Dear {FIRST_NAME|Valued Customer}
In the forefront of everyone’s mind is the economy. When your business is on the line, you’ve got to know how to strategically market yourself to satisfy customer needs, yet stand out among your competition. Tough times and volatile markets can make for shaky profits if you don’t know how or where to make the best marketing investments. At NetSearch Direct we understand this is a difficult time which is why we’re dedicated to giving back business owners a little peace of mind. This month we’re featuring recession-coping marketing strategies, debunked search engine myths, the most recent stats and trends, and an invitation to our next seminar which is all about navigating your business.

When the Going Gets Tough: The Tough Get Marketing! Strategies for Successful Marketing in a Down Economy. Part I

Is your marketing strategy in line with the economic client? If you’ve turned on your television, surfed the Internet, or read a newspaper, you are fully aware of the tough economic times facing our country. Although we’re not economists, we are Internet marketing specialists. Even if we can’t solve the entire country’s money crisis, we can help your business cope with the current challenges that it faces. Below are recession-coping strategies that you can implement in your PPC campaigns today.

Strategy #1: Streamline your Ad Focus
We have shared this sort of tip before, but this time we want you to focus your ads to target price-conscious shoppers. Most online advertisers know that the best ads contain a CTA, or call to action, prompting the potential customer to click on the ad and cruise their site. Simply saying “Call Today!” or “Shop New Items” isn’t going to get you that click. Today’s online shoppers are looking for the best possible price and ads that promise good deals and great values. Boost your ad’s CTA with phrases like “Lowest Prices Ever”, “20% Off All Dresses” or “All Items on Sale Now” – these are sure to catch a bargain hunter’s eye and make your ad stand out among your competitors. If your product or service is a specialty that you can’t afford to mark down, try demonstrating the value by backing sales with “100% Customer Satisfaction” , “Free Shipping”, and “Money Back Guarantees”. These will make your potential customers feel secure with their purchase.

Strategy #2: Keywords that Pack a Punch
Search engine users are an exhausting bunch. Their search queries are always changing, meaning that you constantly have to adjust your keywords so your ads are shown. Whether you’re making updates for the holiday season or a mid-summer blowout sale, you know that keywords are the catalyst to profits. Although we’re over the holiday season rush, smart advertisers are considering the habits of today’s online shopper and adding “value” to their keywords. Words like “discount,” “clearance,” and “sale” are finding themselves mixed in with user search queries, for example: “discount dance shoes” or “diabetic supply sale.” Analyze your best performing keywords and experiment with various types of value-add words. Your bottom line will thank you.

Fact or Fiction? SEO Tell-All: Myth Busters Edition

Fact: SEO has changed over the years. Indeed, fresh search engine algorithms roll out so frequently it’s obvious that Google programmers are recession-proof employees.

Along with those algorithm changes come SEO changes and strategy evolutions. What worked five years ago may not work today, depending on which article you read. This month we’re here to bust our favorite SEO myths and set the record straight once and for all.

Without meta keyword data, search engines won’t be able to understand what your website is promoting, and you’ll be lost among the rankings. MYTH!
This is a perfect example of how SEO tactics have matured over the years. When meta keyword tags were popular, black hat SEOers spammed the tags and search engines compensated by figuring out ways around the data. Businesses may still want to enter the most relevant keywords about their business in meta tags, but search engine spiders usually ignore whatever has been entered.

Duplicate Content = Duplicate Listings. BUSTED!
One popular SEO trick used to be to post an article or blog on your website, then post it on another website, and so on. The theory was that as users searched for keywords your article prompted, they would be shown your listing three times. Now search engines are especially sophisticated and easily catch duplicate content. Although site rankings aren’t penalized when duplicates are discovered, the search engine will pick only one listing and display that one. We wouldn’t take our chances on this one.

National Statistics

Revolutionizing Social Media

By now you’ve probably heard plenty about social networking.. You may have your own company MySpace or Facebook account, you probably use LinkedIn to network with colleagues, and you’ve seen the articles NetSeachDirect has written highlighting the importance of social media marketing . But – do you Twitter?

Twitter is the latest social media platform to hit it big with students, professionals, and business-owners alike. Everyone is Tweeting about this or that, “following” fellow Twitter users, and using the new social networking trend like the marketing industry has never before seen. It’s widely reported that Twitter followers were the first on the scene to the famous Hudson River plane crash, sending photos and spreading news of one of the greatest landings in aviation history.

Businesses are also hopping on board with the new trend and using the tools Twitter offers to catapult their business popularity. Not only are they getting Twitter users to subscribe to their business profile (known in Twitter as a “follower”), but they are harnessing the platform in ways like performing free market research on new products with “followers” and adding Twitter as a presentation aid by polling followers and sharing their responses. In these two manners companies are able to obtain live research data and instant feedback on any given topic or question – for free.