Look Before Your Customer Leaps

Thursday, September 24th, 2009 | Internet Marketing, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | No Comments

Your website is more than just an internet presence with some words wrapped around a few product or service-themed pictures. Think of your website as business’ virtual storefront. Just the same as you would focus on a brick-and-mortar storefront, consider applying the same eye for detail to your website.

When a potential customer visits your website, its more likely than not that they’re visiting via a search engine query. You can guarantee that by the time that potential customer has sorted through the links that have presented themselves on the page and clicked on a particular link, they want to see information that serves their original purpose. It’s your job to look before your customer leaps to that particular page.

Each page of your website should be the best possible representation of your business. Although there’s no winning formula for landing page success, NetSearch Direct customers know that they can depend on the following 5 elements to come together and leave a lasting impression on the visitor:

1) Relevant content stated as concisely as possible.
2) Graphics and videos demonstrating products.
3) Contact information prominently displayed.
4) Fast-loading pages.
5) Put the most important information above the fold.

Although using these tips alone won’t guarantee you extra sales, they certainly will improve the user’s experience when visiting your page. In the end, if your customer can easily read your information, locate what they are looking for, and smoothly navigate your site to checkout or pick up the phone for more information – then it’s a job well done for you.

When you look at your website from your customer’s perspective, the same way you would your storefront, it shows. Review your landing pages to make sure that relevant, up-to-date information is prominently displayed. Your customers will thank you with their wallets.

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Tags: good landing page, landing page, landing page design

Yahoo Search Results Page tries on some Fancy Pants

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | Local Search, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines | No Comments

Yesterday, I opened up the Yahoo Search Page and typed in “home siding Richmond” and was pleasantly surprised.   Yahoo has revamped their Search Results page and while it looks very similar to Bing’s and Google’s Results Page, ‘Imitation is the best form of flatter’ isn’t it?  Its much cleaner and the additional search results on the left side panel that includes top sites with news and info is pretty sweet.  The placement and new design of the sponsored search ads are much easier to read and they have increased their character limit..  Local search maps are also now more evident on search queries.  Yay Yahoo!  Shout out to my homie Dar,  Yahoo Rep from the West Coast…

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Tags: Yahoo, yahoo representative

Community Service at 240 Feet

Thursday, September 17th, 2009 | NetSearch Direct News | No Comments

You know him as one of our top sales leaders and client advocates. Maybe you’ve attended his seminars or webinars, or read his blog content. Perhaps you’ve seen him around town, driving like a bat out of  – well, you get the picture. Our very own beloved Jason Moreau, the one you’ve come to know and love, will be throwing himself off the side of a 24-story building in downtown Richmond, VA all in the name of a good cause.

Jason will be helping out fundraising efforts for the Special Olympics by hoping to raise $1,500 by October 9th. If he makes the goal, he’ll be rappelling down the side of the Suntrust building just in time for the Richmond Folk Festival.

For information about the event, please visit the event website at www.OverTheEdgeVa.com. All donations can be made at www.FirstGiving.com/JasonMoreau. Since every amount given is appreciated for this wonderful cause, there are no minimums set.

Oh, did we mention the mere thought of going down that building sends Jason’s heart racing, gets him all nervous and makes his palms sweat? This is one even you won’t want to miss!

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Tags: fundraising, fundraising event, jason moreau, jason moreau fundraising, jason moreau netsearch direct, jason moreau nsd

The world can be yours: Monopoly on Google Maps

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | Local Search | No Comments

Tomorrow is the start of the biggest Monopoly game ever!  Google and Hasbro has teamed up for a world-wide game on Google Maps.

http://monopolycitystreets.com/

Everyone starts with 3 million dollars which can be used to buy streets on Google Maps.  You can then build a quiet suburb or a bustling city with a football stadium, its regional hegemony at its finest!  Game On!

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Scenester Ads: Hip or Square?

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 | Internet Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Social Networking Sites | No Comments

I just read an article written by Steve Smith for Mobile Insider (which, by the way, is definately worth your click through to read the entire article) where he relayed his tale of being sucked into a mobile marketing campaign while out and about at the movie theater. In the article, he is attracted to a movie poster featuring a bar code and little else except a number where you can send a SMS message. The advertising bait dangling in the poster is too intriguing for Steve to pass up (admittedly, I felt the same anticipation he described when he saw the barcode) and he relays the tale of his movie poster marketing scavenger hunt adventure.

Only it isn’t an adventure at all. It’s more a series of irritating steps, two of them pointless, which lead him in a sort of circle showing a movie trailer. That’s it. A movie trailer. As an advertiser, I can list about ten fundamental marketing truths that this poster and its scavenger hunt violates. As a business advocate, my purpose here is strictly public service.

Why do you care? Because the article paints a picture that everyone in advertising should see – whether you’re the business owner giving marketing authority, or you’re the marketing manager pushing the buttons, or if you’re the one waiting around for your movie to start – just because it’s cool doesn’t mean it works. Yes, Facebook and Twitter are amazing marketing tools and there is money to be made by harnessing the power of these social media marketing darlings. Yes, PPC is a highly-effective marketing solution which can give you incredible analytics and insight into your business’ best (and worst…) products. And of course SEO will provide you with a wealth of insight into not only your business and your website, but also your customer’s behavior patterns. But just because all the cool kids are doing it doesn’t mean your business should be.

Smart advertisers will look at your business from every angle and offer up custom solutions that reinforce your company’s goals.  For those still with me, that sentence contains at least three extremely important parts: “smart advertisers”, “custom solutions”, and “your company’s goal”. Sometimes you’ll get one or a combination of these critical three elements, but rarely do you get the trifecta. The reason that you need all three working for your marketing campaigns is because you can’t afford to invest vaulable marketing dollars into a “smart advertiser” who offers “custom solutions” only to have it serve their purpose.

Next time you’re tempted to display a barcode on a movie poster (or jump into a marketing strategy of any kind), ask yourself whose purpose you’re serving. If you’re signing up for a marketing trend to test the water, we applaud your pluck but caution you to get your feet wet before throwing yourself off the high-dive. There’s plenty of time for that after you get adjusted to the water temperature. Ads that create a scene are like skinny jeans, high tops, and mohawks – they’re not for everyone. And that’s okay.

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Tags: ad trends, advertising trends, internet advertising trends, marketing trends, online advertising trends, ppc trends, seo trends, social media marketing trends