E-Power Marketing is a big believer in Business Networking Web sites especially LinkedIn. We see the value these networks provide for professionals. Members of Business Networking sites can showcase their professional accomplishments, connect with co-workers, clients, other industry professionals and more.

LinkedIn and other Business Networking sites allow members to increase their reach online, and build their networks. Individuals can receive recommendations from others in their network. Professionals can share their expertise on discussion boards, and post or look for jobs on the job boards as well. The key to receiving the full advantages of a business networking site like LinkedIn is to create an optimized profile, and learn the system and methods of the site.

To start you off, we've put together 13 tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile...

1. Complete your profile - When editing your profile, you will see a bar in the right hand column of your screen. This bar gives you a completeness percentage for your personal profile. Below that bar are profile-specific tips for how to fully complete your profile. Creating a complete profile is essential to the LinkedIn experience. Describe yourself, your education and your career thoroughly, but be sure to be truthful, as your LinkedIn profile can act as an online resume.
   
   
2. Create a public profile - LinkedIn gives you security options in terms of what the public (those you aren't connected with on LinkedIn) can see of your profile. You choose what information is publicly available on the Web. You control which parts of your profile are shown, and you can update your public profile at any time. This public profile is available on the major search engines, and gets a permanent URL that you can customize and distribute (see tip #3).
   
   
3. Claim your public profile URL - LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to create a customized public profile URL, you should utilize this option by claiming your name, or as close to your name as possible. This allows you to create a personalized URL that will be easy to remember when networking with others.
   
   
4. Connect with others - What good is joining a networking community if you don't take advantage of the connections you could be making? Connect with people you work with, people you used to work with, past and present clients, people you went to school with, family members, friends, and more. Networking sites allow you to increase your online presence, but that won't happen if you don't make the connections. Search for others in your industry, those you've met on other networking sites, or those who have similar hobbies to you. You never know where your next customer or referral will come from. Make the effort to network with others on LinkedIn, or you won't be utilizing the site to its fullest potential.
   
   
5. Request recommendations - Once you've established a strong network, you will be able to contact others about recommendations. Choose the people on your list that you know well, and that you feel you've proven your worth to. Having recommendations will allow your profile to stand out, and show others that you are indeed an industry resource. These recommendations will be great for your professional reputation, and they will increase your visibility within LinkedIn searches as well.
   
   
6. Analyze your company profile - Make sure your company's profile is up to date and complete. Make sure other employees know about it and are connected to it on their personal profiles. Your company doesn't already have a profile? Create one! Just as with your personal profile, be detailed and specific. List your specialties, and link to your Home page. Add your company Blog. Create a strong online presence for your company on LinkedIn.
   
   
7. Link your profile to your Web sites - LinkedIn allows you to add three hyperlinks to your profile. LinkedIn recommends linking to your Web site, your company, your Blog, your RSS feed or your portfolio. However, these are not your only options! Select the "Other" option, and you have the opportunity to create your own anchor text, and link to any other URL you deem appropriate. Below your Web site listings, LinkedIn now provides a separate link for your Twitter account. Link your online initiatives together to really benefit from the connectedness of Social Media Marketing.
   
   
8. Join and participate in related LinkedIn Groups. You can search for and find groups that other professionals in your industry have created or joined. Once you find and join the groups that are most relevant to you and your business, you can participate in the group discussions to further your reputation and online presence.
   
   
9. Show off on LinkedIn Answers - LinkedIn Answers allows you to establish yourself as an industry resource. You can ask and answer questions in order to create new connections and illustrate to others your area of expertise and knowledge of your field. Not only does this bolster your reputation, it also increases your visibility throughout the network.
   
   
10. Take advantage of the Learning Center - LinkedIn has created the Learning Center where you can go to learn more about the specifics of site features, and even read through User Guides so you can get the most out of LinkedIn.
    
    
11. Utilize the Job Board - LinkedIn is a great, social way to let others know about your job openings, or to look for a new position yourself. The Job Board allows you to post the open positions in your company, and screen candidates before every interviewing them. You are also able to search for jobs by company, location, or position. Find common connections to potential candidates or companies. Get a sense of applicants or other employees before ever committing to an interview.
    
    
12. Fill your calendar - The LinkedIn Events section shows you the events your connections are hosting. Find expos or trade shows in your area or in your industry. Consider attending seminars or even webinars to increase your knowledge and education. Tune into what is going on in your field and stay up to date with industry events through LinkedIn.
    
    
13. Stay active - Simply creating a LinkedIn profile isn't enough. You must stay active on the network to make the most of it. Whether you can get to the site daily, weekly, or monthly, it is important to understand that having a profile will do very little for you if you never take advantage of it. Continually look for new connections, post on the discussion or answer boards, and stay up to date with what others are doing on LinkedIn.

Labels: Social Marketing

Recently, I attended a Webinar put on by Dan Zarrella entitled The Science of Social Media. Overall, I was impressed by his research and findings. With a background in psychology, I'm always interested in what drives people to do things. What compels people to become active on Social Media Marketing channels, and why do people share information via the Web?

Dan's presentation broke it down into three steps: exposure, awareness and motivation. When you want something to go viral, those are the three things you need. So how do you go about doing that? Let's take a closer look at the three important steps:

Exposure:
The more people you can expose your idea to, the better off you are. Having a Twitter account is great, but the more followers you have, the more people you are exposing your ideas to. While quantity is an important factor, quality is even more important. Having a few people who are very influential in your industry following you will be much more beneficial than having a bunch of people who have nothing to do with your industry.

Awareness:
Once you have people to expose your ideas or information to, you need to make them aware of it. Social Media is an excellent way to make people aware of your content and announcements. You have to cut through the clutter to make sure your content reaches the eyes or ears of your intended audience. Create content that is both original and familiar. Come up with a new way to present your information. Or utilize an old format with sensational new information. You want to attract your audiences' attention without confusing them.

Motivation:
Once you've cut through the noise and you've exposed your message to your intended public and made them aware of your content, you have to motivate them to spread the word. The last step may in fact be the toughest. Daniel's research shows that using the phrase "Please ReTweet" in your Tweets does in fact work. Also, it's important to avoid Link Fatigue, so don't send out too many links at once. When you're announcing something, make sure you haven't been overloading your audience with too much information. Time your announcement correctly. Include a call to action, so that those that receive your announcement have something to do with it. Whether you're hoping to bring people to your Web site, to buy something, or simply to pass the information on, make sure you let them know what you want them to do.

Going viral is important to many marketers today. While there's no secret formula or trick to make sure you go viral, there are definitely ways to increase the likelihood. You need fresh, informative, interesting content to start with. After that, you need the three ingredients discussed in this post: Exposure, Awareness and Motivation. Mix it all up and you'll be on your way to viral success!

Labels: Social Marketing

Savvy businesses know the value of search marketing as more consumers and companies use the Web to make their buying decisions. A strong presence on search engines will give you a competitive advantage to grow your sales.

The Web has changed buyer behavior. Before the Web, marketers primarily pushed their sales message to buyers. Now you need to pull your audience to your Web site and close the deal.

This change in buyer behavior requires that your Web site thoroughly explains your products and services. You need to make your site's content stronger than your competition. Buyers using the Web may want to learn as much about you as possible before they contact you. Inform and educate your target audience to establish yourself as the expert. Summarize the topic of each Web page in the headline and first paragraph for those who want only top line information. Use keywords in your content to tell your audience and the search engines what your Web pages are about.

In-depth information gives your audience reasons to stay longer on your Web site. Google determines search position relevancy by measuring whether someone who clicks a search result stays on the search result or returns and clicks on another search result. In other words, Google measures the "voting" behavior of its audience ? the searchers. By providing thorough and informative information, you will enjoy much better search visibility on Google, as well as stronger response from potential buyers.

Now that you have your audience on your Web site, you need to convert them into buyers. Are you asking your visitors to take an action? How easy is it for a visitor to buy or contact you from your Web site? How easy is it to find your products to buy or to contact you? Test the process yourself. Think about what you can do to make it easier.

Take these steps and you will enjoy stronger online sales. Do these well, and you will beat your competitors.

Labels: Organic SEO, SEM Back to Basics

Looking for your "sweet spot" in Google AdWords? Google Analytics can help! Google Analytics allows you to gather information about your Google AdWords Campaigns that Google AdWords alonedoes not provide. Google Analytics and Google AdWords can be integrated to greatly improve the analysis of your Pay Per Click (PPC) programs. In Google Analytics as in Google AdWords, you can see what keywords are driving your conversions (lead generation or sales) as well as how many conversions are occurring because of each individual keyword. This information can have positive effects on your PPC campaigns and can help you find your ?sweet spot?.

Basic uses of Google Analytics with Google AdWords

Google Analytics can show your conversions by keyword which is an invaluable resource for Google AdWords users. Here you can see which keywords are creating the most conversions and which keywords aren?t creating any. Keywords that are creating a high number of conversions are a great place to focus your resources. You may be focusing money on keywords that don?t create any conversions. Doesn?t that seem like a waste of time and money?

In the "Ad Versions" report you can compare metrics for each ad. Here you can see how your ad is performing in relation to goal conversions, site usage, and eCommerce. You see which ads are achieving the most goals, the most visits, the longest time on the site, the highest number of pages per visit, the lowest bounce rate, and the percent of new visits. Looking at the bounce rate can give you insight into whether your ads are relevant to the audience that is clicking on them.

Additionally you can use the "keywords positions" report in Google Analytics to see how the position of your ad affected your performance. Are your ads in the best possible position given your budget to produce the ROI you are looking for? Maybe simply moving your ad will give you a better ROI.

Google Analytics Can Go Above and Beyond the Information Google AdWords Provides

Do you want your campaigns to be more specific by targeting a more localized audience? Use Map Overlay to see where your visitors are coming from geographically. This will give you an idea, in picture form, of where you can target your audience using location-specific campaigns. This is a great tool for refining your campaign to meet local needs and not available unless Google Analytics integration is properly set up.

Another way to refine your campaign is to place your ads within the Content Network of Google AdWords. You can hand select these sites within Google AdWords or you can use Google Analytics to capitalize on sites that are already sending you organic traffic using the "referring sites" report. This report gives you a list of all the sites that drive organic traffic to your Web site. You can then take this list of referring sites and place them in the "List URLs" option under "Target Your Ad: Identify Placement." Now you can advertise within the Content Network on sites that you know already refer organic traffic to your Web site, allowing you to further increase your exposure on an already relevant site.

Of course, like other Google Analytics data, you need to focus on trends. Don?t throw all of your money into a keyword that had great conversions one month but showed poor conversions every other month of the year. You want to look for keywords that show consistency in conversions. You also want to look at the trends in keywords. Some become more popular or less popular with time. You can't always put all of your resources into one keyword forever. Google Analytics can help you see these trends and help you make better PPC decisions.

Sources:
http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/?hl=en
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/?hl=en
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-do-i-actually-use-analytics-to.html

Labels: Google Analytics

1) Thinking Search Engine Optimization is magic!
Many people still believe that Search Engine Optimization is magic. They hire an SEO company and immediately expect to be on the first page of Google. There is much work and time involved before results appear. Successful Search Engine Optimization requires client involvement, changes to your Web site, and time for the efforts to gain traction of the search engines.

2) Thinking success happens overnight.
SEO is a long term process. Results typically will start showing after 2 months, but the full benefit will not show its face until after 6 months and will continue to improve from that point on.

3) Building a Web site using non-search friendly technology.
Search engines have come a long way in understanding technology such as Flash, JavaScript and dynamic Web sites. However, a site using JavaScript navigation, user or session IDs, or developed all in Flash will not perform well on the search engines. Keep it simple!

4) Sacrificing content.
The old saying "Content is King" remains truer than ever. "Brochureware" does not generate search visibility. A Web site rich in valuable and informative content not only will satisfy the search engines, but your visitors as well. If they came to find detailed information about you, your Web site better deliver.

5) Believing once the Web site is launched, all work is done.
As said before, search engine optimization is a long-term process. If you build it, they will not necessarily come. You must continually add content, fine-tune search optimization, and maintain online marketing initiatives to remain successful and stay ahead of the competition.

6) Not utilizing and analyzing traffic data.
More often than you'd think, companies are not using their Web site traffic data to improve online search visibility. Traffic data will tell you where visitors are leaving your Web site from, how they are getting there, and so much more. Use this information and fine-tune your Web site and search optimization accordingly.

7) Not utilizing free tools such as Google Webmaster Tools, Bing Webmaster Center, and Yahoo Site Explorer.
Google Webmaster Tools can not only provide you insight into problems Google may be having with your Web site, but also valuable link and search visibility information. Bing and Yahoo offer similar services, so you can see how search engines are responding to your Web site.

8) Continually building new Web sites without consulting your Search Marketer.
More often than not, companies that aren't doing well on the search engines will make the biggest mistake of building another Web site and not discuss the consequences if not handled properly with their search marketing firm. Launching a new Web site without taking the necessary precautions for the search engines can set you back even further from the competition.

9) Choosing a Content Management System (CMS) that does not allow for the SEO basics.
A CMS that doesn't allow for optimizing page specific title tags or a CMS that uses inheritance in a manner that hinders proper SEO will be detrimental to search visibility. You have to have the foundation set before building the house. Basics such as page specific title tags, simple navigation, and content are the most important building blocks for a successful SEO program. If the Content Management System you are considering doesn't offer you the ability to perform the basics, look at another option. Here are SEO considerations when selecting a Content Management System (CMS).

10) Assuming that matching what the competition is doing will raise you above them.
To beat competitors who are established on search engines, you need to go beyond what they have done and deliver a stronger, better search optimized Web site with an active Social Media Marketing program promoting the site. Web sites with search positions tend to keep those search positions. To take those search positions, you need to EARN them by doing a better job providing information to your audience.

Labels: Organic SEO

We said it before, now here is more proof. The length of time it takes your pages to load is a factor in Google's algorithm. Google Webmaster Tools added a "Site Performance" section to their program.

Within the new section you will find stats on how fast your Web site loads compared to other Web sites, example pages and their load times, and speed suggestions for pages on your site. You also have the option to install the Page Speed browser add-on which evaluates the performance of your pages and provides suggestions on how to improve them.

Below are screen shots from the new Site Performance section of Google Webmaster Tools for E-Power's Web site.

Labels: Organic SEO

Google Analytics Intelligence is a great new feature that alerts you of significant deviations in your Google Analytics data. This feature tracks the trends in your data and flags any changes in data that are not typical of your site.

For example, if your traffic rises 400% in one day and this is not a normal spike in your data, Google Analytics Intelligence will place an alert on that day's data. These alerts allow you to stay updated with your Google Analytics program. Google Analytics Intelligence eliminates the hassle of checking each of your reports to find out if something strange is going on with your Web site.

You have the option to set both automatic alerts and/or custom alerts to. These alerts flag your data anytime something happens with your Web site that is not a "normal" part of the trend in your data.

Automatic alerts are pre set by Google Analytics Intelligence to alert you when there is a drastic change in any of your data. Without alerts, you may miss something important that occurred on your Web site. Once you set alerts, Google Analytics Intelligence also goes back and puts alerts into your historical data.



In this example, an alert showed because there was 190% increase in Pageviews for a particular day.



Google Intelligence also tells you what the expected range is for your data, so you know when an alert will be triggered. In this example the expected range is 26-95 Pageviews. Since there were 236 page views, which is not in the range, the alert was triggered.

Perhaps a page isn't working properly or displaying a "404 Page Not Found" error and your Bounce Rate spikes on that page. Without an alert you may not discover right away that a page isn't working properly and you could potentially lose business because of it. Google Analytics Intelligence cannot tell you why something abnormal occurred in your data, but it can alert you when something happens. You can then go back and diagnose why the unusual activity occurred and how to correct it.

You also have the option to set custom alerts for your Web site. Choose your traffic source and a metric and create as many alerts as you would like. You have the ability to apply the same custom alert across multiple accounts and profiles, so you don't need to create alerts in each individual profile.



Perhaps you want to be alerted when your visits drop to a certain level or when a bounce rate increases by more than 25% on a Landing Page compared to the previous day.



Google Analytics Intelligence allows you to get specific with your alerts. Another great feature is the option to receive an e-mail notification when an alert is activated so you don't need to repeatedly check your accounts. Google Analytics Intelligence will do that for you.

Setting up alerts with Google Analytics Intelligence is a great way to keep updated on Web site activity without looking through large amounts of data. Set up e-mail alerts so you can be the first to know when something changes with your Web site. Try it out and see what your Web site is up to!

Labels: Google Analytics