A seemingly great website can offer a poor return on investment if web surfers can’t find it! Business owners who have worked for years to create and polish their product and service, know they must have a prominent on-line presence to compete in today’s market place, but don’t always know how to make their product or service shine online, and attract business.
Many smart business owners recognize that their greatest talents lie within selling service they offer, but not necessarily how to translate that into web traffic. The Internet has many ways that will help you drive traffic to your website and the key is to work side by side with a Philadelphia Internet Consultant to take advantage of what the Internet has to offer.
Where do they go to ensure the best return on web site investment? They increasingly turn to Philadelphia Internet Consultants. There is gold to be found when products are sold through the Internet, and Philadelphia Internet Consultants can be the key to finding it, by driving traffic to a business’s web site, and applying all they have learned to ensuring top return on a web site investment. The best Philadelphia Internet Consultants are partners and collaborators with their clients to come up with a web site solution that is competitive, is consistent with the business message and market they need to attract, engages site visitors, and calls them to action.
A strong web site has a purpose, and requires organization, planning, and time. A Philadelphia Internet Consultant will apply proven strategies to help a business achieve its internet objectives, while freeing up the business owner to concentrate on the business itself. An Internet Consultant will effectively help businesses to improve their on-line presence, take advantage of Social Media marketing, site link exchanges, blogs, and other web site attraction techniques to help prospects find the web site early and often!
The right Internet Consultant pays for itself, saving businesses internal costs, time and labor in the development of a web site, and most importantly attract more business on a global scale than ever thought possible.
Philadelphia Internet Consultantscan test a variety of on-line marketing strategies and email campaigns to various market segments, suggest web site content that is filled with the right key words to ensure online searchers find their site first, and assist with the copy writing and submission of key word laden articles relevant to the business product and service. These steps when vigorously put forth, dramatically improve a web site’s search engine page ranking allowing their web site to be the first found when web surfers are looking for their product.
Philadelphia Internet consultants understand that creating a cost effective website plan, including a well thought out Website Marketing with the ability to measure your results, that ATTRACTS and SELLS is more than a marketing strategy, it’s an art. An art, that lets business owners achieve a prominent on-line presence, and PROFIT.
For the most part, business marketers today know how to use the Internet to attract business...or do they?? Marketers of businesses of all sizes are finding out that developing a great web site is only the first step in a multi step process designed to stand out among thousands of web sites and grab the attention by web surfers. In order for businesses to become the “go to” site for their product and service offered, hiring a Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO Consultant is as necessary as developing a web site in the first place.
SEO means search engine optimization. Simply stated, when you search a search engine for a product or service, a list of sites will pop up, followed by pages and pages of similar sites. The first pages of results are considered the most popular and relevant to the search engine utilized. A Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO expert will ensure that business take the right steps to be found by search engines and web surfers, and that their business sites are at the top, or close to the top of that list.
Internet Marketing & SEO consultants and experts are plentiful right now, so value shifts to finding the Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO Consultant that’s right for you, and your business objectives.
The best Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO Consultants are knowledgeable as to how search engine algorithms promote top search engine rankings within the most popular search engines used on the internet such as Google, MSN and Yahoo. The Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO Consultant you hire, may be responsible for the development and design of your company’s website, as well as optimizing your site so it is found, thru the placement strategic site links, the creation and submission of on-line articles that contain key words used by web searches, and also via pay per click strategies to attract and track visitors to your site.
The world of search engine optimization is dynamic, changing day by day. It is important to oversee the activities of your Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO Consultant, and be a true partner with your SEO Consultant, providing informative and relative content pertinent to your industry that will impact blogs, articles, and relative link. When you hire a Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO Consultant, transparency is the key to avoiding the ones that claim to be SEO experts, but are not. The Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO Consultant should be able to explain the exact steps and services provided to help improve your search engine rankings and attract business on-line., and the associated pricing.
Services may include: article copy writing and submission, case studies, press releases, white papers, pay per click campaign development, social media marketing, blogging, key word tracking, relevant link exchange, email campaigns, creative copy, database development, results assessment and more.
The bottom line is hiring a Philadelphia Internet Marketing & SEO Consultant that you can Trust with your web site. Trust can be earned by examining the track record of the SEO Consultant. Past successes will show how this will relate to your goals. Ask about references demonstrating past pay per click statistics, google ranking improvement, and sales results.
Take time to review the many options available. Don’t rush into the SEO hiring decision. Establish a budget and goals, and by taking the necessary steps to find the right fit, you and your business will profit on the web!
Too many small businesses struggle to determine what it is that they do and who they want to sell to. Not defining a company’s niche is one of the biggest contributors to a company’s failure.Sure, if you ask a small business owner what his company does, he may be to ramble off a quick elevator pitch, but chances are he will struggle to give you a clear and concise description of what his company sells, what his target markets are and how he markets those services.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines niche as: a: place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted <she finally found her niche>b:a habitat supplying the factors necessary for the existence of an organism or species c: the ecological role of an organism in a community especially in regard to food consumption d: a specialized market.
As Judy Sunblade, president of New England Coaching describes it, “defining your niche puts a stake in the ground - it allows you to focus your marketing message and to target the buying motives of that market.” Successful entrepreneurs and small business owners know this and the core of their business and marketing plans are developed around what their niche market is.
Successful companies know this and it is why they survive and grow!Successful salespeople know this and it is why they are consistently on top!
Coca Cola makes soft drinks.Their mission is: “At the Coca Cola Company we strive to refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and happiness, create value and make a difference.”They do not make alcoholic beverages, office furniture or car parts.Sure, they may license their name for a few products which helps their branding efforts, but their core business is being the number one soft drink company in the world.PERIOD!
McDonalds is the number one fast food chain in the world.Their annual reports states “We are delivering simple, easy and enjoyable restaurant experiences for customers.” They sell to families and people on the “go”!If you go into any McDonalds, you will be hard pressed to not see children eating French fries and playing with the toy they just received in their Kid’s Meal.What you do not see are display racks selling electronic gadgets, hardware or books. They know their target market and sell to it!
What is your niche?How do you market to those you have planned to sell to?Are as successful as you had planned to be?Do you want to be more successful?
About the Author:
PUMA Sales Management specializes in partnering with entrepreneurs, professional service organizations and fast growing small businesses to assist them in driving their sales higher through sales and marketing training, lead generation and eMarketing efforts. www.pumasm.com
Lehigh Valley Marketing Firm Continues its Excellence in Website Design and Development
May 1, 2009, Lehigh Valley, PA—Altitude Marketing, Lehigh Valley's fastest growing integrated marketing firm, is pleased to announce the launch of a new website for Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP). From design to copywriting, programming to hosting, Altitude handled the entire project start-to-finish. Visit the website at nep.benfranklin.org.
The leading-edge design and organization of the BFTP/NEP site entice visitors through an innovative "website-within-a-website" technology. This unique feature enables visitors to navigate through the entire site without ever leaving the home page. Deeper information is then available for visitors who want to click through for more details.
"When it comes to finding content, the fewer clicks that a visitor has to make, the better," said Justin Scheetz, senior web developer at Altitude Marketing. "We spend a lot of time up front--before we start designing or coding--making sure the site has intuitive navigation and keyword-rich content to drive traffic and convert customers."
All of Altitude Marketing's websites feature a user-friendly content management system that allows the client to create or remove pages, add text and upload images without any special technical knowledge.
"One of the biggest wishes we hear from our clients is the ability to control the content of their own website without having to pay some web developer to do it," says Stan Zukowski, vice president of Altitude Marketing. "Our content management system makes that possible. And unlike other agencies, we don't charge any monthly licensing fees for the technology." In addition, built-in tools allow clients to control their own keywords and other data that is critical for search engine optimization and marketing.
About the Author:
About Altitude Marketing
Altitude Marketing, located in Emmaus, PA, provides a wide range of expert integrated marketing services, including research and discovery; writing and brand messaging; web design, development and marketing; print and electronic communications; trade shows; and public relations.
Altitude Marketing clients appreciate our "View from 30,000 Feet." We lead with research, analysis and planning and follow with compelling writing, beautiful design, leading-edge technology and cost-saving project management.
Media Contact
Gwen Hoover
Director of Public Relations
Altitude Marketing
1020 Chestnut Street, Suite 201
Emmaus, PA 18049
610-421-8601
gwen@altitudemarketing.com www.altitudemarketing.com
Justin Scheetz of Altitude Marketing Has Won Awards for His Website Designs
Emmaus, PA– March 20, 2009– Justin Scheetz, the Lead Developer at Altitude Marketing, the Lehigh Valley’s fastest-growing integrated marketing firm, recently won two awards for website designs he created, adding to his numerous prior awards. His designs were acclaimed as the "Most Incredibly Outstanding Designs" on ThemeForest.com in January 2009. Two of his designs made the list of top 10 winners.
Contest winners were chosen on the criteria of aesthetics, coding practices, and practicality. “With a successful website, form follows function. Any good design starts with a great user experience, enabling visitors to access information quickly and easily,” said Scheetz, who started working with Altitude Marketing in October 2008.
“Hiring Justin reinforced Altitude’s commitment to excellence in both design and web application development. He has enabled our team to work smarter, more efficiently, and produce results that continue to make our clients successful,” said Marty Desilets, the Director of Technology at Altitude Marketing.
Prior to joining Altitude Marketing, one of Scheetz’s other leading-edge projects was DesignSnack, www.designsnack.com, which allows the public to rate and discuss the quality of design for any submitted website. Using PHP/MySQL and some sweet JavaScript, users can vote, comment, save favorites and more. Today, DesignSnack has more than 5,000 registered members and averages 2,000 visitors per day. The site was recently nominated for a “People’s Choice” recognition at the national highly acclaimed “Pixel Awards.”
About the Author:
Altitude Marketing, located in Emmaus, PA, provides a wide range of expert integrated marketing services, including planning, design, writing, production and ongoing management for print media, advertising, PR, web development and electronic communications. Altitude Marketing clients appreciate our big picture approach to communications. We lead with research, analysis and planning–and follow with compelling writing, beautiful design, leading-edge technology and cost-saving project management.
Media Contact
Gwen Hoover
Altitude Marketing
1020 Chestnut Street, Suite 201
Emmaus, PA 18049
610-421-8601
gwen@altitudemarketing.com
www.altitudemarketing.com
Striking new website is part of multi-pronged visual branding and marketing plan
April 6, 2009—Lehigh Valley, PA—Altitude Marketing launched a groundbreaking new website for their client Healogix on March 5, 2009, as part of Healogix’s greater branding campaign. The crisply designed website has been submitted for design reviews and received five star ratings. The bold design and clean lines make it user-friendly while still being technologically advanced.
Healogix, which does marketing research and consulting for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, recently engaged Altitude Marketing to begin a visual branding and marketing strategy. Altitude Marketing, the Lehigh Valley’s fastest growing integrated marketing and web development firm, delivered positive results. Healogix has seen the upshot stemming from Altitude Marketing’s multifaceted marketing plan which included new print materials and literature, a new website, trade show display and an overall plan of attack for the target industries.
“As a fast-rising force in the pharmaceutical industry, Healogix needed a brand identity that was clean and modern–professional with an edgy attitude,” said Andrew Stanten, president of Altitude Marketing. “Working closely with the company leadership, we developed an eye-catching design gestalt and rolled it throughout their entire creative suite from web to print, all under the tightest of deadlines.”
Altitude Marketing, located in Lehigh Valley, PA, provides a wide range of expert integrated marketing services, including planning, design, writing, production and ongoing management for print media, advertising, PR, web development and electronic communications. Altitude Marketing clients appreciate our big picture approach to communications. We lead with research, analysis and planning–and follow with compelling writing, beautiful design, leading-edge technology and cost-saving project management.
Media Contact
Gwen Hoover
Altitude Marketing
1020 Chestnut Street, Suite 201
Emmaus, PA 18049
610-421-8601
gwen@altitudemarketing.com
www.altitudemarketing.com
Altitude Marketing Instrumental in Landing Business Week Feature for Ben Franklin Technology Partners
Emmaus, PA- Feb. 10, 2009—Altitude Marketing congratulates its client, Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP), on being featured in the February 9, 2009, issue of Business Week in the article "State Capitalism" by Pete Engardio. Business Week recognized Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ efforts to provide funding, business and technological expertise and professional networking opportunities to start-up technology-based companies—creating and retaining jobs in Pennsylvania and paving the way for billions of dollars in economic impact.
Altitude Marketing provided extensive background research, matching the magazine editor’s needs with the right ideas and content from the client. Altitude provided appropriate case studies to persuade Business Week to consider Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the State of Pennsylvania for the article.
Altitude Marketing uses various proactive marketing techniques for its clients and is quick to react when presented with a PR opportunity or to work diligently on a protracted public relations campaign.
About the Author:
Altitude Marketing, located in Emmaus, PA, provides a wide range of expert integrated marketing services, including planning, design, writing, production and ongoing management for print media, advertising, PR, web development and electronic communications. Altitude Marketing clients appreciate our big picture approach to communications. We lead with research, analysis and planning-and follow with compelling writing, beautiful design, leading-edge technology and cost-saving project management.www.altitudemarketing.com
Media Contact: Gwen Hoover
Altitude Marketing
1020 Chestnut Street, Suite 201
Emmaus PA 18049
Technologically Advanced Yet Easy to Navigate Website Brings Excitement and Sales
April 6, 2009- Emmaus, PA- Altitude Marketing planned, wrote, designed and launched an innovative new website for its client EcoTech Marine on April 2, 2009. The cutting-edge website leverages new media marketing tactics to reach customers in a fun and visually appealing design. The website provides detailed product information and tutorial videos, showcases an interactive “find a retailer” application and enhances the communication process between EcoTech Marine, customers and sales prospects.
“EcoTech Marine offers the most advanced reef aquarium products on the market,” said Andrew Stanten, president of Altitude Marketing. “They demanded a forward-thinking website presence that embodies their technologically superior brand. We are delighted to have launched this website as the anchor to the global product rollout strategy we partnered with them to develop and execute.”
For the past year, Altitude Marketing and EcoTech Marine have collaborated on a formal integrated marketing strategy, including tradeshow planning, new product launch, website development, print collateral design, advertising and public relations.
Marty Desilets, director of technology at Altitude Marketing, stated, “Functions such as RSS feeds, how-to videos, multiple in-page content tabs and navigation improve the user experience and bring a technical sophistication to the company’s online image.” Within the first week after launch, site traffic more than quadrupled. Ongoing search engine marketing, search engine optimization and social media marketing are the next steps in driving even more traffic.
Altitude Marketing (www.altitudemarketing.com), located in the Lehigh Valley, PA, provides a wide range of expert integrated marketing services, including planning, design, writing, production and ongoing management for print media, advertising, PR, web development and electronic communications to companies in the Greater Philadelphia area. Altitude Marketing clients appreciate our big picture approach to communications. We lead with research, analysis and planning-and follow with compelling writing, beautiful design, leading-edge technology and cost-saving project management.
Gwen Hoover, Director of Public Relations, specializes in helping entrepreneurial and small-business clients develop their message campaigns through a variety of proven grass-roots approaches.
While I don’t think PPC is a complete waste of time, I also don’t think it’s for everybody. It costs more because you pay for every click on an ad. This doesn’t necessarily guarantee your return on investment; it doesn’t always mean those clicks will convert!
According to a study, 4 out of 5 search engine users report that they never click on PPC results. I can attest to this. I have put on blinders to most ads and I rarely click on those I do see. Most users of the Internet today are pretty savvy. They know an ad when they see one, and only 30% of those folks will actually click on it.
However, there are benefits to PPC programs and paid search certainly can work for some businesses - if done correctly. If your bid for the appropriate targeted key words is successful, you’ll land on page 1 of a Google search. This can drive a lot of relevant traffic to your website all at once. But ultimately this is where usability, good copywriting, and calls to action really need to kick in! You still need to entice and encourage people to contact you or to purchase when they’ve landed on your website.
In summary, a decent balance of good old fashion SEO and internet best practices, in conjunction with a PPC campaign, can drive targeted and qualified traffic to your site.
For more information about organic SEO and internet marketing, contact Marilyn @ phillymarketing AT gmail DOT com or visit http://phillymarketing.wordpress.com.
Do you have a brand new site? How long will you have to wait before it appears on search engines? The truth is, that it could be several months. If you do nothing, it could be years. We offer a couple of suggestions for getting you started on launch day.
One important thing I should mention is that I assume you have a website that is SEO-friendly. If it is completely designed in flash, it is not. If it contains frames, it is not. If it is made up of images, it is not. This will make things a lot harder. I have seen websites that are beautifully designed in flash or frames that don’t appear on any search indexes ever after several years. You couldn’t even find their company name on the SERP’s. The content of this article actually assumes that you have appropriately designed your site. If you’re not sure then it’s best to get an SEO Analysis or Assessment so you can at least begin the process appropriately.
One of the main things you need is to start building a network of incoming links. We’ll tackle relevancy later on but for now, let’s focus on ways for getting sites to link to you.
- Incoming Links (external links) –Significant links are those who have a Page Rank in excess of 3/10 (as determined by the popularity of a website). Yahoo.com, for example, has a Page Rank of 10/10, which is very valuable. Consider getting additional links to your site by submitting to directories that have a high page rank like Yahoo! (Page Rank - 10), Superpages.com (Page Rank - or Dmoz.org (Page Rank -9) to take advantage of valuable incoming links. Some of these are free, others charge a nominal fee while Yahoo! charges $299 for submission to their directory. A better place to start is http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php where you can find a list of directories, paid and free, that could be valuable to you.
- Optimized Press Releases – When launching your website, it’s a great idea to prepare a press release to let people know. If you’re not planning on doing a full press release, we encourage you to consider an optimized press release online. Often more valuable than regular press releases, those that have been optimized can really boost your visibility online. In addition to the increased visibility, we like to select those services that offer the ability to set anchored links. One of these is PRWebdirect.com. Not only is it important to choose your keywords appropriately, but to set your anchored links to offer greatest value to both the user and your website.
Some of these are free, others will charge a small submission fee. Another that we have had great success with is www.arrivenet.com. The key is first of all to write the press release, secondly to set the anchored links and the final one is to add tags below the article.
- Buy Text Links – While you should be careful not to overdo this, there are some benefits at least initially, that you could gain from purchasing text links. One of the more predominant ones is http://www.text-link-ads.com/
- Link Exchange – Another good way to generate links is to tap into your existing network. You may want to consider having a links page set up. While you are probably only offering a 0/10 link exchange, many of your partners would not mind the additional exposure on another site.
- Articles – Positioning yourselves as the experts is the field is not only valuable for your brand but it can also garner some good incoming links. Writing an article on “Selecting a Widget” or “Widget Solutions: Renting vs Buying” can be very useful for generating online visibility. These articles can then get picked up through a variety of sources but should be submitted to as many content hubs as possible. Some of the better ones are: o www.goarticles.com o www.isnare.com o www.submityourarticle.com o www.articlecity.com o www.exchangenet.com o www.article-directory.com o www.freezinesite.com
In addition, there are article distribution services like isnare.com.
- Blog/Forum Participation – one method that can be more time-consuming is to participate in user forums and user blogs. Essentially there are a lot of relevant sites out there to encourage user participation. When adding a post or responding to one, make an attempt to place your signature with a link to your website, preferably using some of your top keywords.
- Pay-per-Click, Paid Inclusion – a good way to kick-start your new site and launch your online marketing campaign is to establish an online advertising program. Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing are two of the first places that should be considered.
- Google Sitemap – Google offers an xml generated sitemap tool that let’s GoogleBot (Google’s spider/crawler) know when your content is updated or pages have been added. Go to www.google.com/webmasters/sitemap and follow the instructions for creating one.
These are just a handful of ideas to get you started. It can be a time consuming prospect but can also be very valuable. You already know that people are out there looking for you or a company like you. Hopefully they don’t find a company like you first.
If you would like more information please see www.DinkumInteractive.com, call Rick Simmons at 267-626-9094 or email Rick@DinkumInteractive.com
About the Author: Article Written by Paul Flemming, Project Manager at Dinkum Interactive
One of the most effective marketing tactics in today’s online world is search engine optimization (SEO). This process allows your website to be placed at the top of search engines like Google and Yahoo! when a search is conducted for a particular phrase.
SEO is so effective for two major reasons. First, 213 million searches are conducted a day, according to SearchEngineWatch.com. That’s double the number of people who watch the Super Bowl, and successfully optimizing a website costs significantly less than a thirty-second ad during that football game. Second, when one of these 213 million people performs a search for a particular product, he or she becomes a very targeted customer. Consider this – if a prospective college student searches on Google for an Apple Power Mac G5 computer, that person is most likely very interested in seeking information on or purchasing an Apple Power Mac G5 computer. Similarly, if a prospective college student searches for “journalism degree in Philadelphia,” it can be assumed that the prospective student is considering going to Philadelphia to study journalism. If your website is optimized for the right keyword phrases, you will receive an influx of highly targeted customers looking for the exact type of product or service your company provides. It will make your sales job much easier.
A typical misconception regarding SEO is that marketers need to know how to code a website in order to take advantage of it. Thanks to content management systems, this is not true.
Content management systems like OmniUpdate, which has a program designed specifically for higher education, allow people to make easy changes to Web pages without ever touching the code. As OmniUpdate says on its website, the company offers “powerful browser-based Web content management systems that enable even non-technical faculty, staff, and students to easily create and edit text, insert images, and create new Web pages without HTML or programming.”
This means that anyone can use a system like this to improve a website’s SEO and receive greater visibility. The two ideas can work together to form a perfect strategy, and the rest of this article will give some examples on how this is possible.
For one, SEO relies on dynamic content, or constantly changing text. The tools that search engines use to determine the relevancy of a Web page like to see content change at least once a month. Having a content management system allows you to do this easily, without having to know the difference between a <b> tag and a </h2> tag.
Dinkum Interactive to create the ideal page titles and meta, alt, and heading tags, but want to constantly update the content of the page, a content management system like OmniUpdate allows you to lock out certain portions of the code. This means that you could change the elements of the website that customers would see without having to worry about altering the SEO code. It would remain protected.
Another unique feature to OmniUpdate is the ability to use PHP and CSS in addition to HTML coding. PHP and CSS are very recent introductions to the online world that add a great deal to a website’s SEO opportunities, but are difficult to learn and cumbersome to deal with. OmniUpdate takes the hassle out of using these new codes by doing it for you, allowing you to focus more on the look and content of the site.
A final benefit to using a content management system is that a marketer no longer has to rely on a Webmaster or tech person to add a link to a website. Having links coming in and going out drastically improves SEO rankings, but it can be frustrating waiting for a busy techie to get around to it. Content management systems, however, allow you to add any links you want at any time, quickly and easily, which will not only improve the functionality of your website, but will improve its SEO.
It may be easy to assume that search engine optimization strategies and content management systems are two separate entities, and, in essence, they are. But the two can be used together to form a very powerful force. Creating the right SEO strategy takes a great deal of marketing knowledge, but many marketers have never learned proper website coding. Content management systems allow marketers to work on a website without having to worry about the code. It gives them the power to create a successfully marketed website without having to rely on other people.
Of course, using a consulting firm like Dinkum Interactive ensures that your SEO strategy is as good as your marketing one, so sometimes it’s good to ask other people for help. But once you’ve gotten your strategy down, you can run it however you like.
About the Author: Rick Simmons, Business Development Manager of Dinkum Interactive
