Digital HI™ Technology, SEO, Search Magnet Local™, Social Media and Digital Marketing

A Commitment To Social Media Marketing Follow Through

We have been bad, very bad to tell you the truth.  It all started last November when we started to launch our own branded portal called the Web Marketing Console.  We put all of our extra time and effort into building it out and neglected our blog.  It is actually quite funny that we did this, because we really could have written nearly 8,000 posts about how our  Social Media Marketing really took off.   Here is the first post we have had in a while, but we have picked up a fairly large amount of social media clients in the past seven months so it is only fair that we write about what we tell every new client.  You may think you know how to use Social Media for your business, but it’s more common than not that you have no idea.

Let’s face it, just about everyone now has at least HEARD about Facebook and Twitter.  Most people that we talk to still don’t really understand how to use  them to actually create business… but people have at least heard the term “social media marketing” being kicked around the office in marketing meetings.   The one example that I can think of was a company that really wanted to start their social media marketing off with a bang.  They figured that all they had to do was put their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube logo on their home page and website visitors would be so eager to become their “fans, followers, or in some cases clients” that they never thought about the cardinal rule in Social Media Marketing for businesses- What’s in it for the person they are trying to reach?  Why would someone spend the time reading your posts, tweets, or status updates if they bought a washing machine from you a year ago?  The answer is that they wouldn’t and that is where most businesses fail at social media.

You need to be able to have a conversation with someone online without coming across as a pitchy salesperson.  Giving a fan, follower, reader, or anyone interested in your business personal attention and time is something that is critical to being successful in your social media marketing approach.   Instead of pimping out your business at every opportunity, offer them a tip or something that can generally improve their experience with your product or service.  If you are marketing a mattress store then give them tips on how to sleep better or what types of mattresses may help people with allergies.  If you are an electrician, offer people energy saving tips and ways to help lower their electric bill.   If you feel comfortable having a conversation with your friends and fans, then social media can be a great way for you to connect with not only your current customers, but also people who will take an interest in your product or service.   We’ll leave you with a screenshot from a company we worked with to develop their social media marketing strategy and they continue to be successful almost a year later (and 10,000 more fans on Facebook as well)

Social Media Marketing Company Pittsburgh

One of Higher Images Highly Satisfies Social Media Clients.

Which Search Engine Do You Use?

The new comScore reports just came out and the results are interesting, yet not surprising.   With Bing just being released and the ever popular juggernaut which is commonly referred to as Google, the news that Yahoo has slipped in it’s usage should not have been so shocking.

From ComputerWorld:

With Google and Microsoft Bing taking slightly bigger bites out of the search market, rival Yahoo is hitting a bit of a slump.

Market analysis firm comScore Inc. is set to announce this afternoon that between September and October, both Google and Bing inched ahead. The increases were far from dramatic but at least they saw increases.

According to comScore, Bing’s share rose from from 9.4% to 9.9%. At the same time, Google saw a share bump, moving from 64.9% to 65.4%. While comScore hasn’t yet made all the figures available, analysts did confirm that Google in October saw a 17.4% year-over-year increase.

Yahoo, which remains in second place between market leader Google and third-place Bing, didn’t have such a strong month. Yahoo saw its share slip, slipping from 18.8% in September to 18% last month, according to comScore.

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, Inc., said Google, with steady control of more than 60% of market share, is such a force to be reckoned with that Bing is doing well to make even modest headway.

“Bing has established a position that is, for now, stable,” said Gottheil. “If Bing innovates effectively, it can move forward. It’s in a not bad position, considering Google’s momentum, but there’s nothing happening now to show that it can take share from Google. With Google, it’s not so much about growth any more, but the large number of people for whom Google is the search engine. Google is an ocean liner. It’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot time to slow it down.”

When it comes to Yahoo, Gottheil said the company’s search presence is on a downhill slide that could become hard to control.

“Yahoo’s search engine now is a lame duck,” he added. “Yahoo has been on a long-term decline. The battle between Bing and Google raises awareness about search engine capabilities, and may drive some users to try other products, but basically, Yahoo has not given its search engine users a good reason to stay.”

In September, comScore reported that Bing increased its share of the competitive market by 4.5% between July and August. The new search engine held a 9.3% share of the market at the end of August.

Also that month, comScore noted that Google had slipped 0.1% to hold 64.6% of the market at the end of August.

I Have A Website- How Do I Know If It Is Making Me Money

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me this, I would be able to pay someone to blog for me.  I don’t view it as a client’s fault, they were probably told by a web developer that all they needed was a “flashy” website with some coupons, and they would be good to go.  Unfortunately this is not in any case – true.  If anyone has ever had this happen to them, they can understand exactly what I am talking about.

A website needs to be thought out from a multitude of viewpoints.   How many consumers out there “google” a search phrase like “window installers pittsburgh“  then go to a website to read more information?  If you guessed that it as a good amount- then you have won tonight’s door prize which is a quick FREE lesson in website conversions.  Once they get to the website that they clicked on, then they are going to look thru the website until they find something that grabs their attention and calls out to them.  Once they have found what they are looking for on a particular site, then they make the decision on whther or not they will actually contact that business.  It seems easy right, but what if that consumer wants to look at other businesses before they start to contact them?  You have a de facto phone call answering war to see who they call first and who actually converts that call from an interested buyer into a sale or appointment.  That my friends, is what a website can do for your conversions.  People just don’t automatically call you because they have been to your website and if someone tells you that, you should run in the opposite direction.

If you are looking for a website marketing company that can actually make your phone ring AND — get this — provide you with accountability for your marketing efforts, then by all means- give us a call today 412-203-1996.   Stand Out From Your Competition.

What ATTRACTS more clients? Something Magnetic Of Course- Search MAGNET Local

So many companies out there push the words “local internet marketing” around like everyone understands exactly what they are saying.  Internet Marketing companies talk about “local seo” and “video optimization” like they should be the most understood terms in internet marketing.  Most companies out there understand pieces of internet marketing and are very good at certain aspects of it, but it’s very hard to find an internet marketing company that put together all the pieces that it takes to make an internet marketing campaign work.   That being said, something that we are proud to release is Search Magnet Local.

Making the Internet work for you!

Search Magnet Local, The Complete Business Internet Marketing Solution!

The Internet can be a complex place to do business. There’s search engine optimization, technology, website updates… not to mention how to find out what’s working and what’s not.  Who can you trust to handle your local internet marketing? We’d like to simplify it for you. We’ve taken the mystery out of doing business on the Internet though a unique service that does it all, and delivers on the one objective most business owners have… bringing new prospects and customers to you day in and day out.

You’ll no longer need to jump through hoops when you’re producing a geographically-targeted marketing program… your website, statistics, and the results are all here in one place.

It doesn’t stop there.

We’ll get you placed high in the search results for the most common search terms that people use when seeking a solution to their needs. Search terms that cry out for your products or services.

It’s the way business should be done online.So go to Search Magnet Local and see why you CAN’T afford to go with anything different than SML.  With results that you can track, local SEO built in, and a customizable website that makes you money,  you can’t turn this down.

Frank’s Tire & Automotive – A lesson in negative reviews

My phone rang at 6:40 this evening as I was eating dinner and I let it go to voicemail.  Without even listening to the message, I knew that it was someone I had called earlier in the day by the phone number that was on my screen.  I was looking for  a new auto mechanic near my house and obviously went to Google and searched for auto repair in Pittsburgh and it came back with a list of results.  What I saw was a surprising, if not downright scandalous complaint lodged against a Frank’s Tire and Automotive in Bethel Park which is about 4 miles from my house.   Someone had gone to great lengths to let everyone know that this particular auto and tire shop was the “scum of the earth” and that the owner “scammed  women and people who knew nothing about car repair”  Needless to say, I think we have all seen this before.   The poster decided it would be a good idea to make up fictitious names and email address so that it would appear more than one person was unhappy with the service they had received.  Unfortunately that person misspelled the same word in each of his posts, which further illustrated that the majority of these negative reviews were unfounded.I called the owner back and he let me know right away that he wasn’t interested in discussing anything else except getting those bad reviews off of Google and Yahoo immediately.  Not only  were they showing up all over the internet, but they were costing him money a few different ways.  Take for instance that he not only does magazine and newspaper advertising, but direct mail as well.  How many people do you think will go to the internet and type in “Frank’s Tire & Automotive Repair in Bethel Park “?   Even if it were only one, he was still losing clients and that is not a good taste in any business owners mouth.This presented a particularly interesting problem for a few different reasons.  First and foremost, the person that was making the negative reviews against Frank’s Tire & Automotive for no reason other than the fact that they were posted by an incompetent ex-employee (as mentioned by Frank himself) that had been posting them at a clip of one every six months.  The second part of that equation was the easiest to deal with, because we all know a few different tricks to get the bad reviews to plummet and have better rankings and reviews show up ahead of them.  The last and final part was to accept that some of the reviews wouldn’t go away.  No matter how you look at it, a business owner doesn’t want to read anything negative about their business.  In the end, we have someone who is willing to pay a premium to get his good name in front of prospective clients and customers, and who also doesn’t understand the true power of online review.As we work with Frank to get these negative reviews pushed down the page, we will be providing some tips and methods that have helped us handle some clients reputation management issues in the past.  Check back for an update by this time time next week.