Internet Marketing Blog From Wolf21

On Tuesday I spent the day at Search Engine Strategies Toronto 2009, helping Max Haroon in the Society of Internet Professionals booth, I was was really surprised with the lack of foot traffic coming into the Expo Hall, I mean it was quiet.
During the times while the crowd were in the learning sessions I chatted to some of the other vendors. The common answer I heard was “there was 5 times the traffic last year”.
As I was working in a booth I could attend a seminar for free, so I chose ‘Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic’, last session of the day and it could have potential clients looking for SEO help. I walked into a 300 seater room to see 20-30 people attending, that’s a lot of empty seats and it’s not as though the content was bad, it was very good. The panel ruffled a few feathers with their comments, but they were honest.

What everyone is missing is, this is the time to win in the search engines, whilst everyone else is cutting their Internet marketing budgets and slowing down, your SEO company should be picking up and gaining that hard earned ground in the search results, this will pay off 10 fold when the economy picks up and you are at the top for your key words!

A potential new client emailed us saying that his new website just launched and the web company currently doing his online marketing had been bought out by another business who are ONLY interested in doing web design and he would like to know more about our services.
I almost fell off my chair, what company would ignore Internet marketing? Surely they go hand-in-hand. I mean, who has a website build today that doesn’t want it to be found in the search engines? Or am I missing something?

It gets better…
We had a good look at the potential client’s website, it was build using a custom CMS system, on the surface it looked okay. The web company had a great video showing off how wonderful it all was, drag and drop capability, ease of use etc. Looking at the code we can all pick holes, but the big shock came when we checked with Google.
If you type site:www.yourwebsitename.com in a search box Google will show you the pages it has indexed of the site.
The results showed 325 pages, but this was only a 40-page website!
When we looked closer there were only 3 pages that were actual pages from the website, the other 322 where CMS template problems. We got the client on the phone and showed him, he went silent with shock. We offered some solutions, which he asked to be emailed to him and he would take to the current provider.
Next thing his site is down with an ‘Internal Server Error’. Not a good sign!

Twitter is the new word being thrown around on the street. Why? Because celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Oprah have been spreading the news about the newly loved mico-blogging platform. But as Twitter’s followers grow, so does the fear that this popularity might be the end of it.

As Twitter grows so does the spam community. Spammers are floading the twitter stream with keywords and spammy links. They are creating fake RT’s by tweeting that a certain celebrity or person has tweeted a message so their followers will think it’s legitimate and follow the link which will then lead to spam. The other issue with twitter is that tinyurls hide the real links identity and can then lead anybody to anywhere without you knowing it. Spammers are taking advantage of this and creating unease amongst the Twitter community.

People have found it funny to use hashtags inappropriately especially when it has come to conferences using twitter for feedback or questions. They post inappropriate sayings and disrupt the feed of the conference. Not only are people abusing this but cons and scams are becoming more popular as people are invading Twitter and trying to get money out of people. Identity theft is also a concern as squatters are taking companies names and either misusing them or wanting money for them.

The biggest issue is Trojans and worms. The stalk daily worm attack created by a 17 year old infected many accounts. As people are misusing Twitter, it is slowly killing the popular social media site.

Online Reputation Risk Management

The growth of social media has made it increasingly prudent to monitor your online risk reputation management. A damaging news report or detrimental online review can send your business into panic mode in a heartbeat. Read our latest article on online reputation management to prepare yourself for the inevitable.

Today the question on every companies mind is “Is Social Media Worth It?”. Dominos pizza would tell you “Yes” without hesitation.

Last week a video leaked out of two Domino employees doing revolting things to a pizza. Although claiming to be a hoax, the video got millions of views within minutes as it went viral on twitter and other social sites. The video is currently unavailable due to copyright claims done by one employee, but unfortunately for Dominos pizza the damage was already done. CNN has covered the story as well saying the employees have been sentenced to jail time.

Outraged at the video, people on all social media sites (mostly Twitter) were asking Dominos what was going on and how they would counteract this. Once again, unfortunately, Dominos was not on Twitter to discuss what was going on and how they would make things better. Dominos was doing and saying things but just not covering social media sites.

The President of Dominos pizza in the US did make a you tube video to discuss the measures being taken.

However, Dominos biggest failure in this viral disaster was that it was not on Twitter to pick up what was being said about them. So the lesson of the month is that Social Media is not just about viral marketing but for customer relationship as well. Especially relevant when there is an online crisis!

Realizing this, Dominos has reacted positively and set up a twitter account, which has over 1,000 followers already, and they are communicating about the issue openly. If you notice that their twitter name is dpzinfo it’s because they also failed to secure their company’s name on social media sites (highly recommended) and someone else has squatted on their name.

It seems companies would rather learn the hard way. Social media, although time consuming, can save your company at the end of the day. A good start to recovery by Dominos but they are another example for all companies out there to realize how powerful Social Media is.

View what people are saying now on Twitter about Dominos.

Everyday we are asked to take a look at someone’s website, they all have the same problem, their site can be found in the search engines, but only for their website name eg joesplumbing.com, but they want to be found for what their customers are looking for, eg plumber in Toronto. Joe has spend his hard earned money having a website build it looks great, now he is calling us and we don’t have a great answer. Typically we find that 40-60% of the site needs rework!

The html code is way too bloated, the pages haven’t been optimized, the navigation is using very generic terms and we have to undo what their web guys just finished.

How frustrating, time and money wasting is that!

SEO firms also build websites and build great websites, we know what the search engines are looking for, how to make the search engine spider grab the key phrases and ignore the unimportant information. We understand how to bring the search engines spider back to visit your site on a regular basis, and what information the spiders are looking for so they rank your site for the right key phrases. We know page design, what to present on each web page and how to beat out your competition.

The key to reduce rework is to start with the end in mind, the end result being your website attracting new customers and making you money.

Engage a search engine optimization company at the start, they will build an Internet marketing plan that will have your website found, engage your audience, and be able to give you feedback on what your customers are doing every month on your website.
So don’t fall into Joe’s trap, engage the right people from the start of building your new website.

Creating social media accounts on twitter seems to be the new fad. Twitter has been mentioned countless times on the news and celebrity talk shows. Everyone seems to be flocking towards twitter, especially companies. Businesses want to know how they can use twitter as a marketing tool. Twitter has caught the eyes of bigger corporations such as Dell, Starbucks and even Ford. Not only are these companies using twitter for brand awareness but they have created customer service accounts. Genius, in my eyes.

I was at a conference last Friday hosted by the Oakville Chamber of Commerce and an amazing guest speaker called Theresa Syer of Syer Hospitality Group talked about the customer experience. Syer basically said that the customer experience, the ‘WOW’ factor, is what is important now more than ever in a down economy. Usually when people think of customer service they think of terrible attitude, no acknowledgement and pretty much NO customer service. It’s important that companies train their employees to treat customers in such a way that when the customer walks away they are thinking “wow”.

After hearing her talk, I felt inspired. I thought long and hard about how social media can be that “wow” factor that most companies lack. So many people are on the internet and if companies are not there, there is a disconnect. However, with social media sites (such as twitter) available, companies can create that bridge that brings customers that much closer to companies. I was surprised to read an article this morning about the exact topic! Twitter customer service: the ultimate list of stores on Twitter talked about how companies have one account and that is for customer service. I thought this was brilliant because what better way to create trust than through great customer service.

So now instead of resorting to nasty phone calls and rants on blogs, customers now have the ability to contact the company through their customer service accounts online. This also gives the company a chance to redeem themselves and show that they respect customers who aren’t happy with their services or products and try to correct whatever issue they may have. This is especially great for companies because it shows prospect customers that they are transparent and care about their customer’s experience. It’s a win-win situation.

The Internet can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, at any time and thus has given customers more control than ever before. Being present in social media sites is essential for companies and what better way to “WOW” customers than by providing them with great customer service ONLINE.

TheStar.com’s Tracey Tyler reported on March 14, 2008, Toronto, Canada:

In a precedent-setting decision, a Toronto judge has ordered a man suing over injuries from a car accident to answer questions about content on his Facebook page that is off limits to the public.

Lawyers for Janice Roman, the defendant, in the lawsuit, believe information posted on John Leduc’s private Facebook site – normally accessible only to his “approved friends” – may be relevant  to his claim an accident in Lindsay in 2004 lessened his enjoyment in life.

As a result of the ruling by Judge David Brown of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, Leduc must now submit to cross-examination by Roman’s lawyers about what his Facebook page contains.

What if Mr. Leduc has recent photos of himself running with bulls or climbing Kilamanjaro. Well, this is Canada so he might just be shoveling snow. Still, the images behind the curtain may just indicate that unlike many Canadians, Mr. Leduc was having fun this winter.

Now what? Now his case is dismissed and every laywer in the country will want to have full access to your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.

[Judge] Brown said Leduc can’t,”hide behind self-set privacy controls” on a website that’s all about telling others about one’s life.

The ripple effect from this decision in a small town in Canada could have titanic ramifications. If that doesn’t send a chill up your privacy bone, what will?

Which one sounds more true?

People trust a Robot
People trust a logo
People trust a human being.

Ok so maybe neither really sound the best but let’s put it this way. What is the common theme behind all of the above. Human influence. Humans had to make robots and company logos. Humans are behind everything that we create, especially on the web. So why are we hiding behind fancy designed logos and pictures?
It has been scientifically proven that people like people. A familiar face is far more affective than a company logo when trying to engage in conversation, or anything for that matter. After all, we are social beings. The day we are born we have the innate capability of facial perception, even after many years of no exposure. It’s a fact people forget patterns easily, such as those in logos and advertising, but faces are much easily remembered, “I recognize you from somewhere..” So why don’t companies take advantage of this?

Well, I know a few people have said that when it comes to social media especially it’s easier to designate a logo to a company as opposed to a face because for one, logos are timeless, two, faces age and three, people sometimes change ownership. These pose a problem. So what can we do about it?

Well for starters not all is lost. There are a few options that companies can take into consideration.

1.    FACE: Put a face up. Ok sure maybe you will have to update it every 5 years to show those wrinkles and white hair, but in reality that’s what people want. Humans. Nothing that looks fake or intimidating. A nice big old-fashioned smile in a photo does wonders. It gives relevance and creates trust. It makes a reader think “ Ok I am dealing with a real person and they mean business”. If you are changing ownership, honesty is a great way to keep that trust going. A message to say that the face will be changing won’t affect following, as long as quality stays the same. Big company? Many owners/partners? One picture with everyone in it is still as affective or individually written blog posts (like Wolf21 does).

2.    LOGO:  Ok, so if you really don’t like the idea of a picture, then putting your company logo is fine. How you can make it work for you is by writing your blog in first person. This gives your blog a better feel to it, as if someone is talking and giving information. It adds relevance. A company logo might have reader’s think it’s a bit cold, but by writing in the first person you can add a bit of personality, which will give it some warmth. Once again giving room for trust and that illusion of a one-to-one conversation with a real person.

Make it social, make it relevant.

No I am not saying this to add that shock factor or wow factor. I am actually being serious. Is social media dying slowly but surely?

There are around 3 million users on Twitter. 4,272 of them are Internet marketers, 1,652 are social media marketers. Their jobs revolve around, and rely on, social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace etc. They rely on building trust and conversations around a brand, service or product. What if those conversations were being hindered by Twitter Tools?

Twitterhawk is a new Twitter tool that has been created. Acting almost like Google alerts, Twitterhawk allows you to set up keyword phrases that you would like to be alerted about. So for example if you are a coffee shop and want to receive people’s tweets related to coffee, then Twitterhawk will notify you. Ontop of this, Twitterhawk allows you to create an auto-response to be tweeted about that topic and/or give you a list of potentials that you can choose from. So going back to the example of the coffee shop, if people are talking about wanting to grab a coffee in your vicinity, then you can tweet them saying that you are close by them and that they should drop by. This can just be automatically sent to them, or Twitterhawk will give you a list and you can confirm which ones you would like to respond to (confirm replies). All of this for a tidy 5 cents per tweet sent via TwitterHawk.

Sounds great and harmless doesn’t it? But what happens if you aren’t the only coffee shop around town that’s on TwitterHawk? What if you are a Twitter user and really don’t want 10 tweets telling you were to go for a coffee? What happens if you get tweeted at even the slightest mention of something? For example: I am hungry and want to grab lunch. Will every restaurant around me tweet and suggest their food? What about spammers? Will this scare people away from Twitter?

This can get very scary and overwhelming if everyone jumps on board. The thought of being bombarded with thousands of tweets at the mention of a keyword phrase scares me into thinking social media sites might start to lose the “social” in social media. What happened to good conversations? People on Twitter are already starting to complain about auto-response direct messages, what will their response to this be?  Will social media turn into an auto-response machine?

I don’t think enough thought was put into the potential damage Twitterhawk could have and I don’t think it will encourage new Twitter users and could scare off current Twitter users.

This could very well be the end of Social Media as we know it.

There is no easy way to Social Media. Companies need to realize the value of conversation when it comes to customers, and taking short cuts such as Twitterhawk will not give them any more advantage over their competitors. In fact, I can guarantee in a few months people will be so frustrated with the amount of tweets they will receive because of Twitterhawk that people will actually look negatively upon these companies.
Social media is a tedious and slow process, however, when done properly it can be used as a great advantage!