marketing Trends- Building Your Marketing Team

This is an actual, non-edited picture we took of a donut shop close to my house in Denver, Colorado. Aside from the unintentional change in the nature of this store’s offerings as their lights came on at night, this image provides an opportunity to discuss how the nature of corporate marketing has changed. Today, it is critical to make sure that your marketing program utilizes expertise across ALL the relevant engagement channels. Otherwise, you too may wind up with lama nuts. As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends to help our clients …

03/21/2013

Denver Social Media Marketing Group Adds Legal Issues to Strategy Plans

In March, 2013, Denver’s premier social media marketing group welcomed Jim Thomas (@jimtdenver), Attorney/Owner at Minor & Brown, to discuss Legal & Copyright Considerations for Social Media Marketing. The material and discussion comprised Chapter Three of the custom Social Media Strategy Plans group members are developing. Video courtesy of Conversation Starters Public Relations   If you’re following the group on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #SMGDenver, you may have seen some of the ongoing conversation. Here are highlights of that conversation, with s …

03/21/2013

Web Analytics: Monitor Macro Conversions AND Micro Conversions

In my last post, I discussed the importance of evaluating conversion data within a web analytics strategy.  Data on website conversions can provide fairly direct insights on the bottom line of a business – revenue. The primary goal of any online conversion is to move the website visitor towards some kind of a transaction, and in many cases, the conversion is itself a transaction.  However, if your website only features conversions for visitors willing to buy your goods/services right at that moment, then you are losing out on important data as well as potential future reven …

03/20/2013

Measuring Social Media ROI: The Illusion of Last Source Conversion

Social media is a conversion point for less than two percent of online purchases. As most web conversion analytics assign leads to the point of conversion, the relative conversation about social media marketing is unflattering to the medium. These are frequent comments made about social media marketing: “It doesn’t work.” “Nothing happened.” “You can’t measure social media ROI.” “There is no ROI from social media.” In cases where a brand has been ill-defined or not defined and/or there is a lack of str …

03/14/2013

Pinterest Marketing: Social Media’s Visual Juggernaut Adds Free Analytics Tool

This week, the most right-brained social media network in the world rolled out its free analytics platform. To be certain, the fastest-growing demographic in Pinterest use and consumption will be social media analytics trackers. Pinterest has been marginalized in social media analytics discussions. Its format seems to naturally direct users to a broad set of locations rather than funneling them to a point of conversion or increased engagement with the brand. Those detractors now have the opportunity to test that theory as the Pinterest analytics tool allows businesses to track: Th …

03/04/2013

A Quick Guide to Responsive Typography

The majority of articles talking about responsive web design tend to focus on either a fluid or flexible grid and flexible images. However, as Oliver Reichenstein, founder and Director of Information Architects, points out, web design is 95% typography.  So what about typography and how it interacts with responsive web design? There are two principles to creating effective responsive typography. One is the resizable type, or text that is either resized automatically based on the size of the screen, or resizable by the user. The other is optimized line lengths, while maintaining readabi …

03/04/2013

Current Marketing Trends- Recap of 2013 Online Marketing Summit

As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends to help our clients increase their marketing success. At this year’s 2013 Online Marketing Summit, our team was able to meet with other top industry, online marketing professionals from companies like Whole Foods, Shutterfly and Sony. The primary themes of this year’s event were: Content Marketing Fresh, relevant and engaging content has been the key to successful online marketing for years. Yet, is it one of the more challenging tasks for many small and medium size businesses. The hard, …

03/04/2013

Experience Marketing: Design Smart Feedback to Show Value to Clients

Helping our clients create memorable experience marketing programs is an important part the work we do at Webolutions every day. While many only think of experience marketing when discussing a tradeshow or a seminar, there are many opportunities in your normal business processes to design experiences that will set you apart from your competitors. The recent book, The Power Of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, recounts the innovative approach used in the early 1900s to build a new product called Pepsodent into one of the world’s most recognized brands. …

03/01/2013

Should Your SEO Efforts Include Schema?

You may have noticed Google listings for some websites being a little bit more extensive lately, for example, look at the picture attached to this post. This listing looks the way it does because Rotten Tomatoes has marked their website up with Schema. Schema is more advanced way of using html tags (microdata) to indicate to search engines what you would like to appear in your website’s listings on the search engine results pages (SERPs). The standard listing on a search engine will include your page title, URL, and meta description; with Schema you are able to incorporate more to he …

02/22/2013

Denver Social Media Marketing Group Adds Brand Experience to Social Media Marketing Plan

Denver’s premier social media marketing group, Social Marketing for Business – Join the Conversation!, registered 101 attendees on Friday, February 15, 2013, for Developing, Communicating & Understanding Your Brand Experience on Social Media. This was Chapter Two in the customized Social Media Marketing Strategy Plans the group is creating in its monthly sessions. Webolutions® CEO John Vachalek imparted his company’s definition of a brand—a memory bank created over time--and how successful brands are developed in this era of social media marketing. Vachalek e …

02/14/2013

Twitter’s Vine: A Social Media Marketing Tool for Your Company?

This month, Twitter rolled out its Vine application. Twitter’s Vine allows users to create and upload videos of six seconds in length to their Twitter feeds. (Actually closer to six and a half, but who’s counting?) (Six seconds is also the approximate length of time it took the porn industry to disrupt and overpower the initial rollout, but that’s beyond our scope here, as are jokes about the usefulness of six seconds of porn. Pity.) Twitter Vine is basic. Users can start, record, pause and end. That’s all. How much creativity can you pack into six seconds with t …

02/08/2013

The Top 5 Wordpress Plugins to Extend the Functionality of Your Website

My first experience with Wordpress was several years ago, in its 2.0 days, before it could legitimately be thought of as a content management system and was no more than a blogging platform.  It was great for blogging or small sites, but if you wanted more than a few pages of static content and a blog post manager, you were either building complex codebases on top of Wordpress, hacking the core to make it work, and / or you were using a different platform.  So, I developed websites with Drupal.  In many ways it delivered everything you would need to create the complex sites …

02/08/2013

Experience Marketing – Transform the Everyday with Fun & Creativity

At Webolutions, we work with our clients to engage their community with branding messages that focus on the experience they create. Thoughtful experience marketing offers the opportunity to change routine transactions into powerful events that demonstrate the value of your business. We reviewed different ways to deepen the impact of your brand in a recent post. A great example of experiential marketing continues to be the Fun Theory from Volkswagen. The overall concept was to engage people to invent creative ways to make every day activities more fun. Over 700 people submitted different id …

02/07/2013

Current Marketing Trends - Lessons for Any Company - Top U.S. Retailers

As a Denver marketing agency, we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends. While reading a recent article about the closing of U.S. retail stores, it was obvious that all businesses are facing many of the same challenges today. After this story summary, we have provided a list of how you can use this information to help make your company more successful. Eight Retailers That Will Close the Most Stores By Douglas A. McIntyre, Samuel Weigley, Alexander E.M. Hess and Michael B. Sauter | 24/7 Wall St – Fri, Feb 1, 2013 12:50 PM EST "It is the time of year again, …

02/04/2013

Marketing Yourself: Social Media and Your Personal Brand

“The modern man always knows what to do,” according to Denver’s GQ Barber Lounge owner and Guy Talk Radio host Bill Chrismer. Webolutions Director of New Media Strategies Mike Hanbery, dropped in to Bill’s GQ Barber Lounge Guy Talk Radio at Denver’s 710 AM KNUS studios to help the “modern man” make sense of today’s social media landscape and what it can mean to his personal brand. (In truth, it works the same way for women.) This two-part series helps the modern man (or woman) understand the current Internet landscape and how to use social …

01/24/2013

Web Analytics: Optimizing your Online Presence for Conversions

Across the marketing world, two developments have trumped all others in recent years. One is the explosion of Social Media Marketing as a method to engage customers. The other is Big Data. This term has proliferated across industries as businesses seek to harness the incredible volumes of information to make smarter decisions. The field of web analytics, in particular, has burgeoned recently, as companies attempt to make the most of their online assets. In my last post, I briefly explored some of the common “analytics traps” that await us as we dive into the vast oceans of web …

01/24/2013

Denver Social Media for Business Group Sets Goals, Curriculum for 2013

At the January 18, 2013, Social Marketing for Business - Join the Conversation, group organizers laid out plans and the corresponding curriculum for this year's approach. "We want to achieve something meaningful together," said group founder John Vachalek, CEO of Webolutions, "so this needs to be more than a networking group. We must engage with each other on meaningful levels, contribute to the overall knowledge pool on an ongoing basis and work toward a common goal. For us, that goal in 2013 will be a tangible social media strategy plan for each attending member business.& …

01/21/2013

Current Marketing Trends- Keeping Clients by Thinking Ahead of Them

As a Denver marketing agency we continually identify and evaluate current marketing trends. Sometimes the most important trends are identified by taking a step back and reviewing the basics of successful marketing.  How will success be measured? What are the critical factors for moving this needle?  In general, marketing success will be measured by the increase in overall company sales. So, the next question is, What are the key factors to moving this needle?  This can be broken down into 2 categories: Existing Client Retention – keep all your existing clients a …

01/16/2013

Facebook Graph Search and your Social Media Marketing Plan

For years, we've been watching and talking about the integration of Internet search and social media. It's only natural for us to come to expect not just what SEO pros can make fly on search engine results, but to get recommendations from people we know and trust. Facebook's Graph Search, announced earlier this week, is, “what’s next.” Though purportedly crafted with individual social desires in mind--Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg touted it as a dating tool--there are ways business people can use it. While business media focus on this as the next volley from an entity g …

01/08/2013

Experience Marketing: What Does Your Tagline Say About Your Business?

We work with our clients at Webolutions to develop a unique and engaging customer experience that will set them apart from their competition. This focus on experience marketing elevates our clients’ messages beyond more common commodity, product and service messages. A tagline or slogan can be a powerful marketing asset when it concisely conveys the experience of doing business with your brand. Here are some examples of current taglines in the marketplace: “It’s Amazing What Soup Can Do.” (Campbell’s Soup). This tagline tries to mix experience (amazing) wit …

01/08/2013

Effective Design & Usability: 5 User Interface Design Trends for 2013

It’s the time of the year when we reflect on what 2012 had to offer and anticipate what 2013 might have in store. 2012 was an interesting year for user interface design: Skeuomorphism hit both it’s peak of popularity and nadir, the resurgence of grids and the golden ratio dominated with frameworks such as Bootstrap, the “pull to refresh” approach for application design became a standard design pattern, parallax scrolling captivated users with it’s complexity, and responsive web design set a precedent for the future of web design. Let’s welcome the new year w …

01/03/2013

Monsters University: Where Experience Meets Internet Marketing

At Webolutions we emphasize the importance of the experience of your brand as a powerful marketing tool. This means having a consistent and positive experience for every interaction your customers have with your company, including your website. In 2009, John Vachalek wrote an article about the impression that the experience of visiting Disney World had on him and his family. Today, Disney is taking that experience even further with the interactive website they have created to promote their new movie, Monsters University. If you do a search for “Monsters University” which, as of …

12/31/2012

Strategic Social Media Marketing: Beyond Posting on Facebook

Strategic social media marketing includes planning and sophisticated understanding of the nature of the medium as well as the tools and systems that introduce efficiencies and generate return on investment (ROI). The degree to which businesses believe social media marketing is equivalent to posting comments and pictures on Facebook is equivalent to the degree to which their social media marketing efforts will fail. Here are ten (of many) elements that frame the way professional social media marketers conduct themselves.  These are the things social media marketers do that set them apart …

12/13/2012

Denver Social Marketing for Business Group Shares 2013 Strategy Plan Elements

Denver’s premier social media marketing for business group, Social Marketing for Business – Join the Conversation!, focused its December discussion on plans to generate social media marketing ROI for 2013. Video courtesy of Conversation Starters Public Relations Business owners and social media managers in the group identified their goals for the social media channel including: Establishing the brand as a thought leader Educating current and prospective clients Proliferation of blog content   Tactics that businesses intend to use include: In …

12/03/2012

Current Marketing Trends – Budgeting for 2013 – Evolving Your Viewpoint

As an advertising agency, Webolutions is actively engaged with our clients in creating and allocating annual marketing budgets. However, in a world with: decreased brand loyalty constant price shopping social media and where the importance of creating an engaged community around your brand is ever-more critical, the approach to developing an effective marketing budget is very different than it was just a few short years ago. Of course, everyone knows that the goal of marketing is to generate more business, right?  Where the evolution in thought must now enter …

11/30/2012

Web Analytics Traps: Tracking the Right Data for your Business

It is safe to say that the words “data” and “analytics” have become two of the hottest marketing/business buzzwords over the last couple of years. We have all seen ads telling us that companies are increasing revenues by up to X% by digging into the quantitative information they have at their disposal. Tracking web analytics in particular has become standard practice for businesses. In this light, it would seem that by simply dedicating company resources to tracking analytics, you can drastically improve the performance of a company’s marketing campaigns, and e …

11/29/2012

Effective Design & Usability: Does Your Business Need a Mobile App?

We’re reaching the end of 2012, the predicted “Year of Mobile”.  So what have we learned over the past year, was mobile over-hyped? It seems not. The trend of users accessing the web via mobile devices has at least met those predictions of earlier this year, with mobile visitors to the web now accounting for 13% of mobile visits (For those of you keeping score, the last time I wrote about mobile, a mere two months ago, that number was just shy of 12%).  It’s clear that mobile usage is not slowing down, and while desktop usage is probably not going away any tim …

11/29/2012

Experiential Marketing – Turn Showrooming Into An Opportunity

Showrooming is the most common name for a developing trend in retail marketing. When customers visit a brick-and-mortar store to try on or test drive a product and then leave the store to complete their purchase online, they are showrooming. The reason for making the final purchase online is normally a lower price. There is a growing concern among many retailers that showrooming will quickly have an increased impact on their bottom line. Turn this potentially negative marketing trend into an opportunity by creating an experience in your retail store that adds so much value that it cannot be …

11/28/2012

2013 Marketing Trend: Niche Social Media Networks

Social media is much more than Facebook. A 2013 marketing trend to watch and, for some businesses, in which to engage is the rise of niche social networks. There are thousands. People who share your values—your “why”--are more likely to be long-term clients and referral sources than those interested in “what” you sell. Niche Internet social networks don’t try to compete with Facebook; rather, they appeal to narrower segments of the online population, focusing content and interaction around a hobby, activity, belief set or shared experience. While the o …

11/05/2012

Current Marketing Trends - Transparency Marketing – Unleashing the Power of You

As a full-service Denver Marketing Agency, Webolutions observes many marketplace trends. One of the most prolific trends we see today is what we call Transparency Marketing.  We have loosely defined Transparency Marketing as: The art of sharing the essence of your company and what it stands for in order to create an actively engaged community                    around your brand. On the surface this might sound easy, but to successfully achieve this goal, requires some time of real …

11/05/2012

Experiential Marketing Agency Tips – Ways to Broaden the Scope of Your Brand Experience

As a full-service Experiential Marketing Agency, Webolutions frequently works with clients to review all of the different ways their brand connects with clients, and find ways to turn those touch points into memorable experiences. When does the experience of your brand begin? If you own a restaurant, it would be easy to say the experience of your establishment begins when your guests open the front door and ends when they pay their check. In the current marketplace, it’s important to think bigger than that to set yourself apart from all of the other choice that are available today. …

11/01/2012

How to Start Conversations and Get Comments on Your Business Facebook Page

“How can I generate more comments and better conversations on my business Facebook Page?” When business executives and owners target engagement on social media, we frequently place the medium in a silo, letting it thrive or wither largely or entirely on its own.  While best practices within the medium help, the real answer to success in social media, as in all marketing, is to build a stronger brand. What to Post One of Webolutions’® clients provides lawn care, tree care and outdoor Christmas lighting design and installation. Their most successful Facebook po …

10/31/2012

Building Higher Quality Links

One of the hardest parts of any search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is building high quality links. It is the one aspect where you do not have full control of, you cannot fully control who links to your website. In the old days of SEO, link farms and directories popped up like Starbucks that allowed people to submit the links they wanted and “organically” build links. This is no longer a practice that is going to get you anywhere as these sites pass on essentially no authority to your website, and now they can even count against you. So what exactly makes a high quality li …

10/29/2012

Denver Social Media for Business Group Shares Listening Solutions

The October, 2012, meeting of Denver’s premier social media for business group  focused on social media listening. The discussion started with a definition of social media listening and moved quickly into the “noise” factor of social media: How do you know what, where and to whom to listen? How can businesses, especially small businesses, efficiently monitor the social channel…and for what should they be listening? As with any social media marketing endeavor, the answers to these questions involve time and engagement. Webolutions, for example, offered that when …

10/15/2012

How to Use Social Media Listening in Your Marketing Action Plan

Social media listening is a fundamental aspect of social media action plans. Social media strategy plans can only reach their potential when listening and monitoring are significant ongoing components. Why listen to social media channels? Relationships. Especially for B to B outreach, listening creates opportunities to gain exposure for your Facebook page. Similar to blog marketing, the singular best way to develop relationships and create exposure for your Facebook page is to contribute quality conversation on other entities’ pages. Content. One of the biggest hurdles for b …

10/02/2012

Current Marketing Trends: Introduction to Gamification in Marketing

The marketing trend of gamification is becoming so popular that it has its own wiki at gamification.org. According to the site, “gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging.” Adding game elements to your marketing program can be a very effective way to turn a passive customer into a brand evangelist in a short amount of time. While it may seem like this is a recent trend brought on by social media and smartphones, a classic gamification success story kicked off way back in 1992 when McDonald’s …

10/02/2012

Experiential Marketing Agency Tips – Creating an Experience Checklist

As an Experiential Marketing Agency, one of our primary responsibilities at Webolutions is to help our clients create amazing experiences.  Amazing experiences are one of the keys to creating a strong brand. The more your company can be associated with novel and enjoyable experiences in people’s lives, The more brand loyalty you will achieve. The higher your employee retention rates will be. The more referrals you will receive. The more business you will receive from your existing clients. The more overall success you will enjoy. Creating an amazing e …

09/28/2012

An Introduction to Responsive Web Design (RWD)

Responsive web design (RWD) is currently the hottest buzzword in the web design and development industry. Ethan Marcotte first coined the term in his List Apart article “Responsive Web Design” two years ago and it’s rapidly taken off since. Google has officially endorsed it, Adobe recently announced plans to develop an entire application dedicated to it called Reflow, and the Boston Globe’s responsive redesign has made the biggest splash in the design community in over a decade. But what exactly is responsive web design and why does it matter? Every client wants a mo …

09/26/2012

Writing Content for Search Engines

In the world of search engine optimization (SEO) there is a constant struggle to find a balance between what is good for the search engines and what is good for the reader. Obviously there is a need to have your keywords present within your content in order to rank for those terms in the search engines. On the other hand it is important not to cannibalize the quality of your content in order to try to gain ranks. If you follow my posts you can tell this is a topic I am very passionate about. I strongly believe that having relevant, high quality content is the only way to maintain high ranki …

09/25/2012

Denver Business Executives Share Elements of Social Media Marketing Action Plans

On Friday, September 21, 2012, Denver’s premier Social Media for Business group gathered for a conversation about social media marketing strategy plans. Of the more than 60 businesses and organizations represented, less than ten percent were in the process of following a written social media action plan. Elements of the plans in use included: A communications flow model illustrated on PowerPoint An editorial calendar built in Excel Social media dashboards like HootSuite and TweetDeck   Taking these steps provide many benefits, including: Clearly identify …

09/19/2012

The 5 W’s of Social Media Marketing Plans

Successful, sustainable social media marketing plans are built upon the same foundations as other successful, sustainable plans: Why, Who Where, When and What. The 5 W’s provide structure, tangibility and answers to a number of important questions, including, “How will we succeed in social media?” WHY People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. – Simon Sinek Business and organizations that connect with people who share their values enjoy much greater marketing efficiencies and results across all business pursuits. In social media marketing, the …

09/10/2012

Experiential Marketing Agencies Tips – How to Generate Positive Online Reviews

As a full-service Experiential Marketing Agency, one of Webolutions' primary goals is to help our clients ensure the creation of positive online reviews by their clients and customers.  This activity is critical to all business’ marketing success. The current degree of importance of your positive online reviews may vary based on your specific type of business. If you are a restaurant or hotel, positive online reviews are already the life blood of your business. If you are a law firm, CPA firm, or other professional service company, these may currently have less impact, however t …

09/07/2012

Better Mobile Site Design Decisions Benefit User Experience

Do you know what percentage of visitors to your website is mobile?  Hopefully you have analytics installed on your site, and you can easily identify how valuable your mobile segment is to your website.  Chances are, there’s a significant portion of your traffic that is being overlooked if you don’t ask yourself “How could reviewing my mobile users' experience help my website, and in turn, my business?”    From 7.12% this time last year, the overall percentage of people visiting websites on their mobile devices is up to 11.78% [statcounter] It&rs …

09/06/2012

Does Pay Per Click Marketing Make Sense For You?

When it comes down to it, Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing is just like any other marketing effort. The bottom line always comes down to the same thing: are you getting more return on your marketing than you are investing into it? The greatest part about PPC and other Internet marketing strategies is that you can easily track your ROI to determine just how much you’re gaining or losing from your efforts. If you are having questions about whether or not your company should invest in a PPC campaign, here are some things to consider that should help you determine whether or not it is the right …

09/06/2012

Answers to Common Questions About Blogging

Any business today needs a website and a central component of that website needs to be a blog. We have covered the basics of why a blog is an important part of your website. Blogging is a topic that can generate a fair amount of anxiety from “non-creative” business people. Don’t yield the great opportunity that blogging offers small businesses to academics, copywriters and other “wordy” professions! Let’s walk through two of the common concerns that still hold businesses back from making the most of this powerful web marketing tool. You can control com …

08/22/2012

Denver Business Group Discusses Measuring Social Media Marketing ROI

In August, Denver’s premier social media for business group, Social Marketing for Business – Join the Conversation!, held its annual conversation about measuring social media marketing ROI. Webolutions Director of Strategic Marketing, Peter Hodges, offered his experience as a member of Bellco Credit Union’s marketing team, specifically referencing a photo contest in which the primary metrics were engagement and reach, measured by number of entries, increase in likes and followers, number of shares, comments, votes, etc. These broader and deeper connections were employed to …

08/15/2012

Using Relationship Marketing Metrics to Calculate Social Media Marketing ROI

What is relationship marketing? Dr. Philip Kotler offers this definition: Increasingly, a key goal of marketing is to develop deep, enduring relationships with all people or organizations that could directly or indirectly affect the success of the firm’s marketing activities. Relationship marketing has the aim of building mutually satisfying long-term relationships with key parties—customers, suppliers, distributors and other marketing partners—in order to earn and retain their business. This definition was written in 2006. The true advent of social media for business star …

08/06/2012

Experiential Marketing Example – Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World

“Welcome Fisherman, Hunters and Other Liars”. This is written at the entrance of Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World in Denver, CO. This incredible Mecca of everything fishing, hunting and outdoors, is a great example of a company’s experience becoming their brand.  Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World locations reach sizes of up to 300,000 square feet and each of these locations features: •    An impressive hunting lodge and outdoors decor •    Huge taxidermy mounts of wildlife indigenous to that location •    A water f …

08/06/2012

WordPress: More than Just a Blogging Platform

You decided to start a website and asked your tech savvy friend to help, or you scheduled a consultation with Webolutions and someone mentioned something about using WordPress. As far as you knew, WordPress was merely a blogging platform; a kickstart for any and everyone wanting to create their own little piece of the web. You're right--at least up until around 2008. WordPress was originally designed as a platform for blogging, but with the release of version 2.6 in July of 2008, WordPress became a respectable CMS (content management system). Since then, WordPress has taken the web by storm, p …

08/06/2012

Avoiding the Wrath of Google

All too often, we get calls from companies who have undergone Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts and seen great results in the rankings, only to have their investment disappear when Google launches a new update. I explained in a previous post how Search Engine Optimization is always evolving. Search engines are forced to continually updated and improve their search algorithms in order to bring their users the most relevant results to their search. Recently Google has been launching updates for their Panda and Penguin updates that have had a huge impact on some websites’ ranking …

08/03/2012

Current Marketing Trends: Creating Customized Customer Experiences

Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, wrote in his autobiography that “any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants as long as it is black.” This statement is an often repeated mantra by businesses that expect to be able to offer the identical product or service to all of their clients. This era of top-down thinking is rapidly coming to an end. Consumers are beginning to expect that the products and services they purchase will offer an opportunity for customization to fit their personal tastes. Whether it’s a custom graphic on their mobile phone c …

07/26/2012

Marketing Strategy: Integrating Social Media and Traditional Advertising

“Find us on Facebook,” often with an accompanying incentive, has replaced, “Get it at these fine retailers,” and the like, as the predominant call to action in print and broadcast media. Integration of social media with traditional advertising has been increasing for years.  Irreversible changes in communications technology—most prevalently, Internet social networks--have brought unprecedented power to the purchaser. As adoption and use of social media by purchasers grows, so does the acumen to use it for matters beyond diversion and entertainment. Increasi …

07/24/2012

Denver Social Media Marketing: Advertising on Internet Social Networks

The July, 2012, conversation at Denver’s premier social media marketing for business group centered on Advertising on Internet social networks. Most of the conversation focused on Facebook. Attendees whose businesses had experimented with Facebook ads varied from a local martial arts studio to a major homeschool curriculum company. Discussion points included whether business should start with a clicks- or impressions-based campaign and how those differed; what element of building the campaign struck each advertiser (targeting!) and the immediate goal of the advertising campa …

07/09/2012

Experiential Marketing Example – Microsoft Store Summer Camps for Kids

Engaging people and working to build communities around your brand are some of the key elements as to what makes experiential marketing so effective. Summer is the time for kids and camps, and Microsoft is capitalizing on this to create an amazing experience which utilizes all the elements necessary for a perfect experience marketing example.  During July and August, the Microsoft store is offering free camps to kids between the age of 8 to 10 years old.  These week-long camps go for two-hours a day and explore some really neat topics: • Digital Movie Madness - develop …

07/09/2012

Effective Design & Usability : How to Use Color to Your Website’s Advantage

The colors used in your website are impacting your business’s success.  Whether the impact is positive or negative could depend on how much you’ve considered your audience, set a defined goal for your website, and planned how color could be used to achieve those goals.  That’s important enough to consider developing a color scheme at the very outset of website planning. Whether it’s e-commerce, corporate, informational, or promotional, your website exists for someone to take an action (hopefully many people), and it turns out that colors are very good at e …

07/03/2012

Current Marketing Trends: Invest in the Community Around Your Brand

What is it that you are really selling to your customers? Author Tom Peters has included a telling example in one of his books that comes from a Harley-Davidson executive. This executive talked about how riding a Harley is more than a form of transportation; is a statement about the identity of the person who buys it. “What we sell is the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns, and have people be afraid of him.” This playful quote gets the core of what Harley-Davidson offers their devotees. It’s a sense of belonging to a comm …

07/03/2012

Webolutions Recap of the Marketing Sherpa 2012 Optimization Summit

One of my favorite aspects about Online Marketing is the fact that it is always changing and the only way to stay ahead of the game is through experience, up-to-date research, and trial and error.  In the world of optimization, both search engine optimization and website optimization, best practices are always evolving. In an effort to make sure that we are up-to-date in the latest Optimization best practices, Webolutions sent my colleague, Mike Hanbery, and me to the Marketing Sherpa 2012 Optimization Summit. While a lot of the knowledge we gained reinforced what we have been saying in o …

07/03/2012

Social Media Marketing: A Guide to Advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

Advertising on social media networks--most prominently Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter--has similarities to other pay per click advertising and, therefore, similar measurements for Return on Investment (ROI). For most companies, the short-term goal of most advertising is to purchase leads. Clicks do not equal leads. Large companies and known brands use advertising for awareness; for these campaigns, impressions and clicks remain relevant metrics. Most companies, however, should be interested in clicks only as a means to acquire leads. These leads should be fed into a system that creates con …

06/20/2012

Denver Social Media Marketing: A Successful Content Strategy Plan

The June, 2012, conversation at Denver’s premier social media marketing for business group centered on content generation strategy.         Video Sponsor: Conversation Starters Social Marketing for Business – Join the Conversation! (#SMGDenver) is one of the ten largest Business and Social Networking Meetups in the world.  Conversation in the larger group included questions like: The rise of image-based communication and Pinterest as a marketing tool pull this question to the fore. Additional excerpts: “Successful content …

06/13/2012

Elements of a Social Media Content Generation Plan

Any social media marketing company has received a request from a business client to, “put this on Facebook.” Before simply executing the request, let’s take the opportunity to see if there is an opportunity to provide greater benefit to the client. According to behavioral data compiled and analyzed by bitly.com, the functional life of a Facebook post is 70 minutes. The functional life of a tweet is five minutes. A blog post, conversely, lasts forever. It’s also loaded with SEO opportunities and consumable content for humans and webcrawlers alike. Therefore, whe …

05/29/2012

Current Marketing Trends: Why a Blog is an Important Part of Your Website

We encourage every client we work with at Webolutions to have a blog on their website and publish content on a regular basis. This recommendation is sometimes met with a certain amount anxiety and uncertainty. What should I say about my business? How often do I need to do it? Why is this important? Blogging gives you and your business an easy and virtually free way to publish content that tells your story and make it available to the world. We reviewed easy ways to develop your content marketing strategy last month. Let’s look at why having a blog is a smart move for your business websi …

05/29/2012

Experiential Marketing Example – Casa Bonita a Denver tradition WOW!

In past posts, we’ve stated that in order to create an impactful experience around your brand, you need to: Provide a great product Provide a very good level of service Create an exceptional experience around the delivery of your product or service Casa Bonita does all of this in spades. If you have not been to this Denver landmark and you want to witness a truly unique experience, you should plan a visit. Casa Bonita is housed in a fairly non-descript shopping center in Lakewood, Colorado. It opened in 1974 and it is consistently ranked as one of the top places to v …

05/25/2012

The Google Penguin Update: What You Need To Know

In a previous post I wrote about the ever changing world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which describes how search engines are constantly tweaking their search algorithms to bring the most relevant results to the top of the rankings. I’m not going to go into much detail about this in this post so if you would like more information on the topic I highly recommend you read that post. Instead, I am going to go into detail about the new Penguin update that Google has released to the search algorithm and talk about why many small businesses have dropped off the face of the earth (well, t …

05/23/2012

Denver Social Media for Business Checks In with Local Online Marketing

The May, 2012, installment of Denver’s premier Social Media for Business Meetup featured a conversation among companies using social media for marketing sharing experiences with local online advertising. Research cited by Marketing Profs indicates: Local search is one of the fastest growing categories of online advertising, expected to increase as much as 10 percent per year through 2015. By 2015, 30 percent of all searches will be local, compared with 12 percent in 2009. 80 percent of all searches conducted via smartphone are for local products and services Little w …

05/16/2012

Social Media Marketing: Using Foursquare for Business

In August, 2010, we told you Foursquare was for real. In January of this year, we told you Foursquare was a top free mobile app for your business and that geo-targeting of social media marketing—using tools like Foursquare--was a top marketing trend for 2012. Today, we’re telling you Foursquare is hyper-local marketing that appeals to the human brain in ways humans don’t totally understand. Brand consultant Martin Lindstrom recently penned in the New York Times that a vibrating smartphone is the third most powerful affecting sound in the world, behind baby giggles and the In …

04/30/2012

Experiential Marketing Example – HoneyBaked Ham - An Experience Worth Every Penny

In order to succeed at experience marketing, you must: •    Provide a great product •    Provide a very good level of service •    Create an exceptional experience around delivery of your product or service To be considered exceptional, the experience you create must vastly exceed the expectations your customers would have from other people offering like products in the marketplace. When you are able to provide this unique experience to your customers, you will be able to achieve increased sales, more referrals and lessen the …

04/30/2012

Current Marketing Trends – Getting Your Content Marketing Strategy Started

If you need proof of the emerging value of content marketing, look no further than the inclusion of Red Bull Media House on Fast Company magazine’s list of The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies. The media arm of the energy drink company became an independent entity in Europe in 2007 and did the same in the United States in 2011. Red Bull Media House actively creates content that supports the extreme sports lifestyle demographic that makes up a large part of its target marketing. One of the media company’s most recent successes was a documentary about snowboarders called …

04/30/2012

3 Tips For An Effective PPC Campaign

Understandably, many potential clients come to us looking for immediate results from a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan. Unfortunately this is not how SEO works, it takes time for the changes to take hold within search engine rankings as well continued effort to further maintain and increase rankings. The Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy that can and will provide instant visibility on search engines is Pay Per Click (PPC) Marketing. With PPC you pay for each click to your website, allowing you to choose which keywords you want to show up for and bid for positioning on the results pa …

04/27/2012

3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Web Typography: Part 1

95% of the information on the web consists of written language. After all, that’s what you’re doing now — reading. Successful visual communication hinges on good typography. With such a strong influence on usability, it stands to reason that typography should be one of the most considered aspects of web design. Typography is a huge field of study, with a limitless number of daunting complexities. From something as simple as knowing the difference between a serif and a sans serif (see below) to knowing the difference between metric and optical kerning, typography can be hard …

04/26/2012

Pinterest for Business Social Media Marketing Example: Footers Catering in Denver

Pinterest was the fastest Internet social network in history to 10 million users, so naturally it has drawn the interest of social media marketers looking for ways to use it to build their brands, grow their businesses and participate in the growing marketing trend of image-based communication. Footers Catering in Denver, Colorado, was an early adopter of using social media marketing to build its brand and interact with clients and prospects. The second-generation company is continuing its innovative approach to new media marketing by using Pinterest for a visual dialogue with brides-to-be, …

04/25/2012

Video Marketing is Subject for Denver Social Media for Business Group

The April 20, 2012 installment of Denver’s premier Social Media for Business Meetup featured a panel discussion about Utilizing Video in Social Media Marketing with industry experts: Mike Hanbery, Webolutions  Brian Olson, Conversation Starters Public Relations Kevin Campbell, Kevin Campbell Films The discussion was moderated by Webolutions Director of Strategic Marketing Peter Hodges, who simultaneously monitored the online conversation using the group’s new Twitter hashtag, #SMGDenver. Takeaways included current research on online video marketing and bes …

04/13/2012

Online Video SEO: Marketing Your Web Video to Internet Search Engines

Internet video is the top area of new and increased investment in marketing for 2012. As with everything else Web, search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to get your video found by your target audience. The largest online video sharing Website is YouTube, a social network that has become the second most used search engine.  Businesses use YouTube to host videos and in hopes their videos will turn up in search results, expand their audience for marketing messages and generate leads. Simply uploading a video, however, won't achieve any marketing goals. Optimizing the video for sear …

04/02/2012

Effective Design & Usability: Why Web Design Matters

The word “design” can have a lot of different connotations, and for people who may not be as close to our industry as others, web design may sound like an afterthought.  For some people, it may mean how to make a website look pretty, once all the functionality has been figured out.  It may be easy for a business-minded person to question why web design matters.  But really, as with any product, design is at the core of a website.  Rather than a superficial feature added for aesthetics' sake, good design should be seen throughout all aspects of the website, from …

04/02/2012

Current Marketing Trends – Infographics The Art of Communication

Information graphics or infographics are well-organized, visual representations of information and knowledge. Infographics allow the quick and clear conveyance of somewhat complex information via a more engaging, artful experience. With an information graphic, computer scientists, mathematicians, and marketers are easily able to communicate complex concepts using a single symbol or graphic. The coffee infographic featured in this post conveys the ingredients of popular coffee drinks (at a glance), all in a single, concise image. By looking at this image, anyone could quickly know what ingr …

04/02/2012

Experience Marketing Example -Fabergé Integrates Marketing for The Big Egg Hunt

The Big Egg Hunt from Fabergé is wrapping up this week in London and is a great example of combining the online and offline components of a marketing campaign to build an experience that is bigger than the sum of its parts. The promotion began a few months ago when 209 eggs were distributed to artists, designers, architects and other creative professionals to decorate in their unique style.  These two-and-a-half-foot-tall eggs were then put on display in February to kick off the Big Egg Hunt and they spent six weeks in various locations all over the United Kingdom's capital. All o …

03/30/2012

2 Simple Ways To Increase Your Conversion Rates

If you are getting people to your website through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or any number of Internet Marketing strategies but your website isn’t converting, fret not! If your website is old and outdated it may be time to have it redesigned, but if you don’t want to go to those lengths to increase your conversions there are little things that can be done. Here are two simple steps you can take to increase conversions without drastically redesigning your site. Make sure your content is unique, trustworthy, and concise. When people land on a website they want to see …

03/27/2012

Social Media Marketing: Should Your Business Have a Mascot?

Mascots are enjoying a renaissance in advertising. Charlie the Tuna and Speedy from Alka-Seltzer are back. Spam has launched its first such figure with Sir Can-A-Lot. Planter’s Mr. Peanut has grown a hapless brother, Doug. Being represented by fictional characters is not just for consumables anymore. Allstate’s Mayhem character pops up in Facebook news feeds with nuggets like, “I should cross the street. No, I should turn around. I should cross the street. No, I should turn around.” – A squirrel, generating over 17,000 likes and 465 comments in four hours. An eno …

03/21/2012

Denver Company Owners Share SEO and Social Media Marketing Knowledge

Denver’s largest social media for business group, Social Media for Business – Join the Conversation, hosted its 30th meetup in March, 2012. The topic was Social Media’s Role in Your Company’s SEO. A common question for business owners employing social media marketing is, “How does social media help my Website get to page 1 on Google?” Webolutions CEO John Vachalek opened the discussion with some SEO fundamentals. The Goal of Every Search Engine To provide the most relevant search results possible! Key Factors Determining Your Search Engine Placemen …

03/06/2012

Experiential Marketing Example – Certified Plumbing – An Old Fashion Great Service Experience

Experiential Marketing, when done effectively, should reach people on a personal and emotional level. This goes beyond a great product and the expected level of service.  It has to do with the extra things that a business does to truly create a great experience around their offering. Certified Plumbing Company has been a successful, family-run, Denver plumbing company since 1969.  Glenn Kenny grew up working in his dad’s plumbing business here in Denver, he has over 40 years experience, is a certified master plumber, and takes great pride making sure that each job is …

03/06/2012

Current Marketing Trends – Image-Based Communication – Picture Your Company

“A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words.”  We have all heard this expression, but today this notion is perhaps more true than ever before.  I don’t have 100% proof of this fundamental swing, but a huge part of my job at Webolutions (going on 18 years) is observing, identifying and bringing to light new trends in sociological behavior. Over the past few months, I have been seeing a real tipping point in information consumption behavior that is worthy of noting to the savvy business owners and marketers that read our blog. Image-Based Communications is the term …

03/05/2012

Internet Marketing Strategies - Retargeting

Retargeting is one of the hottest trends in Internet Marketing these days but many people are still unsure as to what it actually is or how to use it. Retargeting is a display (banner) ad technique that focuses only on people who have previously visited your website. The objective of internet marketing activities like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC) is to bring new visitors to your website, retargeting is used to bring those visitors back to your website to complete the conversion process. While your typical banner ad placement depends on the display network y …

03/05/2012

UI is King: 5 Rules of Good User Interface Design

The world renowned Italian designer Massimo Vignelli once said “The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness.” Often times, web designers and graphic artists take this too literally and get caught up in the distraction of simply making something look good. They spend time pushing a pixel this way and tweaking a hue that way, ultimately forgetting about the actual user. While color and typography are important in attracting the user within the 50 milliseconds they take to judge a website, if a user can’t use a feature, it might as well not exist. At We …

03/05/2012

Social Media Marketing: Facebook Timeline for Business Pages and Cover Photo Guidelines

As of March 30, 2012, Facebook Business Pages will be converted to the Timeline format. The most prominent and visual change is the Cover Photo. Companies can approach this as a one-time “to do” or an opportunity to further integrate social media with their overall marketing message. Think of the Cover Photo like the cover of your book, or, perhaps, your magazine, as it can change in the same way a profile picture does. For example, Webolutions® Denver-based client Swingle, Lawn, Tree & Landscape Care employs a “seasonal” theme on its Website. This means the …

02/29/2012

Denver Social Media for Business Group Hears from Attorney on Legal Issues

“Social media,” said Jim Thomas, featured speaker at Social Marketing for Business – Join the Conversation, “is especially useful for businesses if it does not get them sued.” Sage advice, indeed, from the author of the No Funny Lawyers blog (Thomas advised, “There are no funny lawyers; only funny people who make bad career choices.”) Discussion points included: Privacy and Confidentiality What rights does my business have to use information, photos, etc. about our customers and employees in our social media?  What rights do I have to see …

02/15/2012

Current Marketing Trends – The Extinction of Previously Successful Businesses

We see it all around us every day. Yet many businesses do not believe it can happen to them. We are witnessing the extinction of previously successful business models. Some of the more obvious examples include: •    Travel Agencies •    Book Stores •    Music Stores •    Smaller Stores (hardware, shoes, candy, etc.) We are also seeing the closing of post offices across the country.  This American institution has been operating since 1683. For those of you reading this who believe that this shakeou …

02/14/2012

Experiential Marketing: What's in a Name?

There comes a time in the life of every company when they need to re-brand - revitalize and refreshen their image.  But to what extent does this need to be done?  Exactly what does a company need to change in order to revamp their image? Bank of America is one such company looking for a dramatic image boost.  After its attempt to levy ATM card surcharges to customers, and its recent slip into the number 2 spot as the nation's largest bank (behind JP Morgan Chase), the company is desperately seeking new brand positioning.  They know they need a deeper sense of purpose that …

02/13/2012

4 Reasons Comments on Your Facebook Business Page are Hurting Your Company’s Online Reputation

If Facebook were a country, its 845 million users would make it the third largest in the world. One out of every seven minutes spent online is spent on Facebook. With each update to the social network’s interface, comments people make gain breadth of reach. 51 percent of American consumers use social media to communicate with companies, yet 95 percent of posts to brands’ pages on Facebook go unanswered. Small wonder only 8 percent of those consumers are satisfied with companies’ use of social media as a communications tool. The issue is not just limited to Facebook. Re …

02/13/2012

Google’s New Privacy Policy: What It Means to Your Business and the Internet

Recently Google caused quite a stir when they announced that they will be changing their privacy policy for anyone logged into their Google account. Beginning March 1st more than 70 different privacy policies will be merged into one between most of Google’s products. The goal behind this move is to personalize your experience across all of their services to provide better search results and more precisely targeted ads. If you are logged onto your account through an Android phone, Google can tell you that you are going to be late for a meeting by tracking your location and the location of …

02/01/2012

Webolutions Participates in 2nd Annual Grocery Cart Race for Charity

For the second year in a row, Webolutions® participated in the Annual Grocery Cart Races at Safeway On Havana Street to support Comitis Crisis Center. This event was created by Gayle Jetchick, Executive Director of the Havana Business Improvement District. The Havana Business Improvement District’s mission is to create experiences that make your life more interesting. This is an event that will definitely make your life more interesting!  This event was composed to support Comitis Crisis Center – a food bank in Aurora, CO that serves many people every single day. Their mi …

01/27/2012

Denver Social Media for Business Group Talks Sharing Across Social Networks

Social Media Marketing for Business - Join the Conversation!, kicked off its 2012 calendar with a discussion among attending business owners and executives about successes and risks of sharing content across various Internet social networks. Thanks to Dale Honning Videography, a complete chronology of the event is available on Webolutions' Facebook Page. Discussion highlights included: Definition of Social Media - The use of web-based and mobile  technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue regardless of time and geography. Should you share the exact same soc …

01/24/2012

Top 12 Free Mobile Apps for Business

I've been asked a few times recently what free mobile apps I find most useful for my business. Excluding the calendar, email, text, browser and camera, which have, I believe, become a minimum expectation for anyone carrying a smartphone, here are the tools I use and what I get out of them: QR Droid – Admittedly, most of my QR code activity is verifying the QR codes we create are routing and tracking correctly, but I needed to work it in here because a properly packaged QR campaign can be super for creating engagement and excitement around your business, and can provide valuable da …

01/19/2012

SOPA, PIPA and Your Website

The Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives could change the way the Internet operates. The goal of the legislation is to protect media companies against theft of their material. It ostensibly targets Websites hosted outside of the United States that infringe copyrighted material. The acts would force US Internet providers to block offending domain names. It also aims to cut off funding to infringing Websites by forcing advertiser and payment services to stop doing b …

01/09/2012

Three Search Engine Marketing Resolutions For 2012

While you may be thinking that your New Year’s resolution should be to start working out, spend more time with your family, or take up a new hobby, you shouldn’t forget about your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) when making resolutions. Even if you’ve had a great 2011, here are three areas you can focus on to make sure you have an even better 2012 when it comes to your Internet Marketing efforts. 1. Create New, Quality, Optimized Content A stagnant site is not going to climb the search engine result pages (SERPs) for the keywords you are trying to rank for. Search engines lik …

01/09/2012

Experiential Marketing Agency Tip – Incorporating traditions into your experiential marketing

Experiential marketing, if done effectively, should deeply engage a business’s community in a very emotional and meaningful way.  Over the holidays, I was thinking a lot about all the traditions we have as a culture and what these mean to us. The traditions in our lives create who we are, how we think, and impact our emotions at the deepest levels. Some of the traditions I am referring to include: Birthdays Christmas Anniversaries Coming of Age Ceremonies (Sweet 16, Bar Mitzvah, turning 21) New Year’s Eve While the religious nature of some o …

01/06/2012

Top Marketing Trends for 2012

Top marketing trends for 2012 predominatly revolve around social media and mobile devices.  New mobile and social technologies continue to arise, thus the biggest trends for the year are all vastly interrelated in these two areas.  Below are our top five trends for the year. 1. Social Media Marketing Because social is such a big focus for the year, we have broken social down into additional sub-categories. Social Mobile - With smart phone sales expected to surpass computer sales in 2012 (more than 450 million smart phones are expected to be sold this year alone), social mobile i …

01/05/2012

Social Media Marketing and Sales: Your Strategy Defines Your Brand

You’re not the only person who receives Facebook “friend” and LinkedIn connection requests from people you’ve never met.  Many have found your name among someone else’s list of Facebook friends or LinkedIn connections and seek to ply their wares upon you and your entire online network. You, and everyone online, are a prospect. In 2012, social media is a critical component of business marketing and sales strategy, this tactic is detrimental to the medium and the people and companies who use it. This action is coached by sales trainers who don’ …

12/12/2011

Experience Marketing Example - Customizing the Experience

Experience marketing involves taking your product or service, and turning it into a unique experience for your customers.  In order to be successful, it is important to allow customers to truly “experience” your brand.  Taking this a step further, rather than creating a set experience, why not customize the experience to meet the wants and needs of every customer? Defining and standardizing your communications with customers through professional and respectful interactions has long been used as a tool for creating good customer experiences.  Companies …

12/12/2011

Current Marketing Trends: Mobile Websites a Must for Businesses

All marketing trends occur as a result of consumer behavior. Businesses must anticipate the consumer needs and react by meeting these needs (demands). This is certainly true when it comes to the consumer’s demand to access information via mobile devices. This is not a future trend. This is the here and now. Last quarter, for the first time, over 55% of all phones sold were smart phones. From January through October 2011 there were 1.2 million non-iPad tablets sold and Apple is on pace to sell nearly 40 million iPads in the 2011 calendar year (a 342% increase over last year). &nbs …

12/09/2011

Search Engine Optimization: What is "Quality" Content?

One of the first things a Search Engine Optimizer will talk about when formulating an ongoing SEO plan is content generation. They will explain that search engines are looking for Websites that are continuously growing and published with content that is fresh and relevant to the rest of your site. Search engines are also putting more emphasis on the quality of the content, measuring this metric through the time spent on the page, whether they visit more pages on your website and whether or not they are sharing this content with their friends. So what qualifies as quality content? When it com …

12/08/2011

Denver Social Media for Business Group Now Top 10 in the World

The December 2, 2011 installment of Denver's Social Media for Business - Join the Conversation meetup was a milestone. On December 1, 2011, the group acquired its 1,000th member. Denver's premier social media for business group is now, according to Meetup.com, the ninth-largest Business and Social Networking meetup in the world and seventh-largest in the nation. It is also the fifth-largest Business Strategy and Networking Meetup in Colorado. "This group is all about action, communication, involvement, leadership, and ROI," said John Brackney, CEO of the South Metro Denver Cham …

11/22/2011

Make a Google Plus Business Listing Part of Your Social Media Marketing

On June 28, 2011, search engine giant Google launched Google Plus (Google+), an Internet social network modeled as an improvement on Facebook.  By October 9, 2011, it had accumulated 40 million users. In November, 2011, the platform followed the lead of LinkedIn and Facebook, allowing businesses to have micro-sites (Pages) on the platform. Especially with the failure of Google Wave and Google Buzz—neither of which were actually intended to be the new Facebook but neither of which were ever really understood—and with time and financial budgets already allocated to existing s …

11/14/2011

Search Engine Optimization: The Ever Changing World

In the world of technology everything is evolving. Rest on your past success and you will be left in the dust. This is just as true for Search Engines as it is for TVs, computers, and smart phones. In effort to always bring better results to their billions of searchers, Search Engines are constantly updating their algorithms, forcing search engine optimizers (SEOs) to adapt. Let me take a step back and explain how search engines work for anyone who is thinking, “Wait, what algorithms?” The goal of a search engine is to bring people the most relevant results. Search Engines send ou …

11/08/2011

Current Marketing Trend: Consumers Demanding Value

Marketing trends occur as a result of consumer behavior, and with the new trend towards value, businesses are being forced to take notice and act accordingly.  Consumers are not just expecting affordable prices, they are demanding good quality at a good price.  The value of a product isn't just in its price.  While a low price is important, consumers expect the kind of quality they used to get in the pricier products, simply at a more attractive price. As Americans are struggling to pull out of the recession, they have adopted a post-recession mentality.  In reaction …

11/05/2011

Relationships: A Timeless Marketing Trend

Each year, on the Friday before Halloween, you'll find Webolutions at the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce's Annual Business Expo. This year, the "Webolutions Marketing Speakeasy" was voted Most Creative Booth. Visitors to the "Bootleg Candy Bar" took a quiz that asked, "What era is your marketing in?" and CEO John Vachalek delivered a seminar on Mobile Marketing. The "speakeasy" theme for the Webolutions booth reflected the 1920's theme for the Expo. "We chose the 1920's theme," said John Brackney, CEO of the Chamber, "to highlig …

10/27/2011

Facebook Advertising, Online Reviews Lead 2011 Holiday Marketing Strategies for Retail

According to recent studies by BIA/Kelsey and ConStat, 97 percent of all purchases have an Internet component. 90 percent of all purchases are researched, at some level, on search engines. The average American uses 7.9 media sources to research a purchase…and most purchase at a local business. Combine those facts with the growing use of social media, especially Facebook, among demographics with purchasing power and the time for retailers to push social media to the marketing fore is right now. Online Advertising is Effective for Driving Offline Sales •    Online a …

10/26/2011

Denver Social Media for Business Group Hears Online Reputation Management Solutions

On October 21, 2011, Denver’s premier social media for business meetup group gathered to discuss changes, best practices and tools for social media monitoring. Items discussed included: What are Social Media Marketing Channels? •    Twitter •    Blogs •    Facebook •    LinkedIn •    Mainstream News Sources •    YouTube •    Reviews Why Listen? •    Reputation Management •    Sales Opportunities …

10/14/2011

Search Engine Optimization: Tracking Your Progress

Gone are the days of guessing what return your marketing investments will bring in. If you have a website and are using internet marketing, you can now track how many visitors are visiting your website, how they found it, what they are viewing, how long they stayed, and whether or not they converted (filled out a form, bought a product, signed up for the newsletter, etc.) Here are some important metrics to look at beyond the number of visitors and how you can use the information to maximize results. One of the most telling metrics for your online marketing and search engine optimization effor …

10/14/2011

Experiential Marketing Example - The Webolutions Experience

Experiential marketing is a creative approach to the marketing world. Creating exceptional experiences and evoking positive emotions is at the heart of experience marketing. Webolutions promotes Experiential Marketing to our clients, but do we practice what we preach? We sure do! That’s where I come in as the Experience Coordinator at Webolutions. We take Experiential Marketing so seriously, that my job is dedicated to creating memorable and exciting experiences for our guests.  It is my responsibility to ensure that anyone who walks through our doors has a stimulating experience w …

10/13/2011

Current Marketing Trends – Transparency of Your Brand

Transparency is still a relatively new notion for many businesses. However, this idea is critical for all businesses to understand and carry forward with them on a daily basis. As one of the current marketing trends, it is a fundamental marketing concept that can have an extremely powerful impact on your brand. So, what do we mean when we say transparency? Transparency is the notion (fact) that we live in an age where your customers and everyone else with whom you interact have the ability to publically share their experiences with your brand.  This can be done through reviews, blog post …

10/11/2011

Social Media and Mobile Marketing Still Gaining Importance in Company Marketing Plans - Nielsen

The Nielsen Q3 2011 Social Media Report confirms that businesses wanting to go where the customers are, will beat a direct path to social media, understand who is using the medium and how, and consider how they are accessing it. Attention Share: Follow the Fingertips Social networks and blogs account for 23 percent of total time Americans spend on the Internet—more than twice as much as the #2 category, Online Gaming. Time spent on the 75 “other” categories accounts for 35 percent of Americans’ total Internet time. Nearly 4 in 5 active Internet users visi …

10/06/2011

Creating a Great Internal Experience - Webolutions Lunch Club

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt;"Times New Roman","serif";} Webolutions® is all about experiencial marketing. We live and breathe experience marketing. For our clients, we help them create an experience around their brand – some companies need help with their internal …

09/21/2011

Denver Social Media: 10 Steps to Creating a Successful Social Media Marketing Plan

On Friday, September 19, 2011, Denver's premier Social Media for Business Meetup group discussed Creating a Successful Social Media Marketing Plan. In addition to free treats from My Favorite Muffin and Peet's Coffee Southglenn in the comfortable confines of the new South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, guests engaged in tips group discussions led by Denver Dataman and heard a presentation from Webolutions CEO John Vachalek. The outline of John's presentation is below. Overview The key to generating ROI from your social media marketing is by making the most of the time that you contribute …

09/19/2011

Webolutions And Kickball For Kids

For the second year in a row, Webolutions will be participating in the annual Make-A-Wish Kickball Tournament. The event will take place on Saturday, September 24th at 8am at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO. Webolutions believes in giving back to the community and working with local charities to make a difference in the lives of others. The Colorado Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of Colorado children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Webolutions supports them in this mission. Weboluti …

09/19/2011

Experiential Marketing Example – Continued - Glenwood Canyon Brewpub - Case Study

Experiential Marketing and the impact it has on your social media (thus your overall reputation) is replacing the attention most businesses paid to their conventional advertising strategies.    This series of posts will serve an interactive case study in the areas Experience Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Marketing Trends and more. Read on and see what you think.   On 7/26/2011 we published a post outlining the experience I had on 5/30/2011 when my family visited the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub at the Hotel Denver in Glenwood Springs.    As part of this …

09/10/2011

Social Media and September 11, 2001

Webolutions uses Meetup.com for our monthly Social Media for Business Group and finds it an effective marketing tool, when supported and used correctly, for local businesses using event marketing. We have a New Media Strategies team focused on staying "in the know" on all developments touching the increasingly dynamic field of Internet marketing. Sometimes, we learn something new that puts it all into perspective. The text below is the body of an email we received from the CEO of Meetup.com. I don't write to our whole community often, but this week is special because it's the 10t …

08/24/2011

Denver Social Media: Defining and Measurement of Social Media ROI

On Friday, August 19, 2011, Denver's premier Social Media for Business group welcomed over 100 business leaders to the new South Metro Chamber of Commerce Center, enjoyed peer networking and breakfast fare from My Favorite Muffin and Peet's Coffee Southglenn and generated group discussion focused on measuring Return on Investment (ROI) from social media. Highlights of the discussion included thoughts on a matrix used to determine ROI . Reach / Exposure – Brand Awareness (Opportunity) Visits to Your Website Phone Calls / Emails / Submissions / Purchases Conversion …

07/29/2011

Denver Social Media: Webolutions Klout Nets Metromint Perk Experience

Dear Influencer, A little (bird) told me you've got a ton of Klout! Your audience trusts you to create great content, and you tell it like it is. Your influence has earned you this Klout Perk! Enjoy and let us know if you have any feedback. Thanks, Joe Fernandez, Founder & CEO and the Klout team As per Klout's clearly stated Influencer Code of Ethics, it is incumbent upon us to disclose we received a sample of Metromint water. We received the product because we, "are influential and have authority on topics related to the product." We are also, "welcome to tell the wor …

07/26/2011

Experiential Marketing Example – Glenwood Canyon Brewpub - An Interactive Case Study

Experiential Marketing deals with an overall customer or client experience.  It focuses on how the customer feels and what they experience during their entire engagement with your business. This engagement might begin to occur before they actually meet with you via the correspondence you have before they come in.  It occurs while they meet or visit with you and it has the ability to continue as long as the communications continue. This continuance of the communication provides a huge opportunity for businesses to stand out and keep the experience of their brand alive in the custo …

07/22/2011

Denver Social Media for Business Group Packs Marketing Tool Kit

Conversation at the July, 2011, installation of Denver's premier Social Media Marketing for Business group centered around the tools we use to manage time and succeed in the medium. Highlights of the interaction included: Definition of Social Media - The use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. (Wikipedia). Should we also add, “regardless of time and geography” to this? How do you determine the best social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube) for your company? B2B, B2C, Professional, Age, Gender, etc.. …

06/28/2011

What Is Experiential Marketing?

Experiential Marketing seems to be on the forefront of minds anymore, as the "way" to market their products. But what IS experiential marketing exactly, and who is doing it well? Experiential Marketing is more than simply "event marketing", which it can often be confused with. Rather, experiential marketing is a way to engage your consumers with your product, allowing them to "experience" your product, utilizing as many senses as possible. In this day and age, consumers are skeptical of the "traditional advertising" methods, such as radio and tv, …

06/28/2011

The Impact of Quality Websites on SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has always been a balancing act between writing for search engines and writing for users. In the early days, stuffing keywords into your content and across your site was rewarded with top rankings in the search engines. As Google and other search engines strive to bring people the best results in the top positions, the push has been towards high quality Websites and content. Have you ever clicked on a search result and seen something like this (forgive my shameless keyword stuffing; it’s in the name of science!): “Webolutions is a Denver search eng …

06/22/2011

Microsoft AdCenter: A B to B Social Media Marketing Success Story

Microsoft Advertising, the Pay Per Click search marketing arm of Microsoft Corporation, is a prime example of B to B social media marketing success. This innovative company started using social media platforms in 2006, well before many B to C's had started delving into this realm. It started simply enough: Web developers from Microsoft sought out and participated in existing online forums pertaining to their recently launched Microsoft adCenter product. From there, they started one blog, then turned it into an actual network of blogs devoted to clients, marketers, developers and a population o …

06/22/2011

Denver Social Media: Privacy and Copyright Considerations

On June 15, 2011, Denver's premier Social Media for Business Group asked and answered questions about current laws, trends, expectations and what is in and out of bounds with regards to ownership and rights of content we find and place on the Internet. We also ate delightful muffins from My Favorite Muffin and sipped gourmet java from Peet's Coffee Southglenn. If you add these places to your purchase patterns, it will quickly become permanent. Yum. Some of the discussion points were: Copyrights and the Internet When can I use something that I find online on my website?  Is giving cred …

06/13/2011

Effective Web Design and Content - Utilize A/B Testing

How are you measuring the results of your website? If you aren’t measuring the effectiveness of your design and copy choices, you could be missing out on conversions. A/B testing is a cost-effective way to make sure you are making the right copy and design decisions. Take a look at some simple A/B tests that garnered improved results for these companies. Can you guess which version performed better? You might be surprised in some cases. Copy testing example - http://whichtestwon.com/archives/11405 In this A/B test the only difference between the two landing pages was the text used …

06/08/2011

Current Marketing Trends: QR Codes and Your Business

Marketing agencies like Webolutions help clients determine what marketing trends would be most beneficial for their businesses. QR codes can be helpful in many industries; connecting with your consumers is essential in today’s business world. A Quick Response (QR) code is a 2-D barcode that can be scanned by a smart phone’s camera and transfer information to the user via cell phone. QR codes have been used widely in Japan for over a decade, and the technology is now gaining popularity in the United States. QR codes were created in 1994 in Japan by a Toyota subsidiary, Denso-W …

05/26/2011

Pay Per Click Marketing: How to Create a Successful PPC Campaign

It should go without saying that the easier you make it for your Website visitors to become customers, the higher percentage that will convert (buy a product, fill out a form, sign up for a newsletter, etc.) Unfortunately, that simple logic is easily forgotten if you are overwhelmed setting up your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign. Having a clear, consistent message throughout your campaign will help you maximize your conversion percentage and minimize your cost per conversion. There are three areas you need to be aware of with regards to your messaging: your keywords, your ads, and your Website. …

05/24/2011

Denver Social Media: Creating Content that Gets Shared

Facebook claims 5 billion pieces of content are shared on its network every week. 23 percent of social media messages include links to content. Neilsen and AOL conservatively estimate 27 million pieces of content are shared daily. 23 percent of all messages are shared; 47 percent of industry-specific messages are shared. 60 percent of those include a product or brand name mention. The most popular way to share content? Email leads social networks by 66 percent to 28 percent. 99 percent of people who share via a social network also share via other platforms...like email. Overall, peop …

05/24/2011

Denver Social Media: GroupTargets Local Online Marketing

On Friday, May 20, 2011, Denver's premier social media for business group enjoyed structured interaction around a topic critical to any business: Social Media Marketing to a Targeted Local Audience. Important discussion points included: Google & Local Search Results Creating the right information, reviews, consistency across all resources & monitoring this on a regular basis. Geo-Targeting on Facebook and Other Tools Creation of content for specific geographic areas (states, cities, etc..) Local Check Ins (Yelp, Facebook, etc..) What do you want to see? Where should you c …

05/09/2011

Effective Web Design: 5 Key Elements

Keep It Simple - One of the main keys to great web design is keeping the design simple. If the site is too complicated or too much of a hassle for the user, they won't hesitate to simply leave and find a more usable site. A simple, easy to use site keeps users engaged in your site. Simplicity comes in many forms - one of which is getting the user to the information they desire in as few clicks as possible. Another form of simplicity to focus on is the background of the site. Loud or extremely busy backgrounds tend to detract users from the main purpose of the site. Too much going on with …

04/22/2011

Denver Social Media: Social Marketing for Business Group Focuses on Video

  77 percent of companies plan to increase the role of video in their online marketing in 2011. During January, 2011, 112.8 million unique U.S. Viewers watched video content on YouTube using computers from home and work. These facts started a lively conversation among video producers and  business leaders at the April, 2011 installment of Denver's Premier Social Media Marketing group . Top Online Brands by Unique Viewers (Jan. 2011, U.S.) Video Brand Unique Viewers MOM % Change in Viewers …

04/05/2011

Current Marketing Trends :The Evolution of Business Marketing

Marketing agencies like Webolutions ensure our clients connect with customers on a more personal basis. We create true engagement between the brand’s marketing and the marketplace. In an era of social media marketing and extreme word-of-mouth connectivity, this is critical. In 1859 Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species. Over the next few years, the general public came to accept evolution as scientific fact. However, not until the 1950s (nearly 100 years later) did natural selection become recognized as the basic mechanism of evolution.     Current ma …

04/05/2011

Experiential Marketing Examples :The Las Vegas Coca Cola Experience

Experiential marketing agencies like Webolutions help clients connect with customers on a more personal basis. We create true engagement between brand and its customers. In an era of social media marketing and extreme word of mouth connectivity, this is critical. Coca-Cola is consistently ranked as the most recognized brand in the world. As well, Diet Coke recently became the 2nd most globally consumed soft drink, beating out Pepsi. In case you have missed our previous posts about experiential marketing, success in this marketing discipline demands a change in your advertising and marketin …

04/05/2011

Experience Marketing Example: Adding the Wow Factor

Demand for "Experience" is Increasing It's just a fact - consumers are demanding more out of their money; more bang for their buck; more value for their dollar.  In order for businesses to keep customers happy, and to not lose these customers alltogether, companies need to deliver more than just what is expected.  They need to raise their offering past the basic "service" and turn it into an unforgettable, "wow" experience. One such company that is changing their business model into more of an experience than a service is Wow Events Denver.  Aptly …

04/04/2011

Engaging Website Users to Experience your Offering

What increases engagement? This is kind of a million dollar question these days. So many companies still just want a "Web Presence" with simple brochure information, and proceed to tap their IT department to slap their info onto a page. They then wonder why they are not seeing any web leads. What if you intimately know your audience and reach out and engage them, give them what they want right away, and make it a great experience? What would happen then? Whether you want a user to sign up for your service, buy your product, or simply listen to what you are saying, if your Website …

04/04/2011

Denver Social Media: New Rules for Facebook Marketing, Part 4

How often should I post? Not all social networks are the same. When I speak to groups, I talk about this in the context of "culture." In this post, we'll focus on the practical, matter-of-fact stuff, but it still makes sense to address, briefly, the nature of how people use the network. Constants in the Equation Very few of us interact on Facebook with a primary goal of selling something, and those who project that are broadcasting to an empty channel. We use Facebook for entertainment and keeping in touch, and we make time for this on weekends. We've seen recent data that says …

03/29/2011

Online Marketing: Optimizing for Local Search

Google’s local and organic search results are now combined. This elevates the importance of local search for location-based businesses to be on par with organic Denver SEO. The Fundamentals Haven't Changed. Effective online marketing remains anchored by your Website, which should be designed for conversion and optimized, structurally and content-wise, around a Keyword Strategy. The importance and coherence of your efforts outside of your site are increasingly important. As usual, we look at content and architecture. Content: Clear Market Positioning with Information Consistency …

03/29/2011

Denver Social Media: New Rules for Facebook Marketing, Part 3

How does Facebook decide what goes in the news feed? First, let's define the term: "News feed" is the chronological list of posts from your friend and Pages you "like." It's the stream of information you see when you log into Facebook. Anymore, this works (links) the same when you're using Facebook as yourself or as your business Page. Just like Google and other search engines, Facebook uses an algorithm--Facebook's is called EdgeRank--to determine what "news" it "feeds" you. If the way to a man's heart is through his stomach (and even if it isn't) t …

03/29/2011

Denver Social Media: Using Video in Social Marketing

In April, 2011, the monthly topic for Denver's premier social media for business meetup group is Utilizing Video in Your Social Media Marketing. We'll discuss: How quality standards and consumer expectations for online video are changing. How the increased use of smartphones and tablets is impacting the proliferation of online video. Decision points for when it is worth the expense of having a video professionally produced and when "homemade" is good enough--or better. The pitfalls that will render your video unwatchable and what triggers might make it " …

03/24/2011

Denver Social Media: New Rules for Facebook Marketing, Part 2

In Part 1 of our series, we tackled a couple of fundamentals. Now we'll tackle some FAQ's about the most recent changes to Facebook Pages. Do I love or hate the new Facebook Page? You love it. First of all, I can't help but notice Facebook changes stuff frequently without asking us, so if we decide to embrace the changes, we'll spend more time smiling about them. If we don't, we'll just be a bunch of grumps sitting by ourselves in the break room and later we'll come around to realizing just how silly it was to get grumpy about Facebook instead of all the really good reasons life provides f …

03/24/2011

Denver Social Media: New Rules for Facebook Marketing, Part 1

First, let's cover a couple of old rules that remain the same, only because we see some otherwise-savvy businesses missing them: 1. You want a PAGE for your business, not a PROFILE. A Profile has "friends," a Page has "likes." "Friends" require mutual acceptance, the Page assumes anyone who "likes" it is welcome until an administrator says otherwise. Pages provide analytics and allow for custom tabs; profiles do not. If you're a business, you should demand analytics and...we'll talk about custom tabs later in this series. The easiest way I've fou …

03/24/2011

Denver Social Media: Social Media’s Role in Your Search Engine Placement

On Friday, March 18, 2011, Denver's premier Social Media for Business Meetup group explored exactly what social media can do and should not be counted upon to do for your company's search engine optimization rank and Internet presence. Here are the highlights: The Goal of Every Search Engine: Provide the most relevant search results possible!  That’s all. Key Factors Determining Your Search Engine Placement Site Saturation – The number of indexed pages at your Website Inbound Links & Relevancy – The number of “good” links to your Websi …

02/22/2011

Community Involvement as a Part of Doing Business

More and more companies today are including community involvement as a normal part of the way they do business. Consumers respect companies that give back and contribute to making their local communities a better place to live, work and play. People want to support these companies because it shows they are invested in the local community they share. Letting the public know you care about and support your community is a great way to improve your reputation with consumers. You don’t have to spend a lot as a company to become more involved in the community. You can set aside a budget for d …

02/22/2011

Denver Social Media: 10 Tips for Creating a Successful Content Generation Plan

On Friday, February 18th, Denver's premier social media for business Meetup group confronted strategic content generation. Here is a summary recap: Overview What is “successful content”?  This is content that achieves your goal of engaging your target audience(s) and succeeding in achieving your social media marketing goals. Creating a Successful Content Generation Plan 1, Clearly define the results you expect to achieve through your social media marketing activities Contacts Awareness Sales Brand Engagement Referrals Etc. 2. Clearly d …

02/10/2011

Denver Social Media: Social Marketing for Business Group keeps growing.

The Denver Social Media Marketing for Business Meetup group surpassed 800 members last month and we expect an energetic turnout for networking, structured knowledge sharing and, of course, free breakfast at our next meetup February 18. In January, Webolutions CEO John Vachalek led a discussion about ROI measurement in social media. If there is one hot button issue with social media marketing right now, it's measuring the returns. But in fact, there are at least two hot button issues in this area, and we're tackling Content Generation on Friday, February 18, 2011. Our December, 2010, this Me …

02/03/2011

Denver Social Media: Super Bowl XLV to be Social Media Marketing's "Coming Out" Party

This article is not about how smartphone gamers will be watching attentively for the secret code for "Angry Birds." It's about Audi's CMO stating that the effect of a Super Bowl TV commercial, "can only be sustained by social media." Some facts about Super Bowl viewers age 18-34: 66 percent will be using a smartphone while watching 59 percent will be sending texts and/or emails about the game 18 percent will be checking out ads online from their phones (and before we decide that 82 percent will not, let's remember phones get passed around. "Here …

02/02/2011

Marketing Trends 2011: The Shift to Online Continues.

01/21/2011

Denver Social Media: Change your Facebook Page name...quick!

Your friendly neighborhood social media marketing geek here with a bulletin on a couple things you may have wanted to do with your Facebook Page but couldn't until now.   Change the Name of your Facebook Page Until recently, when you created a Facebook Page for your business, Facebook warned you to be sure it was what you want it to be before you publish it to the world. And yet, somehow, we still ended up with "social media experts" with pages trumpeting themselves as "Markeitng" consultants. Well, fear not, "markeitng" gurus: Facebook now allows you t …

01/10/2011

Pay Per Click Marketing Basics, Focused Keywords

The most important aspect of your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign is always getting conversions whether they are direct sales, leads, or even views of a key page. Without properly focused keywords you are probably throwing a lot of money away. Here are some tips to help you start your campaign with a clear keyword list and continue to refine it into a well-oiled machine. Your initial keyword research should revolve closely around your products and services, the more focused the keyword is the more likely it will lead to a conversion. Lets say you are an animal shelter with puppies for adoption b …

01/10/2011

My Experience Marketing Experience - Grease Monkey

Does a Great Experience ALWAYS Justify the Extra Cost? For the past 3 years, I have gotten my oil changed at Grease Monkey, mainly due to the fact that it is walking distance from work, and I can just run over on my lunch break for an oil change.  Up until this last oil change, I was always forced to get Synthetic Oil, thanks to the demands of my needy luxury vehicle.  For anyone that uses synthetic oil, you know that when it comes to oil changes, Synthetic Oil = WAY MORE MONEY.  Needless to say, I was excited to drive my new Toyota to Grease Monkey the other day, knowing that …

01/10/2011

Designing for Different Browser Experiences

The old school thought was that all websites should look exactly the same in every browser but times they are a changin’. Different browsers have different capabilities. Now there are four major browsers available, plus a number of not so major ones AND each of those has different versions. Some of those browsers came out nearly a DECADE ago (IE6 cough, cough). A decade is a huge amount of time in the internet world. The difference in capabilities between modern day browsers and those born a decade ago is massive. For instance, newer browsers have better security features, run much fa …

12/23/2010

Marketing Trends 2011: Apps we'd like to see

Part I of ?? Inspired by this Pete Blackshaw blurb from Ad Age, we decided to take a peek inside the minds of some Webolutions' staff members. Turns out we think we're pretty clever. What app should be invented in 2011? Responder: Erik Landru, IT App: iHysteria What it does: Shows countdown to next Apple media event with links to discussions and media posts on what the Apple genies will release next. Sez Erik: "I am a bit of an Apple fanboy so if this were actually real and free - I would have it." Responder: Patrick Yuan, Online Marketing Coordinator Mobile App: iCanCa …

12/17/2010

Denver Social Media: Survey shows perceived social media marketing priorities

Social media changes all the time and provides endless opportunities for new perspectives. Last Friday, our Social Media for Business meetup group embraced the dynamic nature of the medium by creating a "VIP experience" and directing the majority of the action to the balcony. Many of us stuck around to network and collaborate in rather comfortable and unique environs. Prior to the event, Webolutions emailed a survey to those who had RSVP'd, "yes." It asked recipients to provide their top social media marketing priorities for 2011. Here are the results of that survey: …

12/14/2010

Marketing Trends 2011: Merging Search and Social Media

                             One major area of our business is achieving optimal position for relevant Internet searches for our clients. Another is improving online reputations. It's not difficult to see how the two complement each other. The pursuit of positive comments, "check-ins," the change in Websites from billboards to interactive information hubs is evident in the marketplace of nearly every industry, especially in the B to C sector. Just outside of the mainstream media, but easy t …

12/09/2010

Marketing Trends 2011: Financial Services Enters Social Media Marketing

                 I like Genworth Financial. I mean this in the sense that I "like" their Facebook Page, as well as in the sense that I like what they do with it. Genworth ran an ad during Super Bowl XXIV asking viewers to visit its Facebook Page and make a brief post honoring someone special  in their lives. The accompanying screen shot here is from their Genworth Celebrates Parents Page, which is an upshot from the still-thriving Genworth Celebrates Page, which provides an outlet for people to honor heroes in their …

11/29/2010

Marketing Trends 2011: Advertising Becomes Personal with Billboards that See You

The following is re-posted from July 27, 2009. We live in a “me” society, where everything is on demand, and customized and personalized just for me.  I have MySpace, iGoogle, my Yahoo, my iTunes – everything directed towards me, in the way I choose to consume it.  I no longer read a print newspaper; instead I simply log onto my Google desktop, and can see my top interest news, specifically in the way I have decided to filter it, and specifically in the order I want it displayed.  I no longer listen to the radio, I play my iTunes, which are songs I have chosen …

11/26/2010

Marketing Trends 2011: 3 Factors to consider for Email Marketing Tools

I was recently part of an online discussion in a LinkedIn group about Email marketing  tools. Recommendations and insights were sought to aid the comparison of ExactTarget, Constant Contact and MailChimp. (Disclosure: Webolutions uses ExactTarget. We also manage client accounts on ExactTarget and Constant Contact.) All of the responses were thoughtful and each endorsed a service based on ease of use and design options. Choosing an Email Marketing Tool Especially if you're doing it yourself, ease of use is essential. We wouldn't be much of a design company if we didn't stress the i …

11/23/2010

Denver SEO Resources: A few of our favorite blogs

Following on from the tenet posted in a previous post that we want our clients and partners to be savvy, here's a quick list of some of the resources we use to stay on our game: SEO Blogs These are our favorite Internet resources to stay on top of the constantly shifting landscape of Search Engine Optimization: Search Engine Land Search Engine Watch  Broader Topics These sites have a larger scope than SEO--Social media, Internet advertising, mobile marketing, programming development and more. We recommend them for everyone from neophite to geek: Hubspot SEO, Bl …

11/19/2010

Denver Social Media: 4 alternatives to Facebook "unfriending"

This past Wednesday, February 17, 2010, was late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel's first annual Facebook "National Unfriend Day." Anthropologists tell us that each of us can maintain a maximum of 150 personal relationships. From this, we learn: The majority of "friends" we have on Facebook are not, by this definition, friends. Anthropologists don't have sales quotas. Therein lies the rub. Many of us employ Facebook, actively and conscientiously or otherwise, to build our personal brand. Since our friends and family don't care about such things, this is a …

11/16/2010

Internet Marketing Trends: Will new Google popups change Web design?

(Or: Google changes aren't permanent; but change is.) Must be a day with a "y" in it. Google changed something. And once again, they didn't call first to ask if it was okay. Harumph. A few weeks ago, most users started noticing the merge of local and organic. Notice how, on the picture, the map thumbtacks accompany the organic listing. That's pretty cool. All that much more important now to have a Google Places page for your business. Where's the big map, you ask? It's on the right column, hidden behind the popup window showcasing the Website. See what I did there? So, now, …

11/12/2010

Denver Internet Marketing: 3 Critieria for Choosing an SEO partner

"We usually start these conversations with a lesson on how your Website is not up to our SEO standards." That's the modus operandi of a national firm with whom Webolutions is considering establishing a strategic partnership. With our site, they didn't have anywhere to go, but that's not the point. Here's the point: Just because a Website has "Internetmarketing" in its URL does not mean they are your best choice for an Internet marketing partner. Water cooler talk in this office is loaded with comments like, "It's surprising that greater standardization doesn't ex …

11/10/2010

Internet Marketing Example: The Dallas Cowboys and the Importance of Domain Renewal

At the risk of piling on or hitting after the whistle...how 'bout them Cowboys? The story so far: The 2010 NFL season began with extroverted owner Jerry Jones, Sr., boasting that the team he owns, the Dallas Cowboys, expect to be the first team to play a home game in the Super Bowl. (For those of you who are late to the party, the Cowboys are one of the more storied and popular franchises in all of American sports.) That same team started the season one and six, losing their star quarterback to injury in the seventh game. Fans, followers, sportswriters, radio and TV pundits, blogg …

11/09/2010

Denver Social Media: Better online marketing through "listening."

This month's Denver Social Marketing Group Meetup focused on listening. The first phase of a company's social marketing is almost always, as it should be, listening (monitoring) its reputation online. As we often say, "You can't choose whether or not people are talking about you online. You can choose to engage in the conversation about you." Social listening is a necessary "defensive" tool, but businesses of all sizes are using it for "offensive" purposes, as well. Tapping into conversations can provide insight to opportunities and trends within your industr …

11/05/2010

Marketing Trends 2011: Webolutions at the South Metro Denver Business Expo

Webolutions was a proud exhibitor at the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce's annual business expo on October 29, 2010. We were proud to receive several awards, including "Best in Show" for our "Planet Webo"-themed booth. Our CEO, John Vachalek, was honored with the Chamber's Leadership in Motion Award for his activism in the Denver business community. John's seminar, Top 10 Keys for Successful Marketing in 2011, was praised as providing "spot on," immediately applicable information. This month, our events include a November 9 International Breakfast …

10/27/2010

Denver Social Media: The rapid and inevitable evolution of college athletics

Today, John and I addressed a gathering of about 50 coaches, administrators and marketers of the athletic department at the University of Denver. Our message: In the near future, a university's approach to social media will be the differentiator in recruiting, marketing and alumni/booster relationships. As marketing professionals and sports fans, we observe with great interest the developing relationship among student-athletes, their programs and social media. The landscape is littered with young people in high profile positions sharing the consequences of poor decisions.   North Ca …

10/12/2010

Denver SEO - Three Tips to Choosing Your Keywords

Things to Keep In Mind When Choosing Your Keywords While it can be easy to overlook something as simple as choosing keywords, it is one of the biggest blunders you can make in an internet marketing campaign. Ranking for the wrong keywords doesn’t do any good.  They may bring you traffic, but if they are not relevant you will be increasing your bounce rate instead of your conversion rate. Here are some basic things to keep in mind when choosing your keywords. Relevancy - While it isn’t rocket science, choosing relevant keywords seems to be a difficult task for people to …

09/07/2010

Experience Marketing Example: LEGO - Creating an Experience with Intention

The Lego Experience LEGO is quickly becoming more and more known for the “LEGO Experience."  Hot off of their latest “LEGO Experience” tour, LEGO set out to let children and adults alike immerse themselves in the experience, and all that the LEGO brand has to offer.  This ranged from hands-on experiences, minds-on experiences, family games and challenges, video games, and even inspiration models. The LEGO experience spans wider than just their recent tour, however.  In fact, at every touch point, they focus on delivering a very specific, intention …

09/02/2010

Denver Social Media Marketing: Breaking through the Clutter

Let’s face it; more isn’t always better, and the Internet is the epitome of more. While the web is a platform for posting pretty much anything and everything, that doesn’t mean your social media marketing strategy should be to post just anything. Successfully creating and promoting content can directly draw visitors to your Website, help your search engine rankings, promote your brand, and create lifelong customers. So what is it that you are trying to say with your social media? Are you making posts to try to draw attention to your company, or are you saying something beca …

08/23/2010

Denver Social Media: Foursquare for Business - What, Why and How

I’m sure by now you have heard of Foursquare, and know a lot of people using it.  If you’re anything like me, you have yet to get on Foursquare, and are unsure as to why you would want to in the first place….”Why do I want people following me around knowing where I am every second?”  Well, I’ll tell you why… What is Foursquare Foursquare is a service that allows you to “check-in” to different locations you visit, using your phone.  You can check into pretty much any location – bars, restaurants, parks, golf courses, …

08/18/2010

It’s Time to Move Mobile to the Front Burner

A lot of companies come to us with the desire to redesign and rebrand their online presence.  There are already so many things to consider: •    How will we manage content? •    Should we start a blog? •    Should we consider expanding into social media? •    How can we make sure people find us on the search engines? All of these are important. But there’s one giant item to consider that often gets overlooked or moved to the back burner…what about mobile? …

07/15/2010

Denver SEO: Explaining SEO Through Analogies – Weight Loss

Search engine optimization is a great way to place your company in front of your target market and increase your business. SEO can place you at the top of the search results for the keywords that your target market is using to find your services. What a lot of companies don’t like to tell potential clients is that getting to the top of the search results takes time and work. In this blog post I am going to compare SEO to weight loss in hopes that the analogy will help you better understand SEO without boring you to tears. Now, I’m not saying you are out of shape but for the sake …

07/12/2010

Denver SEO - The Web 2.0 Convergence of Tools and Tactics

 Web 2.0 meets SEO In 2007, Google announced its Universal Search capabilities.  It changed the way search results are displayed when doing a query. Universal search integrated images, videos, and results from other search verticals directly into the web search results. This has proven to be a huge driver of traffic to sites because their images, videos, news, local search information are displayed and easily accessible to the searcher. Now, with the incorporation of indexable content from Twitter and Facebook, online marketing has become even more important. Users are looking to c …

07/08/2010

Denver Social Media: Content Sharing - What, How, and Why?

What is Content Sharing The sharing of all content across social media; general information, pictures, audio and video content.  “ShareThis” is one such tool that allows for the sharing of social content.  Now when you see a blog post or a piece of content that is enabled with “ShareThis”, and you can choose to share the content on the media of your choice.  Choose to share it with your Facebook friends by posting it on your Facebook wall, or via your Twitter account, Delicious, text message, Stumbleupon, etc.  Whatever social media you are a part o …

07/07/2010

Denver Social Media - LinkedIn Greatly Enhances Groups

LinkedIn, now with about 70 million members, is finally taking a big step to compete with the other large social media marketing sites. Recently (June 22nd, 2010) LinkedIn greatly increased the functionality of their groups. LinkedIn currently has over 650,000 groups on varying topics.  These groups are now a perfect way for individuals and companies to stand out as experts on specific topics and in specific subject matter. The new group functionality includes: • The ability to share links • Profile pictures for associated comments – personalizing the experien …

07/02/2010

Marketing Trends 2011: HTML5, the future of the dub-dub-dub

The web is rapidly evolving at a pace that most can't keep up with, or even know about. New and exciting innovations are being created every day, pushing the boundaries of what we know in every possible way. HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is the core language of the web and HTML5 is the fifth revision since it was developed in the early 90s. HTML5 will attempt to solve known issues in previous versions of HTML and will try to address new web applications, something that has not been appropriately covered in the past. HTML4 has been in use for over 10 years now. Since then, developers hav …

07/01/2010

Experience Marketing Example - "Blue One" The Slug Bug Game

Experience Marketing transforms a product or service into something which engages people’s senses and reaches them on an emotional level. It connects people to a product in ways beyond the use of the product itself. The Punch Buggy game surrounding the Volkswagen brand is a great example of this. To play, whenever someone sees a Volkswagen Beetle (some play by qualifying all Volkswagens) you shout out “Punch Buggy” and gently punch the other player in the arm, thus scoring a point.  Recently, for further proof of the vehicle spotted, many players are simply saying the c …

04/13/2010

Marketing Trends 2011: 5 Ways to Grow Your Business

It is possible to grow your business while taking the environment into consideration? Companies all over the globe are thinking about ways to save money in their businesses while increasing their revenue. It is definitely possible to do; a little creativity is all you need. Consumers appreciate when companies give back to the community, actively participate in creating a better society and consider the environment when making business decisions. Consumers also want to know that the companies they work with are cutting edge, use up-to-date technology and can get the job done well. Some …

04/12/2010

Marketing Trends: Experience Marketing Defined

Experience Marketing or Experiential Marketing can be defined as: Intentional activities which immerse people within your brand through the stimulation of their senses, which results in a positive, emotional tie to your company. Some great examples of Experience Marketing or Experiential Marketing include: Disney World® - An interactive playground to promote the product of movies & entertainment. This is “The most magical place on earth” where customers are called “guests” and employees are called “cast members.” Starbucks Coffee – A tota …

04/06/2010

Marketing Trends: Is It Time for a Redesign to Your Website?

The marketplace is continuously evolving. In recent years, the number of purchases made online has sky-rocketed. Considering this change, it is essential for companies to have a well-functioning Website for their audience. According to a study done by Nielsen, “the average person in the United States visits 2,614 Websites per month.”* The convenience of providing your company product, information and brand online can help draw in users that are spending those lengthy hours online. To not have a properly working or up-to-date Website can be detrimental to your profitability. This …

04/02/2010

Does Twitter Have New Social Media Competition?

Recently in Austin, Texas the SXSW® (South by Southwest®) convention was held. This is a conference that offers unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. The three sections of this conference are spread out over a period of days, each having their own set of dates for attendees. What does this have anything to do with Twitter and social media marketing? What they call the “interactive” section of the conference features cutting-edge technologies. This symposium brings together, “the world’s most creative Web develope …

03/30/2010

Create a Blog and Post Often

Recently, Webolutions had a blog post about the 7 Benefits to a Business Blog. To follow it up, we wanted to emphasize the importance of creating a blog and posting often. Most people know the more back links your site has, the higher you'll go in the search results page. Technically, the quality of the links is more important than the actual quantity. If authoritative sites link to you, Google determines that you must be important. One of the easiest ways to generate links to your site is to start a blog.  A blog is a great way to keep your site full of fresh content and attract users …

03/29/2010

7 Benefits of a Business Blog

With the dramatic increase in popularity of Twitter and Facebook, it seems blogs are getting lost and forgotten in the mix. Don’t dismiss blogs as part of the past just yet. They are still an incredibly useful tool, and when used correctly, can be a great asset to your overall new media strategy marketing plan. While blog use as a purely “social” medium is down, blogs for business are doing very well. In fact, 70% of bloggers are now organically talking about their brands on their blog, and 38% of bloggers post brand or product reviews. This means that if you don’t hav …

03/26/2010

How To: Create a Username for Your Facebook Business Page

This task is much simpler than it sounds. Once you have the proper URL and know what to look for this shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes to create. Keep in mind that this post has been written to help you assuming that you have already created a Facebook page for your business. In addition, as a rule of Facebook, you must have at least 25 Fans in order to claim a username. If you are eligible to claim a username, simply follow the steps below. 1. Once logged onto your Facebook Profile enter the URL of:    http://www.facebook.com/username This will bring you to a …

03/17/2010

How To: Set Up Google Alerts & Your Google Reader

  One of the most basic and easy forms of tracking your social media marketing is by setting up Google Alerts. In fact, Google Alerts are something that every company should have set up in order to effectively manage your marketing efforts online.     What are Google Alerts? Google Alerts by definition are “email updates of the latest relevant Google results (Web, news, etc) based on your choice of query or topic.” Google Alerts are useful for monitoring news about your company, keeping current on a competitor in your industry, staying on top of industry new …

03/07/2010

2010 Marketing Trends - Why Social?

In our Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2010 blog post last month, we named social marketing among the top 5 marketing trends for 2010. Everyone hears about Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on a daily basis. However, most businesses are not making the connection between these tools and good old fashion word-of-mouth marketing, which has been a key to successful marketing for decades. We all know that a word-of-mouth referral to our business is almost as good as a check in the bank.  This potential client will ask less questions, and the relationship will begin on a more personal level. In mo …

03/06/2010

Experience Marketing Example - GM Test Track Ride

The GM “Test Track” ride at Disney World® is a thrilling Experience Marketing example. The ride introduces visitors to the world of automotive safety testing. During this GM (General Motors) sponsored experience, visitors learn about and participate in the rigors of automotive safety testing. This 5½ minute, fast moving, test track ride exposes participants to freezing temperatures, hairpin turns, high G forces and speeds up to 60mph, which makes this the fastest ride at Disney World®. This experience attracts over 7 million visitors a year and is sponso …

03/05/2010

Webolutions Top 10 Link Building Strategies

  How can I create a powerful link? Unless you know the search engine algorithms or you are an engineer at Google, the solution to this question may be difficult to answer. Here at Webolutions, we like to focus on these 10 factors when we develop a linking strategy. Here is our guide of the 10 things to look for in a link-building campaign: It occurs naturally, or at least appears that way. It is one-way (non reciprocal). It uses the main keyword(s) for the page that it links to. It is from a site that is related and not off-topic. It comes from a Website wi …

03/05/2010

Social Media: A Growing Marketing Trend for Businesses

Go to a frequently visited Website: CBSNews.com, Time.com, WholeFoodsMarket.com, and NBA.com. What is one thing they all have in common? Links to their social media sites! It seems that the number of businesses adopting social media practices continues to grow. In fact, according to a study done by the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, one in five business owners are integrating social media into their business processes. Social marketing is a trend that business owners need to pay attention to. For all of those claiming social media is a fad, you are wrong! Business …

03/04/2010

How To: Build A Facebook Landing Page

Creating a unique, noticeable Facebook Page can be difficult. In a market that is being swarmed with social media, it is essential to stand out in the crowd. By developing a landing page for users to see upon arrival of your Facebook Page, you can generate more interest and excitement around your brand.  Some companies that are generating very unique landing pages include: Pepsi, Victoria's Secret, and Buffalo Wild Wings. All of these pages bring excitement and uniqueness to their Facebook Pages. Creating your own landing page is very easy to do, simply follow the steps below. 1. Add th …

02/08/2010

Twitter & Social Marketing - SEO Forces to be Reckoned With

Twitter now part of Google, Bing and Yahoo Search Results As of recent, search results are showing real-time Twitter results in the organic search results.  Google and Yahoo made the announcement on the same day, paying Twitter $15 million and $10 million respectively, to index Twitter’s tweets.  Twitter’s search results display the most recent five tweets for your search query, and it will always match the language in which you are searching (i.e. – If you are in Italy, only Italian tweets will show.)  Currently, Twitter results are included only for the most …

02/08/2010

Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2010

Webolutions is a fully-integrated, strategic marketing agency specializing in helping our clients optimize the highest impact areas of their marketing programs.    Below is our list of the Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2010      1.  Value – Thought, Leadership, Help, Innovations, Green After a year like 2009, all businesses need to be able to define the value they provide to their customers.  Are your prices in line with the value that you provide to your clients? Are you sure your competition has not snuck up on you and is offering somethin …

02/08/2010

Using Experience Marketing - Selling Your Bouncy Ball

During a recent trip to Disney World®, I saw many great examples of experience marketing.  At Webolutions, while working with our clients, experience marketing seems to be one of the more difficult concepts for people to truly understand and it is definitely one of the more difficult marketing practices to implement. Why? The fact is, that this is something that hardly any businesses understand or are willing to do. So, it is more difficult, There is no roadmap. Creating unique experiences around your brand is not like any other form of marketing. It involves truly changing the wa …

01/26/2010

The Importance of Actively Managing your Online Reputation

It is a well known fact that negative word-of-mouth spreads quicker than positive word-of-mouth. With Internet tools such as social media sites and blogging, negative word-of-mouth has more power to influence than ever before. According to the Retail Customer Dissatisfaction Study in 2006 done by the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative, only 6% of customers that experienced a problem with a retailer physically contacted them; however 31% went on to tell friends, family or colleagues what happened. As social media becomes a more prevalent way to communicate with friends, family and colleag …

12/23/2009

Disney: An Experience Marketing Example

During a recent visit to Disney World, I saw some great examples of Experience Marketing which I will be covering in this section of our blog over the next few weeks. After all, Disney’s theme parks are one the ultimate testaments to the concept of Experience Marketing. If all entrepreneurs could somehow capture the passion, vision, imagination and determination of Walt Disney, we would live in a truly amazing world.  Let’s break this down a little bit. Disney was first recognized (after several failed business attempts) as an innovator in the world of animation and movies. …

12/22/2009

Website Redesign SEO - What You Need to Know!

If you are considering the redesign of your Website, it is critical to consider the impacts this could have on your existing and future search engine positions. In many cases your business will have an established Website with some decent search engine positions. In order to update your site to a new or fresher look and to include more functionality, you may be considering investing in a Website upgrade. This will usually be a more expensive Website redesign and functional upgrade which includes a CMS, maybe a blog, some sort of Social Marketing and other substantial functionality upgrades …

12/21/2009

Go Green and Save Your Business Money

Greening your business is easier than you think. By doing a few small things you can save energy and resources and save your company money. The economic and business climate has changed over the past few years. Much emphasis has been placed on the downward spiraling economy and how this affects business owners today. Many small businesses and even corporations are closing their doors after years of hard work and dedication. There are several small steps your business can take to save a few dollars here and there; this will help improve your bottom line.   There has also been a lot of …

12/07/2009

Website Easter Eggs - A Little Can Go a Long Way

Not everyone has the budget or the cause for an uber creative Flash site like EinsteinBros.com or the visually stunning JonathanYuen.com but that doesn’t mean your site needs to be dull.  Don’t be afraid to spice it up and add little surprises for your users. Take your Website one step further by offering users just a little bit more.  Perhaps you can add a little personality like the flying “W” that lives in the Webolutions.com header?  Yahoo.com has a hidden gem.  Click on the exclamation point in the logo and you’ll hear the Yahoo yodel. …

12/07/2009

Customizing Products & Brands for Social Media - The Motorola Cliq

The holiday season is upon us and electronics are constantly being advertised to consumers as the perfect gift. There was a particular electronic gadget that caught my eye in a commercial being titled as “the first phone with social skills.” I had to check it out for myself. The next day I was at TMobile looking at the brand new Motorola Cliq phone. Being a Social Marketing Coordinator at a strategic marketing company, Webolutions, I was highly intrigued by the socially advanced phone. Only a few short days after seeing the advertisement, I purchased this phone. As I began to p …

11/17/2009

Giving for Free - Strategic or Silly?

You always hear people say, "there's no such thing as free..."  While this may be true in some cases, there are a multitude of exceptions to this antiquated rule.  When you're in business, sometimes giving things away for free is beneficial.  In fact, many times, giving something away for free can actually save you money. We are fast approaching a time where the consumer expects to get a lot for free.  iPhone apps are free, blogging is free, consuming blog content is free, consuming online newspapers is free, tv shows and songs can be downloaded for free, you can …

11/11/2009

Transparency in Marketing

There is a lot of talk today about transparency in marketing and what this means. A blog post that I recently read defines transparency as, “the degree to which a company shares its leaders, employees, values, culture, strategy, business processes and the results of those processes with its publics. It’s the opposite of opacity, in which companies operate behind closed doors and shuttered windows." (By Shel Holtz of Shel Holtz PC , http://blog.holtz.com/index.php) This definition is as good as any for this post on why marketing transparency is so important for your busi …

11/09/2009

Online Search Reverse Engineering for Success

The successful Online Marketing of a Website requires a very different approach than the conventional marketing techniques used to market most other products and services.  Historically products were made, perhaps based on some level of market research, and then they were taken to the marketplace and mass-marketed. To successfully plan, develop and market a Website to the search engines requires a completely different approach. Many factors play a role in where your Website shows up on the search engines. This positioning is critical to most businesses’ success or failure. W …

11/03/2009

Your Employees are The Brand

Company heads and CEO's nationwide spend hundreds of millions annually, "branding" themselves.  They collectively sit and decide who they want to be.  They come up with this great idea on exactly who they want and need to be, an idea that is guaranteed to set them apart from the competition.  They may even go so far as to redesign their Website and create new collateral materials to show off their new flashy brand.  However, when you sit down to brand your company, if this brand is not communicated to, and lived out by each and every single one of your employees - …

11/02/2009

Usability Testing: Do it Early and Often for a Great Website

  Usability testing is imperative if you want to take a good site and make it a great site. It will often reveal usability issues that designers, developers and clients will never discover because they are too close to the project and too familiar with the content. Typically, a usability test involves one user who is shown a site or a wireframe and asked to do something or explain what they are looking at. It’s not too complicated. However, usability testing is often cut from Web design budgets for largely two reasons: It’s too expensive It takes …

10/22/2009

Getting the Most Out of Twitter - A "How To" on #hashtags

As social media takes the world by storm, many are feeling left in the dust. Social media continues to influence the world of marketing, and it can be very overwhelming trying to keep up. From a business standpoint, it seems to be difficult to stay ahead of the game. There are many ins and outs to social networking sites which can help you progress in the realm of social media marketing. One of the Websites that continues to remain in the forefront of social media is Twitter. Twitter has created a way to tag your tweets and group them together easier. Much like tags on other social net …

09/24/2009

Personalize Your Business Communications - Thank Your Clients

  Let your clients know you appreciate their business   A few years ago, I moved back to Denver and was looking for a beauty salon that would service all of my beauty needs in one location. It can be challenging to find a full-service salon to meet all of your specific beauty needs, so I asked around for recommendations. I got a personal recommendation from my mom; she really liked the hair stylist at this particular salon, so I went to try it out. Wow, was I impressed with the experience!   I walked into the salon, which was located right off of a very busy street in town. …

09/16/2009

Don't Make Me Think! (Book Review)

Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think was popping up in so many “must read” lists, I couldn’t pass it up. This book outlines Krug’s “common sense approach to Web usability,” and is indeed a “must read.” Don’t Make Me Think does not cater only to Web usability professionals. Anyone who manages a Website will find the material to be easily digestible. You do not need the vocabulary of a seasoned Web professional to get value out of this book. The book’s title is also what Krug refers to as, “Krug’s First L …

09/15/2009

Using SMS Text Messaging for More Than A Good "LOL" - A New Social Marketing Strategy

A New Use for SMS Text Messaging: Over the weekend, I helped out at an event in Downtown Denver.  This event was a scavenger hunt to win a $15,000 engagement ring donated by a local jeweler. Over 250 couples showed up for the race in hopes of winning the ring. The key to winning the ring was to receive the highest amount of points by a certain time in the day. Now you may be asking yourself, what does this have anything to do with Social Marketing? It is important to note that when couples registered for the event that were required to enter their cell phone number and cell phone car …

09/14/2009

Call Tracking Services Improve ROI Measurement

Most Onlin Marketing initiatives include some sort of Web analytics. However, many people overlook the critical measurement of the telephone calls received as a result of these efforts. Webolutions’ call tracking solution allows businesses to add a new dimension to their online and offline campaign ROI measurement.  Some of this service’s features include: Unique campaign-by-campaign call tracking numbers Dynamic population of tracking numbers throughout your Website, based on the originating campaign Call recording for the monitoring of call conversion quali …

09/14/2009

Client Relationship Building - Critical to Your Long-Term Business Success

Changes in the world have made Relationship Marketing to your existing client-base more important than ever. Some of these key changes include: Unlimited access to information and options Decreased overall brand loyalty Perceived and actual commoditization of products and services Blogs, rating systems, and other consumer-driven publishing platforms The downturn in the economy The trend towards the personalization of all products and services Never before has the consumer had so much influence over the products and services they purchase.  Previously, bu …

09/14/2009

How Much Are Your Bananas? – An Experience-Based, Pricing Model Case Study

Whether you are selling bananas, professional services, or manufactured goods, the client experience you create dictates the price that you can charge and your overall level of client satisfaction About a year or so ago, on my semi-daily visit to Starbucks, I noticed that they started selling bananas.  The cost was .90 each. This seemed pricey especially since bananas are available at every grocery store for quite a bit less. I began to notice that some mornings there were no bananas. When I asked why, they told me that on many of days, the bananas sell out early. Starbucks also has c …

09/10/2009

When Customer Incentives Become the Expectation

A friend of mine recently moved to Denver and bought a new house.  Being new to Colorado, she was unfamiliar with American Furniture Warehouse.  As she was perusing the ads a few weeks ago, she was absolutely elated to see that AFW was having a huge Labor Day Sale.  I just sort of chuckled to myself, and went on about my day.  I figured I would let her stay excited; she'd learn soon enough. What she will come to know, is that AFW is ALWAYS having a sale; there is nothing really special about this particular "Labor Day Sale."  Last month it was a "Back t …

08/19/2009

Is Your Website Usable?

Nowadays everybody has a Website. You have to do more than just throw up a site with good content to stand out. You’ve got to start by making your site usable. There is more to Website usability than just ensuring you do not have any broken links. Usability is all about getting your site visitors to the content they are looking for in an easy and intuitive way. You can have the best content in the world but if users have to think too much to move around and find what they want, they will be dissatisfied and go elsewhere. Evaluating Your Site’s Usability Your site is usable if i …

08/19/2009

Social Marketing: A Channel for Success

Social Marketing is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. Many companies are beginning to direct their entire marketing campaigns towards Social Marketing. As a Social Marketing Coordinator at a Marketing/Web Design company, I am very drawn to social Websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Just the other day I was at home cleaning with the television on for background noise. I heard some catchy music coming from the TV and looked over at it. On the screen, was a commercial where a series of dancers doing different moves and then pausing several times when they …

08/13/2009

Increase your Sales by Caring

Everybody wants to increase their sales, and is looking for the secret on how to do so.  Well, the secret is, there is no such thing.  The best way to increase your sales, in my opinion, is really quite simple: CARE; Genuinely Care. Care about your customers. Care about your company. Care about your products/offerings. Care about your coworkers. Simply care.  When you truly care, people will know.  People like to do business with people that care, bottom line. I went to GNC yesterday to buy a multi-vitamin.  I normally don't even shop at GNC, as it seems a little …

08/10/2009

Efficiency vs. the Experience & Increased Profits

When evaluating the overall experience you provide to your clients, there is a fine line between the efficiency and speed at which you deliver your products and services vs. the overall interaction you provide.  More interaction could lead to a better overall client experience as well as vastly increased profits! Case Study: Lunch at Chipotle I am always amazed at the speed at which the line at Chipotle moves.  Like McDonalds, they have a simplified product offering (limited menu and options) and one …

08/10/2009

Connecting Your Business One Social Network at a Time

At this point in time, it is probably safe to claim there is a world-wide obsession with Social Marketing and its importance on daily life operations. It is difficult to go anywhere in today’s online marketplace without noticing a Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Flickr icon. As businesses switch to aim their marketing campaigns through social media, they are trying to use all available networking sites. Most businesses are not just on one of these social networks, but rather as many as they can get their hands on. It is becoming continuously easier to manage the various social network …

08/08/2009

Product Customization – Are You Keeping Up?

Many companies are finding ways to customize their products and services.  This customization allows them to provide an individualized experience for every customer. Customization adds to the novelty of doing business with them, which helps them stand out from their competitors. Below is a list of products and services which illustrate this trend towards increased customization:   •    Nike & Converse – Design your own shoes …

08/05/2009

Web Analytic Software - Only Useful if Actionable

The key to successfully using Web analytics is ensuring that whatever you are tracking is actionable. It is easy to get bogged down in a huge amount of information provided by these tools.  As well, all this information can be manipulated dozens of different ways.  Without a plan, it is not uncommon to sit down in a meeting to review your Website analytics information and have everyone heading off in different directions, based on the numbers they relate to in the report.  This is complete waste of time. The only informat …

07/29/2009

Online Design, Evoking Emotions and Influencing Decisions

Evoking Emotions through Effective Design When it comes to our interpretation, "pretty" or "ugly" is determined by many factors. We are not usually aware of them as they influence our sub-conscious reactions. Certain triggers or "aesthetics" in everyday life evoke emotions in us that influence our choices, decisions and reactions. These triggers are not limited to just our vision, but appeal to all of our senses and they happen every minute of every day. To go even further, they can then tap into a personal experience and can influence our emotional responses. I …

07/27/2009

Social Responsibility - A Growing Marketing Niche

The world as we know it is changing. The current economic situation has people changing their lifestyles to match these challenging times we are in. Unemployment rate is high and it continues to rise, people are cutting back in a variety of ways, and  are conserving in areas of their life that they never considered conserving in before. People are re-evaluating their priorities and  consumers are changing their buying habits. Companies that are quick to embrace these changes are going to be more likely to prosper in a difficult economic climate. Today many people are losing their jobs, taking pay cuts and as a result, they are learning to reduce their personal spending. Over time, people will become accustomed to this and eventually learn to appreciate and value a more simplified lifestyle. Living more simply will happily coexist with living smarter. Consumer trends drive profits and shape the marketplace. There is a $230 billion marketplace that exists for products and services that meet the needs of consumers who buy based on their personal, social and environmental values. What can your brand do to ensure it will still be relevant in the changing times? …

07/21/2009

We Choose The Moon – A Social Marketing Mission

“We Choose The Moon” is an interactive Website built by the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of NASA landing on the moon. This site displays a real-time reenactment of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. It went live on July 16th, 2009 at 8:02am and followed the launch at 9:32am. The site is divided into 11 different stages which the Apollo 11 spacecraft went through. It provides a to-the-minute representation of the historic Apollo 11 mission 40 years ago. After July 20th when the Apollo 11 lands, you can re-visit the site and travel through t …

07/15/2009

Foundations are to Houses what Information Architecture is to Websites

Information architecture (IA) is where it all begins.  It is critical to the success of your new Website.  Everything done to build your site is heavily influenced by what is discovered and determined in the IA process.  Without these fundamentals, your site will be built on shaky ground. Step 1: Define goals and success metrics All Web projects have to start by defining goals.  What do you want your new site to do?  Sell more products? Generate interest in your services? Establish your company as a leader?  How will you measure the success of your site?  …

05/31/2009

Business Profile vs. Personal Life – For Social Marketing is there really a Difference?

With the advent of Social Marketing, more people are asking us where the line should be between their public business profile and their personal online communications.  Over the past few months, several people have told me that they have a LinkedIn business profile that they use to post and befriend business colleagues and associates online.  They also may have a Facebook page. But, they reserve this for close friends and family. The approach you take to using social networks really just depends on your goals.  If you use these social mediums to casually communicate with …

05/22/2009

Twitter Tips

Twitter is undoubtedly the fastest growing social medium on the Internet today. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter grew an average of 1,382% from 2008 to 2009. In February 2008, Twitter averaged 475,000 unique visitors; February 2009, it grew to an astounding 7 million unique visitors.   As you can see in the graph below, the amount of user’s interacting with Twitter is growing. It now surpasses both MySpace and Facebook.   Tips to Marketing on Twitter Twitter is growing at an exponential rate and businesses are beginning to see its value. Itemized below are examples of …

04/08/2009

Push the Reset Button on Your Marketing Initiatives

The markets are topsy turvy. The employment and business landscapes have changed. Everything seems to be in somewhat of a state of flux. I heard once that the Chinese word for crisis is, “Opportunity Riding the Dangerous Wind.”  I always remember this. I am truly of the opinion that when drastic change occurs, great opportunities arise, at least for those who are looking for them!  Are you someone who stops growing your business when times change or someone who refuses to be beat, no matter what? In a recent South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce (www.bestchamber.com) m …

04/07/2009

Social Marketing with Facebook

Facebook is steadily becoming the largest social network on the Internet, with over 175 million active users. Consumers are turning to Internet resources, such as Facebook, when searching for feedback on a company’s products and services. Facebook allows businesses the chance to build customer evangelists, connect with new or existing customers, promote products, participate in conversations, establish credibility in their industry and create brand awareness. Best of all…it’s free! How Do I Use Facebook as a Viral Marketing Resource? Personalize Your Business - The first …

08/03/2008

Starbucks Marketing Observations

Starbucks current branding, marketing and advertising seems to focus on a “return to our roots” effort. They are refocusing on what has made them such a huge success in the world. Using this as an example, we can identify some keys to marketing success in today’s marketplace. This video focuses on the experience of Starbucks. At Starbuck"s website select, “Discover Our Heritage” then, “In The Beginning”. As you watch this video, pull yourself away from the company itself and focus your attention on the messaging, and the specific language t …

11/20/2007

When you compete on price you lose

Creating unique, relevant and memorable marketing experiences attract new customers, reawaken the interest of existing customers and generate additional demand for products and services. …

10/08/2007

The more you give away the more clients you get

When people are shopping for a new product or service they want to make the best choice. They are likely thinking: …

10/07/2007

The most important question in marketing

In a previous post I talked about asking questions as a way to stimulate ideas. Questions open your mind to possibilities. One question in particular, when asked over and over again, can dramatically improve your company"s long-term profitability. That question is: …

10/06/2007

People never buy your product or service

Many business owners don’t know what they are “really” selling. Once you understand what your customers are “actually” buying, you have a much better chance of selling them. …