How to Promote Your Business on Your Facebook Page

If you haven’t yet set up a Facebook page for promoting your business, you might first want to read our previous articles regarding the benefits of Facebook marketing. You can read “Does your Business need a Facebook account?”  and "Why Businesses should embrace Facebook instead of blocking it" for more information about why a Facebook is important for your business.

After you've created a Facebook page and added company information and content, it’s time to consider the possibilities of how best to market your Facebook page and increase your fans, subsequently increasing your brand recognition.

The first step is of course acquiring fans. To begin doing, be sure that you have provided links to your Facebook page on your company website, and in other social networking sites, such as Twitter and Linked:In. Submit a press release announcing your Facebook page. You can also invite people to become a fan of your Facebook page through blog posts, forum posts, and in articles or newsletters.

As you begin to acquire fans, you’ll want to ensure that they stay interested in your page. There are a number of ways to do this, but the most important factor is to consistently provide interested and informative content. Enable your blog posts to feed directly into your Facebook page. Post links to relevant, industry-related news. Offer promotional sales and discounts to Facebook fans, and encourage them to suggest that others become fans of your page as well. Ask your fans to share feedback about your company, or its products and services.

Once you’ve hooked your fans with content, engaging in conversation is a great follow-up. Interaction provides fans with a rewarding visit, and serves to increase brand recognition. You can also send links, videos, photos, or special messages to specific fans. This is great for announcing news or special promotions to specific demographics or target markets.

A number of tools are available to help you group fans into specific categories or demographics, and other tools allow you to gain valuable marketing insight into the habits of your fans when they visit your page, so that you can better determine what they might be interested in.

Additionally, you’ll want to try to include targeted keywords and SEO in the content you post on Facebook, as this will increase your page’s searchability. And be certain to provide links back to your website, and a call to action if relevant.

Using Social Networking to Promote Your Company

Many companies today have strict rules about using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the workplace: sometimes access to these sites is completely blocked. Other companies have embraced social media and social networking sites as a new means to market their products and services and increase brand recognition. In fact, there are now employees or online marketing agencies retained by some companies whose sole purpose is to focus on promoting the company via social networking sites.

While it can be difficult in some cases to balance healthy social networking activities in the workplace versus those that affect productivity in a negative way, it is ultimately beneficial to a company to allow its employees to promote the company, provided certain guidelines are implemented and enforced.

As a manager or owner of a company, you’ll likely find that satisfied employees will promote the company not only in the workplace, but also during their personal time at home, via social networking and social media sites. Provided your employees are aware of and understand the social networking policies developed by your company, such promotion should be welcomed and encouraged. Today’s online marketplace is all about brand awareness and visibility – having a team of employees furthering the cause while off the clock translates to cost-effective marketing with a high ROI.

Social Networking Guidelines for Employees
Allow employees to post links to industry-related information, or announcements about upcoming specials or sales. You might even consider paying employees to do this on an ongoing basis. However, some employees might also take their own initiative and do this anyway during their own personal social networking time at home. While this is generally a good thing, there might be reasons you prefer not to have employees engage in these marketing tactics. Therefore it would be worthwhile to instruct employees as to whether or not these actions are desired, and if you would prefer them to focus on any particular method or means of promotion.

Of course, if using social networking to promote your company is permitted, then the postings or Internet discussions by employees should always be supportive and positive. Additionally, managers should make it clear as to what types of company-related information is permitted to be posted, and what is to remain private information. Posting or discussing the wrong types of information, or even worse, confidential company information, can damage a company’s reputation, not to mention an employee’s career and employment.

A refined example of a company’s social networking guidelines for employees can be found at the Oracle website. Aside from the guidelines posted there, additional suggestions for employee’s efforts to promote their company online include using social bookmarking sites to share articles, press releases, or other industry and company related information. Employees can also share videos, pictures and links, and encourage others to become friends, followers or fans of a company’s Facebook or Twitter account, if applicable.

If your company employs a copywriter or web marketer versed in SEO techniques, it may be helpful to have them instruct your employees about the usefulness of keywords. Employees that promote your company online by using specific targeted keywords when applicable will make it much easier for others to find that information and subsequently find their way to your website. Likewise, including hyperlinks in blog postings, forum postings, or other related means also serves to increase ways in which your website can be found.

For additional web marketing resources, articles, and industry-related press releases, visit the resources section of Active Web Group, Long Island’s leading online marketing solutions company. Additionally, be sure to sign up for their free email newsletter, which offers even more internet marketing tips and information.

Improve Your SEO by Hiring a Copywriter

It is no longer an understatement to say that "Content is King" when it comes to search engine optimization. Your site needs the right articles that can attract traffic and make your sales projections become real. This is not an easy process, because you have to know the right keywords and create anchor links within your articles which can eventually lead to your landing pages. This is where a good copywriter can assist you to achieve high site statistics and improve your SEO.

Here are a few areas where a good copywriter can help you reach your SEO goals:

Site Content
The contents of your site are the criteria that search engines use in ranking your site. Search engines use keywords in determining site ranking so it is important to choose the right keywords and know how to use them properly. The number of times a keyword is included in your site copy should not be too overwhelming, that the reader will find it difficult to understand what you are really trying to say. When optimizing your site, make sure that you use a natural voice and remember that your ultimate goal is to keep your site visitors informed and interested.

Writing Articles
Articles posted in different search engines can help boost your search engine rating. A good copywriter can create unique articles that are based on facts and not hearsay and are easy to read, yet optimized for SEO. Make sure that you include your bio when posting the articles as well as the link to your site to produce inbound links, which can improve your SEO.

Interconnecting Hubs
A good copywriter can help you create several hubs, each with links embedded that lead to your site. This not only increases your web presence, but also helps to improve your SEO. You can then post your hubs in Squidoo or Hubpages which are free web hosts for your content.

Blogs
One way you can improve your linking profile is through a blog. A blog that is updated regularly and has a strong following through RSS will be ranked high by most search engines. Again, content is important for these blogs to attract traffic and improve your SEO.

Content in your site should never be taken for granted, as it is the lifeblood of your site. By hiring a good copywriter, you are assured of a professional service that can achieve your SEO goals and at the same time bring you long term benefits.

Utilizing SEO to modify a Website is just one of the many services performed by Active Web Group, a full-service Internet Marketing agency located on Long Island, NY.

Contact Active Web Group for a Free SEO Analysis of your Website!

Four Important Benefits of Email Marketing

Email marketing is certainly currently one of the cost-effective online marketing solutions favored by Internet marketers and businesses both large and small. Listed below are four important benefits associated with email marketing.

Up-sell/Cross-sell Products and Services - Email marketing provides a great opportunity for businesses to up-sell or cross-sell their products and services. Sophisticated email marketing software allows businesses to easily create a series of email messages (auto-responders) that will automatically follow up an initial email with offers that customers may find interesting, based on previously collected data.

Receive valuable feedback from visitors - Customer feedback is an important tool for any business that allows you to further refine your target market, realize the amount of money your target market is willing to spend, and determine other products and services you can offer.

Encourage web users to make offline purchases - Email marketing often encourages web users to make offline purchases. According to one survey, 59% of email users said that they made offline purchases after receiving an email containing information about a special sale or promotion.

Generate Repeat Sales – Due to increased competition, acquiring new customers is much harder and expensive than retaining established customers. Keeping open communication lines with your established customers on a regular basis through email marketing has been shown to generate up to four times more profit. Two excellent email marketing tactics is sending email newsletters, which has shown to increase repeat purchase frequency from your existing customers, and offering loyal customers a reward, such as a special discount or a promotional freebie.

For a Free Email Marketing Analysis, Contact Active Web Group!

Email marketing is an extremely tricky type of marketing strategy that, if it is not done properly, can work against you. Active Web Group is the leading full service online marketing agency on Long Island, a pioneer in email marketing and website development. We were among the first full-service online marketing firms to blend extraordinary technical expertise with extraordinary design and marketing savvy.

How to Cut Costs of Search Engine Advertising without Cutting Results

When it comes to pay per click advertising it seems that there are those that spend a little and make a fortune and there are those that spend a fortune and make very little. Most of us are aware that those who are successful can find themselves with a very high return on what seems like a brilliant, across the board investment. However, in the face of being realistic we all know that sometimes we just have to find the most fiscally responsible method of advertising.

Pay per Click Decisions

When it comes to making pay per click decisions you have to consider the market, what you have to offer, and whether or not your product or service is even capable of bringing you a great return for your advertising dollar. Not everyone will make a fortune, and it’s wise to know when you should try other forms of advertising. Business suppliers, business to business companies, and highly specialized items don’t always do very well when it comes to pay per click advertising. While you might offer the best restaurant stoves in the industry for your area, pay per click is likely to bring you a lot of homeowner consumers. This demographic will be looking for stoves that are appropriate for their home.

Website Analytics are Worthwhile

Compared to traditional forms of advertising, internet based advertising is very cheap. Consider what it would cost you if your only option was radio or television advertising. That cost alone might be prohibitive enough to prevent you from even having your own business. Yet, because of the exorbitant costs of most media advertising you can usually bet that there is a business owner with a close eye on how well their advertising dollars are serving them.

Perhaps it is because the price tag isn’t forbiddingly high but there seems to be a significant trend among web based business owners. The advertising dollar is spent and then suddenly forgotten about. Many web based business men and women take on web based advertising the same way they take on the slot machines. They toss in their money and then hope for a lucky roll.

Website analytics can help you put in your due diligence, make educated and informed decisions, and then help you draw conclusions about your advertising decisions. In the long run a high quality analytics package can not only save you money when it comes to advertising, but it could literally save your business. Overspending on ineffective advertising, the improper use of keywords, and haphazard advertising can easily be blamed for more than 60% of all failed internet businesses.

Website Optimization before Advertising

There is a connection between your website’s ability to be located on the internet and the effectiveness of your advertising. While many new internet marketers have heard of things like PPC and article marketing, there is a tendency to ignore revving up the site for search engine friendly results.

Keeping your web content search engine friendly not only helps you get found and stay within view of the public, but it also helps to create cohesion between your website and your advertising. Users will be able to tell immediately that the link they’ve clicked is actually taking them to a relevant website. When you’re trying to advertise for less, your website can literally do quite a bit of the work for you.

In order to make your website competitive and to keep it competitive you’re going to have to make sure that it stays visible. You can do this through advertising alone but you’ll find you have much better results when you work your website’s continually updated optimization into your advertising campaign.

What about Budget Caps?

Budget caps are integrated into various advertising programs in order to help keep your campaign within a given budget. On the surface this sounds safe. And it is safe. You will not spend more than you allot when you integrate budget caps into your program. However, there is a significant downside.

The system calculates your budget differently than you might expect. It would make sense that your bids, your keywords, and your campaign would be playing fairly against those without budget caps, but this isn’t true. Just for argument’s sake let’s say you set your budget at $50.

Then let’s say that you have the stars and the moon lining up with you that day and your website link should be in the number two position based on normal calculations. So logic and a sense of fair play would tell us that you should be able to maintain your earned position all day long until you hit your limit. If it took 4 hours to blow through that $50 you might expect to be in the earned position for 4 hours. Then you’d expect you’d pretty much drop out of sight. This is not the way it works at all.

Your budget cap gives the system permission to spread out your results based on the cap. That means even if the sun and moon and stars are all in perfect alignment for you, your site will be listed rather poorly on the results page. It’s much better to make sure that you are able to watch your performance and make adjustments to prevent overspending.

Top Slot Doesn’t Mean Top Earnings

Be wary of trying to bid competitively enough to become one of the “sponsored” listings. Usually, this means bidding very high and it tends to incorporate brand names. Sponsored listings are found either along the side or in highlighted colors at the top. You’ll pay dearly for this position and yet most users ignore these results. They are not considered by most users to be organic results and therefore have less sense of trust from the user. “Sponsored” means to the user that the slot was purchased, and historically these have been seen by the user as advertisements, not web page results. Perception is an interesting thing. By being listed in the top five organic results you save quite a bit on your bid and end up with more visitors.

Don’t Forget the Quality Score

A lot of internet marketers are unaware that the quality score of their ads, which is designated by Adwords, impacts their overall placement. The lower the score is the more you end up paying and yet the less frequent you will find yourself on the results page.

The more you can blend your campaign together with optimization techniques the better your score will reflect. Simply optimizing your landing page can enhance your quality score several points.

Copy Success

We’ve been told all our lives not to copy, to think for ourselves, and to be original when it comes to success. Internet marketing success works backward from that principle. You want to be able to copy the success of others. How do you do this? Simple. Check out the ads that are constantly outperforming everyone else.

You don’t have to become a marketing expert, reinvent the wheel, or create ad copy that is so stellar you are waiting to hear from the Nobel Prize committee. Look at the simple advertisements that are consistently hitting high ranks and you’ll see what you need to do. Adgooroo.com is a simple free site that will allow you to find the relevant information that you need with the simple entry of a keyword. From there, you can build your ads to reflect the same qualities of the most successful advertisements online.

For more information and to speak to someone about cost-effective web marketing solutions and how they can help your business, please visit Active Web Group, Long Islan's leading online marketing solutions agency.

Email Marketing Spending Beating Other Internet Marketing Methods, But is It Working for Everyone?

Beginning with the holiday shopping months of 2009, and continuing through now, email marketing spending has risen significantly for all manner of companies and businesses. Numerous surveys has shown that many companies are utilizing email marketing campaigns or plan to in the near future in favor of other online marketing methods.

But what many of these survey don't detail is how effective email marketing has been for everyone. After all, for every successful email marketing campaign, there are likely dozens that are ineffective, for any number of reasons. These include target markets that are too broad or too lacking, inadequate email messages that fail to engage the reader, or being to "spammy" in nature, to name a few.

An effective email marketing campaign can be extremely cost-efficient and possibly provide the highest ROI for your marketing dollar, but how do you measure your results?

Measuring the results of an email marketing campaign entails planning beforehand. Email campaigns should first be segmented to specific target markets. Second, links in emails should lead to specific landing pages. These factors will help you better analyze the results.

Don't fall into the easy habit of sending email marketing campaigns out into the vast space of the Internet without having some method in place of measuring your ROI. Recent surveys revealed that not only do nearly 39% of companies utilizing email campaigns have no idea what their ROI is or how to measure it, and even 33% of online marketing agencies have no idea as well, which is inefficient, unprofessional, and just plain lazy.

For more information about email marketing campaigns and how best to measure the results, please visit Active Web Group, Long Island's leading online marketing solutions company.

Safe Domain Registration: Avoiding Potential Domain Name Scams

Domain registration is a relatively simple process and one that isn’t expensive at all. Most of the time you can get your domain name for between $10 and $20 annually. Of course, just like everything else on the internet, domain name registration has been opened up to scam artists.

Since domain name registrars are public information it’s not hard for someone to locate your email address and the domain you have registered. This also means that it is not difficult for them to contact you. Most domain scams take place via email, although there have been a few attempts to attract victims via websites. Email is much more anonymous and direct, and therefore it is more likely that you’ll be a victim of a domain registry scam in this fashion.

The basic idea of the most common scam is to convince you that your registration is ready to expire. Naturally, if that were true, you would want to take immediate action so that you could hold onto your success thus far and continue building on it. The scam artists have taken care to create an official looking invoice to encourage you to fix the pending problem right away. Of course, they make it seem as though this is all for your convenience.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the cost for renewal is well above the cost for the initial registration. Instead of $10 per year you will be opening an invoice that is set at ridiculously high prices for the industry. Most victims state the price was around $75 for the renewal. Obviously, those who have paid have ended up having to legitimately renew their registration for their domain name.

Of course, that’s not the only scam you’ll find online. Some are so finely tuned that they technically aren’t illegal. Domain name search engine registration is not the same thing as domain name registration. Official looking emails, professional looking invoices, and selective use of words like “final notice” and “urgent notice” give the illusion that you must take immediate action.

Some of these companies imply or directly state that a merger has taken place and they now control the company. From there, you are supposed to register and handle your renewals through them. If you register through these fraudulent companies the only thing you’re registering is the domain name search engine registration. DomainUSA is the most commonly known company running this barely legal scam. There are others, naturally.

We can’t ignore the infamous emails that are generally coming out of China that are willing to “help you out.” In this scam you are being made aware of “foreign companies” that are intentionally trying to sabotage your online business by buying up websites that carry your domain name and/or your trademark name. In all of their “concern” for the small business owner they want to give you the opportunity to protect your hard work by purchasing these competitive domains and trademarks names so that your brand will remain intact and under your control.

So how do you avoid these scams as well as others like them? There are some rather basic ground rules that can help keep your money actually going into your business and out of the hands of internet criminals.

Start by being aware of the going rate. If you are registering a domain for the first time, be sure to check out many prices so that you will notice when the charges are excessive. Usually you will find the preferred rates through the well known domain registries. Sites such as GoDaddy.com are very well known and only charge about $9 annually. Any time you need to renew or you want to make adjustments go to the site. Never pay for something through an email link. Always hand type the web address into the browser. It’s even better if you have the domain registry site book marked from your initial visit with them.

Know when your domain actually expires. If you paid your annual fee in August you don’t have to pay again until August of the following year if you’re dealing with a reputable company. If someone is trying to tell you that your year is over three months after you registered your domain name you are staring at the largest and most glaring red flag of all.

Unsolicited emails and faxes should always be looked at with great skepticism. It is illegal to contact you in these methods without your consent. Thus, doing business with anyone that ignores the laws for their own financial benefit is usually a good sign of a company with shady standards.

Pre-registration of a domain name can not give you the guarantee of any kind of special treatment. Those who are in the legitimate business of domain name registry aren’t specifically interested in guiding you toward one name over another. Their service is not to help you get ahead in your marketing efforts with a “special and personalized” domain name. Actual domain registry services are a first come, first served business.

Stay informed. Any time you receive correspondence that just doesn’t seem quite right, check it out. Any time a new company is asking you to pay an invoice you know nothing about, research it. Most of the time you can find lists of these scams all over the place. The consumer fraud website of choice is www.ftc.gov. Here, you’ll be able to confirm suspicions, learn about new scams, find answers, and report fraud if it is attempted. Staying informed is the best way to protect yourself against unscrupulous scam artists.

Who has the best Social Media Strategy?

The Social Analyst is a weekly column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

Facebook (Facebook); Twitter (Twitter); LinkedIn (LinkedIn); YouTube; Wordpress (WordPress): these companies, built from the ground-up, are mainstays in social media. None of them were created by a large tech company, and all but one remains independent. Read More!

What do you think?

Internet Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Many people and businesses are eager to jump on the Internet marketing bandwagon in an effort to increase web traffic and sales. However, many do so without researching which methods may work best for them, and how best to properly utilize those methods to reach their target market.

For more insight into the world of online marketing and how best to use it in 2010, read "Internet Marketing Trends for 2010."

A recent article published on PromotionWorld details 7 mistakes to avoid when marketing online. These mistakes include:

Failure to Build a List
Overusing Graphics
Ineffective Sales Copy

Click here to read "7 Mistakes to Avoid When Marketing on the Internet."

Be sure to sign up for our Internet Marketing Newsletter, which offers informative articles, info, and tips for online marketing.

Internet Marketing Trends for 2010

With all of the pundits trying to predict the next online trend and telling everyone that they know what to expect or what they think will be coming down the line. In actuality, the prediction business has never been harder to keep up with, whether the newest online trend will be an expansion to mobile platforms, social media marketing or the evolution of new Search Engine Optimization techniques as this post from SEOMoz illustrates.

Active Web Group recently created an article that focused on what we thought the Latest Web Design Trends for 2010 would be and how they would evolve as the year progressed. Based on that Active Web Group decided to look at some of the latest online trends and what we have identified as what the hottest trends that businesses will face in 2010. Whether it is the creation of a Social Media Marketing campaign, developing an effective E-Commerce campaign, creating a Mobile Website are just a few of the trends Active Web Group can develop for a business looking to meet the challenge of 2010.

Contact Active Web Group for a Free Marketing Analysis for your business!

Mobile Web

If your business is not aware that more people are using smartphones, you should learn quickly and realize that their use is on the rise. However, few businesses have actually developed mobile websites that are designed for handheld devices, such as an iPhone, Google’s Nexus One, etc. The use of mobile devices and the applications available also allows individuals to connect to their social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, etc.

As mobile users purchase gadgets with larger touchscreens and internet browsers, the mobile space will become bigger and small to medium sized enterprises need to jump on the bandwagon. If a business’ website is not accessible through a smartphone application or other handheld device, your visitors will become frustrated and find some other business that does have a mobile website, making you lose traffic and potential sales.

Overall satisfaction between smartphone users and traditional mobile phone users has shown a significant increase among smartphone users, according to a recent J.D. Power and Associates press release.

Satisfaction among consumer smartphone owners has increased by 14 index points (on a 1,000-point scale) from just six months ago, while satisfaction among business owners has increased by 43 index points from 2008 as these devices have become more stylish, customizable and user-friendly.

Among traditional mobile phone owners, overall satisfaction has declined by six index points from April 2009, likely as a result of heightened awareness among traditional mobile phone owners of advanced features available on smartphones.

Smartphones and mobile devices provide individuals the ability to access the Internet and use them the same way a laptop can be utilized, creating an opening for users on the go.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Back in the day, SEO experts would use search engine optimization tactics to get a website on the first page of the search engines. With the coming of 2010, that will become harder due to the advent of personalized and real-time search.

Twitter started the trend when by designing the first real-time search engine. Users that search for a certain term will be updated with the latest and newest “tweets” as they are submitted.

Recently, Google introduced its own real-time search function complete with indexed tweets. Microsoft’s Bing search engine made a deal to show tweets in search results and Yahoo! recently announced that they have struck a formal partnership with Twitter allowing you to tweet directly from your Yahoo! homepage.

This is not to say that businesses should run out and begin a real-time search strategy, it will take some time for users to fully understand and begin to integrate this trend into their everyday lives, but there is real potential here.

The utilization of on-page optimization factors will still apply though Google will start returning results with personalized search and real-time search will surely play a part. The objective for any business is to still get on the first page before becoming a factor in a users personal search results.

Matt Cutts, Google’s head of Web spam, has mentioned that site speed may be a new ranking factor for 2010. Businesses should work to ensure that their website load time is as fast as possible. Some factors should be proper HTML, clean CSS and JavaScript (externalize any code), there are a number of resources that can help you determine how fast your site is:

• HTML Validation
• CSS
• Page Speed Firefox extension
• Closure (compiles JavaScript into compact, high performance code.)

Social Media

In 2009, Facebook and Twitter were the social networks of choice and 2010 will see an even greater surge in their popularity. Both of them will begin to introduce new features, including paid accounts for business.

As mentioned in a previous article, businesses need to pay attention to social networking sites and the trends on these sites. While the article referenced focuses on Facebook, the creation of a social media strategy is not an option. An effective social media strategy is not only vital to the health of a company but also into its ability to develop an online user-base.

As online activity moves towards social media, marketers need to be aware that social media can be used to build brand awareness, develop buzz (will this be trademarked by Google?), and generate leads. In 2010, businesses must adapt to social media or get leapfrogged by their competition.

Online Retail

According to ComScore, the 4th quarter of 2009 marked the sign of positive growth in the year with both retail and e-commerce showing gains. ComScore also stated that a social media is becoming an important driver of commerce, where social media influenced 28% of holiday purchases.

A recent report from FFP Global states that: “online shopping is moving from a transaction mentality to one that embodies discovery, entertainment and social bonding experience.”

The report goes on to list five key e-commerce trends for 2010:

• Smarter Mobility: Smartphones have continued to grow due to their wider screens and applications. Mobile phone and handheld devices will see more applications to help drive ecommerce sales.
• Fulfillment Rules: Retailers will begin to consider “regional fulfillment centers” due to rising fuel costs and the demand for quicker delivery times.
• Customer Service: Consumers will begin utilizing an ever increasing number of communication channels: i.e.: texting, accessing information, free expression, immediate feedback, etc. All of these pose a challenge that e-retailers must take seriously.
• Relevancy is Virally Important: E-retailers are starting to become more than suppliers of goods and services and must proactively develop a personality that market segments can accept. They must listen; actively engage in conversations with their current and potential customers and more.
• Business Intelligence meets Business Process: In 2010, businesses will need to commit to the information in their data banks to create marketing and sales business processes to help provide them a competitive advantage.

According to a recent Razorfish report, "65% of consumers report having had a digital experience that either positively or negatively changed their opinion about a brand." Additionally, "97% of that group said that their digital experience influenced their decision whether or not to purchase a product or service."

Consumers seem to be evolving to the point where the best of both worlds is what they are looking for when it comes to shopping online. They want great service and value combined with an overall smooth transaction from the very beginning of the transaction all the way to delivery of the product or service. Businesses also seem to benefit from having the perception of a direct relationship with the customer that is making the purchase.

Online Reputation Management

Most businesses have a website, but even a business needs to realize that the website could be subject to bad publicity. Any business in the online space needs to realize how fast rumors and allegations can be disseminated in the digital age. Several companies have had their reputations tarnished within hours from the activities of disgruntled employees, a poorly constructed advertising campaign and more.

Online Reputation Management is the process of managing a businesses search engine results and protecting their brand reputation. This involves marketing and public relations management combined with search engine marketing.

Online Reputation Management enables businesses to both protect and manage their brand as well as their reputation becoming actively involved in the outcome of search engine results.

The development of proactive social media platforms along with risk mitigation strategies will become standard fare for those companies looking to protect and enhance their brand and reputation.

Mobile Marketing

According to Mobile Marketing Watch, a recent report published by the UN indicates that mobile subscribers comprise 67% of the world’s population. A recent post on the Huffington Post, Chris Curtin and Bob Greenberg offer a look into the impact mobile will have on business.

Mobile marketing involves the process of marketing to people through their mobile phones or smartphone devices (I know what you are saying, but stay with me). Mobile marketing is slowly moving into the mainstream and small businesses have been slow to warm to the idea of engaging consumers on mobile devices, 2010 looks to have the potential to change that thinking.

With the increasing demand for mobile applications and web-browsers due to the iPhone, Google’s Nexus One and others in 2010, businesses will begin to provide low cost mobile marketing solutions such as mobile websites; location based marketing, mobile e-mail marketing and more.

Web Content/Blogging

The growth of the Internet has allowed businesses to publish their own content about their business or industry. This includes blogs, pictures and even videos. A business blog can be a valuable corporate tool for communicating with customers and employees allowing them to share their knowledge and expertise about their industry and are sweeping across the business community.

Presently, there are a number of blog software programs available for businesses that want to start blogging. The following software companies, Blogger .com, Typepad and Movable Type offer easy blogging tools to get you started in your business blog.

Blogging offers an inexpensive way for business owners to get their company name on the Internet. Simply write your thoughts, link to resources and publish your blog. Updating a business blog provides a business to share their expertise and knowledge with customers and potential customers.