Are you optimized?

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Kelli

The SEO Mix

Both form and physique are important when it comes to attracting and retaining customers online.  Often updates and overhauls of well thought-out and delivered content must be revised to reflect the current attitude of the business. Users must continually identify with your brand, however, before they can even engage, they must be able to locate your business online.

When you need to search for a product or service, typically one of the first places that you visit is a search engine.  The top three  Google, Bing and Yahoo are usually the first places to search when looking for a product or service.  It is here that we must ask ourselves, how bad do we really want to increase our sales and what steps are we willing to take to do so?  If the only barrier between you and a new customer was a closed door, I believe that you would take the initiative and open the door?

Well, if that same potential customer were on the internet searching for one of your products and the only barrier between the coveted sale was them finding you–well, let’s just say I think you would take the effort to ensure you could be found.

Optimization, the tweaking of your website with content, back links, images, blogs and other social media sources to increase traffic and rank favorably among the algorithm gods is the best practice for increasing your sales online–this process is often referred to as search engine optimization or “SEO”.  Additionally, if you want to determine how you rank amongst your competition, here is a good place begin.  However, don’t stop here in your quest to find your place on the internet highway, there are a plethora of other search engines such as Ask, AOL, Mywebsearch and more to test your ranking among the internet savvy.  So how and where do you begin?

Do a performance test to see how well your website is currently ranking.  Compuware’s Gomez provides instant testing to find your website’s performance problems http://bit.ly/websiteperformance.  This quick analysis will provide you with valuable information regarding your content,  how difficult or easy your website can be read, as well as other important factors that help you grade the performance of your site.   Based on the analysis of the report you can make some simple adjustments to help increase the optimization of your site.  There are several program from which you may choose to help automate the process of optimization, or, you may choose to hire a professional service that understands the process and will periodically revise or make recommendations for revisions as the algorithms tend to change without notice.

Where to begin with SEO optimization…

  1. Choose excellent keywords to include in the content of your website pages.  Keywords, the terms frequently used  to perform or search for a specific product or service should also be used as tags in your documents headers and titles to increase SEO.  Google gives a list of keyword ideas plus data showing how often words are searched and their ad bid competitive analysis through their Google key word tool http://www.googlekeywordtool.com/.  WordTracker is also a a helpful source for keyword recommendations and ratings.
  2. Copy, copy copy!  We have addressed the importance of key words however, we cannot emphasize how important it is to utilize them creatively on all pages throughout your website.  Don’t be afraid to use them from top to bottom, in titles, descriptions, meta tags and in he body.  However, interchange them and don’t overuse.  Ensure that you have  relevant copy that compliments your keywords, tags and titles as this is a key element that search engines grab to rank your site.  Keep topics at the top of your web page and provide link titles (visible, click-able text in a hyperlink) within your copy to boost crwaling.   These titles can determine the favorable ranking that the page will receive by the search engines.
  3. Tag your web pages correctly.   Be sure to use the H1 tags throughout  your headings.  Use keywords in your file names to properly describe the content of the file or image and be sure to code all documents on the site.  The use of  Alt tags, and images that utilize descriptive test are just a few minor tips that can help increase your SEO.
  4. Website code should be accurate and minimized.  Advise your web developer to create your website with less code to reduce the file size.  This makes your website easier to find by a search engine.  Be sure that the code is correct or the search engine will not locate  it and moreover, your page may not display correctly and have longer download times.  Code/programming is important. These are just a few simple tips for optimizing your website.  Sites such like Tech-Faq, adSpeed, Wikipedia, Optimize My Website, and The Small Business Playbook are great resources for more ideas.  Google them and you’ll find them in the top results.  Google also offers “Website Optimizer”, a free website testing and optimization tool.

In order for your website to remain relevant, you have to continually invest the time and resources to ensure it keeps up with the times.  Develop a maintenance schedule to ensure your website gets the attention it needs to compete on the super information highway. If you cannot commit to doing it yourself, consider hiring an expert that can.  Remember, your competitors are using all of their resources to stay ahead of the game–in order to compete and win, you must be ready, willing and able to increase your chances of showing up in the results of a search…optimized to the hilt!

 

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The need for marketing to help increase sales.

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Keiva

Tensions are high, fingers are pointing, and the smoky haze between the sales and marketing department is so thick that you can cut it with a knife.  Now this might be a little dramatic but if you have ever watched an episode of the sitcom The Office (http://www.nbc.com/the-office/ ) you know that often art imitates life imitates art…you get the drift. So why then are these two necessary functions so notoriously at odds in their age old feud of which department brings more value?  Let’s think about this question for a moment and contend what we know; without marketing, prospects or leads to follow up on may not exist and without a good sales team, you may never close the lead.

The reality of it is that, marketing and sales must coexist.  Both marketing - the activity performed to reach and persuade prospects - and sales – the work involved to close the deal and get a signed agreement or contract – have distinct functions necessary to the growth of any organization. Case in point; you have a blazing product or service however, you’re unable to obtain the mass awareness required for increased purchases.  You begin the sales process to protect and win new business while identifying new prospects.  You do your research, qualify leads, initiate contact and the countless other networking and sales functions required to develop customer advocacy and close the deal. This is great! Now hold that thought.

As stated, there is still the challenge of obtaining the mass attention to your product or service to increase transactional sales.  You can continue with only your sales activities but if you choose that path only, you’re likely to burn out before you can reap the rewards of all your hard work.  You should consider a partner.  Marketing is the partner to sales in driving revenue dollars up!  In today’s highly competitive market, it is essential that sales and marketing work together to develop tools that will (1) deliver a consistent message (2) assist in gaining broader reach (3) facilitate the awareness of products and services (4) gain brand recognition and (5) acquire new customers and drive sales.  Without marketing, only part of these activities may be done and they may not be done on as vast a scale as marketing avenues allow.

Before, during and even after the selling cycle, marketing and sales must work collectively to engage, build, persuade, and close leads.  The companies that will be the leaders of tomorrow will remove the barriers between marketing and sales.  Sales 2.0 companies (Are you a 2.0 Company http://www.busfeed.com/Sales20.aspx) will use the value of both sales and marketing to fuel off each other and create more predictable and sustainable revenue.

So now that we’ve established the importance of both functions and that difficult for one to succeed without the other, the six million dollar question becomes, how do you successfully marry the two?  Well, as with all marriages—very carefully.  It is important that both teams understand the roles and functions of the other and embrace that 2.0 Companies engage their audience with relevant content while building strong relationships.  As social marketing continues to expand, brands are beginning to understand the importance of social marketing on a whole—as one avenue for beginning the sales cycle.  While the role of marketing is to make the sales cycle more of an experience than a process, sales must be willing to utilize the tools developed to aid and close the deal.   One role is not more important than the other; moreover, there is a need for both.  However, communication, sharing, feedback and refinement will be the fuel that propels the 21st century businesses into the 2.0 fore fronts.

Next week:  5-steps in bridging the gap between sales and marketing.

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Defining your Brand – where to begin?

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Kelli

Why is it important to define your brand… well, because it will ensure that your message remains constant ensuring your target understands who you are and the services and/or products you offer.   

Here are some questions to ask in the process:             

  1. What do you do?  It is important to clearly define what you do, what you want others to know/say about your brand and the values your brand offers.
  2. What key words lend texture to your brand?  Dedicated, trustworthy, cutting edge…you get the picture.  As you begin to associate words with your brand, your image will begin to take shape in both your mind as well as your customers.
  3.  Do you have a target audience? Who are you trying to reach? What do you know about them?  Are they male, female, teens, baby boomers…as you identify the key attributes of your customer your brand will begin to take shape as it is molded to the likes and dislikes of your audience.
  4. Have you considered a tagline that expresses who you are? Make sure it is catchy and will grab your target audience!

Defining your brand is no easy 1-4 process. It takes a lot of time, and there is always growth for even a defined brand.  But defining your brand is the first step to developing a marketing strategy—this will be the foundation for all your marketing efforts.   It says who you are just like a person attracting attention with a stand out personality—a well defined brand, with its characteristics and qualities, will grab attention of your prospective clients or customers.

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New Business? We have a package for you.

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Kelli

New Business Development Package – ask about our Brand development program for small business start-ups.  Packages include:

  1. Logo Development
  2. Direct Mail Post Card
  3. Online e-Blast
  4. Company Brochure
  5. Press Release
  6. Tri-fold Brochure
  7. Customized Business Stationary – Card, envelope, letterhead and labels

Let The Execution Group develop a package just right for your business start-up.

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It’s All About the Brand

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Melody

Welcome to The Execution Group Blog.  Here we will develop an open forum regarding brand awareness.  There is a lot to talk about when it comes to our brand; strategies, development, execution and more. We will explore the best brands, … Continue reading →

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