Whichever category your business falls into, though, social media marketing is likely to become more and more important to your business in the future. Here are just a few of the best tools that can help you grow your social
media marketing campaign.

Monitter
If you’re already using Twitter as a way to market through social media, you need to know what other Twitter users have to say about your business – and your competition! Monitter is a real-time service that checks in on Twitter mentions. You can set it up to find information on mentions of just about anything, like your business and your business’s competitors. Monitter will then set up a multi-column display that allows you to see what people are saying about you. It’s a must-have tool to track what’s being said about your business and the competition, and it can also help you come up with ideas for further Twitter marketing in the future.

Facebook Insight
Automatically a part of your Facebook analytics, Insight lets you track trends and see how your fans are using your Facebook page. With Insight, you can get a section of demographics about your fans, which includes a list of who most often refers others to your page. You’ll also get analytics about the interactions fans have made with the updates on your page. This lets you see what type of content works best to get a buzz going on your Facebook page, who your fans are, and how you can more specifically market to your target audience.

Bit.ly
This is an easy URL shortening tool that gives you automatic analytics on all your social media. A Bit.ly account gives you an analytics suite that will show you historical data, top referrers, and other vital information about where your links are ending up and who is following them through.

YouTube
YouTube videos are easy to create, and they can be a vital part of a great social media marketing plan. If you’re using every form of social media except for YouTube right now, it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. Upload videos of employees giving presentations. Make walk throughs of how to use your products or troubleshoot common problems with them. Give DIY tips that link with your service industry. Many social media users are more likely to watch a video on a topic that interests them than they are to read a blog post, and once you’ve uploaded videos to YouTube, it’s easy to link them with your Twitter feed, blog, Facebook page, and whatever else.

MailChimp
Email isn’t dead quite yet, and in many industries, the email mailing list is still going strong. Whether you already have a mailing list or want to get one started, MailChimp is a great option for you. You can manage a list of up to 500 subscribers for free, and you can integrate your MailChimp with Twitter, Salesforce, and WordPress. Lots of major companies, including Intel and Fujitsu use MailChimp for their email list management!

While many of these tools are free, some require a subscription or yearly fee, especially if you want to get the most out of the service. If you don’t have it in your business budget to upgrade your MailChimp list, for instance, you have a couple of options.

Guest Blog post submitted by Ashyia Hill. Ashyia Hill from CreditDonkey says you may want to take out a small business loan, or you can look at small business credit cards if you need a quicker option that offers a bit more flexibility. Either way, getting credit to finance your social media growth can be a smart move that may pay of tenfold in the long run.

Bounce Rate is a common term in internet marketing, referring to the amount of users who land on your site, only to hit the back button and continue searching or moving on to another domain, instead of searching through the website. There are plenty of factors that are common with sites with higher bounce rates.

It comes down to your website’s first impression, which is the home page in most instances. Once a user is staring at a link to your url at the top of the search results page, your SEO has worked. This is the true test of how ready your site is for prime search engine real estate. The searcher clicks on your link, and is taken to your home page. Will they find what they need right away, and is it easy to navigate through your site to find what they are looking for?

This comes down to the golden rule for SEO, which is to optimize your site for the searcher first, and the search engines second. Remember, the end goal of the SEO game is to bring in new customers and more customers. Having a site that looks like perfect bait for the search engines may get you where you need to be in the rankings, but that’s it, and that won’t matter when staring down the barrel of ROI.

Think about your new customers coming to your site for the first time. What do they want to see? What would you want to see? Simple, easy-to-use navigation is a big plus. Relevant photos used within a clean layout helps. You want a good amount of content of course, as this will attract the search engines. But you also want this content to be well written and in a voice that is representative of your business. The main content on your homepage should be your elevator sales pitch. Having a blog on your site also gives you a chance to update content regularly (an SEO plus) which will let users know that you are updating the site often.

Just as search engines take into consideration hundreds of signals when ranking websites, your potential customers also have their own personal signals; red flags, light bulbs, tastes, dislikes, and etc. that will keep them on your site or cause them to bounce right back in the opposite direction. There is nothing wrong with trial and error. If you are unhappy with your bounce rate one month, shake up your home page a bit. Try adding content, adding photos, reducing some of the businesses, etc. Compare the bounce rate from one month to the next until you see improvements.

The time has come for Google to update its privacy policy, combining 70 separate documents into one, “easy” to read policy meant to appease web regulators and users alike.

Before people get up in arms about “Big Brother” watching all of us, or you chuck another computer in the dumpster; let’s take a second to examine Google’s new policies and what it means for the users of the internet.

To start, the new policy will give Google explicit rights to combine the personal information from different Google platforms (like Google Search, Google Plus, Youtube, Gmail, Google Calendar) from Google users actively signed in to their account.  Searchers will be given results based on past browsing, personal preferences, and searching trends on other Google platforms.  According to a post on Google’s blog, the goal of these changes is to implement a complete, “beautiful” search experience across the Google channels.

Those who have gotten comfortable with Google Plus and the relatively new “Search Plus Your World” features shouldn’t be surprised at this next step. Google is doing everything they can to make your search as personal and precise to the individual as possible. Google search will correct misspellings, make suggestions, and alter your search results based on your previous searches and web activity. As a Google user, you may see your calendar reminders while you watch videos on Youtube. You will see photos from your Google Plus in your Google search.

For those that embrace these changes, you will have a complete, personal search experience using Google’s many platforms. In the video on Google’s blog about these changes, it says it will even be able to tell you whether you are late for a meeting  (calendar) based on your current location and traffic conditions (places). The Future!

For those that do not embrace these changes as warmly, it’s cool. There are ways around it.

You can log out. This uber-personal search experience will only effect Google users actively logged in to their account.

If you love Google but not the new policy, there are ways to change your preferences to keep your Google out of your business. Log in to your Google account, then find your “Account Settings”. From account settings, go to the “Services” section, followed by the “Go To Web History” link. If the web history feature is enabled, you will see a list of familiar sites that you have been to recently.  You can clear this list, and then click to pause the web history, so it will not maintain a list of any sites you visit going forward, even when you are logged in. The whole process takes about 1 minute. Kudos to Google for making this part so easy.

Whether you think of Google as Big Brother  or the best thing since JJ Diner’s The Four Horse-Meals of the Egg-Porkalypse, the new policy goes into effect on Thursday, March 1^st.

Rise and shine fellow marketers, a new day has dawned at Google, and the game is afoot. On January 10^th, 2012 at 06:29AM Google Time, Google quietly announced the arrival of Search, plus Your World . The big G has changed how search results are served up, and in doing so has created an incredible opportunity for those who publish daily content to get better positioning for their efforts.

According to Google, “We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships”. Interesting! As a fulltime participant in multiple social media platforms I have developed an understanding of the strengths and weakness of each. With Twitter you get tweets and about 5 minutes of fame, and if you’re very lucky, a viral retweet ripple that drives traffic. With Facebook you get a rich environment in which to engage your friends, and through Fan pages customers and prospects. As long as you live inside the walled garden you can have a lovely time with either.

But while both are great in their core offering, neither offer decent search results. I follow search very closely for my clients and I am always looking for ways to get their tweets or status updates seen in the big G search results. Over the past two years we’ve watched Facebook and Twitter updates appear in the results for a period of time, and then completely disappear. These messages come and go with little predictability.
Within the walled gardens of search on FB or Twitter we don’t see much better search results either. We often find that in Facebook Search you have to write your query in “exact case sensitive” detail or you get bounced to the Bing results. Google has owned the best search on the planet for years, but the walled gardens block its bots, which prevent it from serving up consistent Facebook and Twitter results.

For instance, let’s say you’re a chiropractor. You’re interested in finding people who are having lower back pain issues. Prior to 1/10/2012, when you do a search on Google for the exact term “my back hurts”, you would get a list of websites that offer to help you with your pain. But you don’t get a list of people who updated their Twitter, or FB status with mention of their pain.

Of course we will all still be tweeting and posting statuses to our friends, but for those of us who work in G+ there is the added benefit that when our friends, business partners, and clients work in G+, everything they post shows up in the Google search results.

There is a wrinkle. To see those results, you have to be logged into your G+ account when you search. But if you’re like most of us who have a gmail account, you’re always logged in and your search results now will be influenced by that little detail.

And so fellow marketers, there you have it. One doesn’t have to think hard as to how this new paradigm will be of benefit for your customers. And while I am hopeful that other results would appear as well from Facebook and Twitter, given the intense rivalry between these companies, I am not taking bets on it happening anytime soon.

This is a guest blog post by Jerry Hilburn. Jerry Hilburn runs a company in San Diego serving the local small business community with business web development, social marketing, and content publishing services. You can reach him at www.san-diego-marketing.com .

For starters, try to think of the internet like a jungle. The Internet has safe places, dangerous places, and everything in between. It has highly useful and informative areas like Wikipedia and Google and it has the not so useful areas such as every cute kitten viral video you’ve ever seen. Yet, all of these things are dependent upon the creative and innovative contributions of webmasters, hobbyists, entrepreneurs and artists all over the world. In short, it’s an organic structure that builds upon itself and is constantly evolving. This has created a vibrant and open atmosphere that is undeniably a source for good in world. SOPA and PIPA are a threat to this organic structure and will inhibit the internet’s ability to innovate and make people’s lives better.

How so? The Stop Online Piracy Act was introduced to the House of Representatives in October, 2011 by Rep. Lamar Smith (R.-TX). Intending to restrict the spread of pirated copyright material; SOPA would bar any advertiser or payment facilitator, like PayPal, from doing business with sites found to have pirated media. It would bar search engines from linking to the site as well as forcing Internet service providers to shut down access to the site. All of this can be done without due process. Also, illegal streaming of pirated material could carry a sentence of 5 years in prison. Opponents of the bill, such as Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, and many other technology companies (including Evolving Interactive) say SOPA would allow the government to censor the internet and moreover, violate the First Amendment.

With SOPA being the main lightning rod for upheaval, the Senate’s version, PIPA, has received less scrutiny and actually may have a better chance of making it through to the vote. PIPA is essentially the same as SOPA except for a few minor differences. In a minor upgrade from SOPA, PIPA lacks the power to tell search engines they can’t index flagged sites. In a glaring oversight, however, PIPA lacks any punitive actions the Justice Department can take against studios for lying about pirated media. As you’ll read later in this article, studios are not immune from lying and being hypocritical in their actions. Both SOPA and PIPA have at least had the DNS blocking provisions removed due to it potentially causing great harm to the structure of the internet. The fact the DNS blocking provision has been removed at least shows promise that there could be room for compromise. But there is much more to compromise upon.

Despite our opposition to SOPA/PIPA, piracy is still a very real problem. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) estimates that the economy loses $58 billion a year and threatens 19 million jobs in the United States due to online piracy. These exorbitantly high numbers have been called into question by a fair share of industry experts, including Julian Sanchez, who believes the loss of profit is closer to $445 million (roughly the worldwide gross for Chipmunks: The Squeakquel).

Regardless of the financial losses, the solutions proposed by SOPA and PIPA won’t get to the root of the problem. Congress has consistently shown that they don’t understand how the internet works. Every time a torrent or P2P site goes down, another five will pop up. If PIPA or SOPA are passed, the estimated cost for tax payers to enforce these laws is $47 million over five years plus the estimated $142 million hit on the private sector for maintaining and enforcing the blacklists. If PIPA or SOPA are passed, the United States will be a player in one of the most expensive games of Whack-A-Mole ever created.

Another central argument against SOPA and PIPA is the rampant hypocrisy involved. For instance, the author of PIPA, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D. Vt.), spoke out against internet censorship in other countries. In March of 2010, he stated, ‘One of the most pressing challenges posed by the Internet is the censorship
of online information. For some time now, we have witnessed the troubling efforts of repressive regimes — such as the governments of China, Iran and North Korea — to censor, or in some cases eliminate, their citizens’ access to information via the Internet.’ Just less than two years later, Senator Leahy is trying to do the very thing he spoke out against: censoring and eliminating the United States citizens’ access to information via the internet.

The hypocrisy doesn’t stop at just the politicians. Just check out TorrentFreak.com’s study on where pirated movies are coming from. Using a map of Hollywood IP addresses, TorrentFreak found that even studios are pirating. Computers from Fox Entertainment’s studio were torrenting films like Super 8, a Paramount Pictures production. It should also be worth noting that when one of their films, ‘X-Men
Origins: Wolverine’, was torrented, the person who leaked it was sent to jail for a year. Even computers from NBC Universal’s studio were torrenting their own intellectual property like the film Cowboys &
Aliens. If SOPA or PIPA are passed, will the studios be reprimanded? Unlikely since piracy is enforced collectively by groups like the MPAA, the studios, which are the backbone to these groups, will likely never be sought after.

In no way is the disapproval of SOPA and PIPA an act of endorsement for piracy. Piracy cuts the blood flow to the entertainment industry, stealing rightful profits from artists, performers, musicians, writers
and more. Yet, the tactics SOPA and PIPA would seek to rid the internet of piracy are draconic and heavy handed. A possible solution is the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN Act). With the OPEN Act, the International Trade Commission would be responsible for the enforcement of piracy, rather than the Justice Department. The International Trade Commission is already tasked with
seeking out counterfeits and forgeries of physical products from the US. Their experience dealing with these kinds of issues and the fact that they are less political than the justice department would make them better equipped to enforce piracy laws. The most positive aspect of the OPEN Act is due process and due diligence when investigating. As opposed to SOPA which would make the Internet service provider shut down the website, without due process.

To raise awareness and protest the proposed SOPA and PIPA, Google has censored their logo and Wikipedia and Reddit shut down their sites for all of January 18th. Countless other signs of protest can be found all over the internet. To add your voice to the issue, you can contact your local Congressman through Google by going here: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

It’s no secret that Google’s main goal for the past year has been integrating their new budding social network with their search results. Anyone logged into their Google account with a Google Plus profile will see a different set of results than a searcher not logged in. Google Plus users will have the option of personal or worldwide results. There is an icon at the top right of the SERP that shows a silhouette of a person or a globe, and the Plus user can toggle between the two sets of results.

Clicking on the person icon, the top results for a search will be based on recommendations, or Plus 1’s, that you and the people in your circles have made, or info that others have shared with you. Results with reviews and pluses will have higher ranking then those without. By switching over to the globe, you will see the natural results without these social signals affecting them as directly.

Google has used social signals as a part of their algorithm for years, with personalized results getting a boost.  Twitter follows, Facebook likes and shares, and Yelp reviews have factored in to results; companies have used this buzz to crawl up the rankings. Facebook and Twitter have criticized this change, citing that Google will give preferential treatment to its own social signals, a claim Google has denied.

Other features to Google Plus, like the fact that users must opt-out of the personal search and not opt-in, have led to concerns among users and SEO’s. However, it is easy enough to switch the results back to the global, impersonalized results. There is even a way to permanently remove the personalized results in the search settings. Concerns about privacy are also prevalent, as anyone with access to private information can share it publicly. It is ultimately up to the user who they share info with, but the receiver can post it at their whim, so know your circles. As with anything on the internet, it’s a good rule of thumb that if you wouldn’t want your content on the web, don’t upload it to begin with.

As Google Plus fixes the issues and bugs that are inevitable as it gains in popularity, it will be important to make the most of its features. As the social signals for sites that have “Plus 1’s” will affect their rankings, it will be essential to have your customers, friends, and followers take the time to “Plus 1” your website. While there are already business profiles in Google Plus, expect them to take an even bigger role in the coming year. Add your business and website to the Google Plus universe, and interact with as many people as you can. While you will undoubtedly hear a fair amount of back and forth criticism as this new platform gains traction, the fact is this is a product of Google, the search engine that typically dwarfs all competition. Even if it is never as popular as Facebook or Twitter, it will have an impact on your rankings, so you’ll want to get on board.

1. Keep up with changes – One of the most valuable tools for me this year has been subscribing and checking in daily with Google’s Small Business blog. In 2011, we’ve had the Panda update, the launch of Google +, a push to develop local businesses, and much more. Subscribe and check in daily to learn about the latest changes that Google is making to (hopefully) make life easier on small businesses.

2. Monthly Brainstorming – Make SEO a priority. Obviously, it’s important. As you look at monthly numbers and reports, think about where you want to improve, and set a few goals in place to get you there (or on the right track) by the start of next month. For example, if you’re seeing growth with a few keywords but are stagnant with others, focus your strategies on some new keywords. It’s going to be more valuable if you’re on top for a wide range of terms. Expand the conversation to include others on your team. Maybe some unconventional ideas will be the shot in the arm you need.

3. Monitor your growth – Think of your most important keyword terms. When you type them into a search engine search bar, what do you see on the results? Are you on the first page? Do some research to figure out how you’re ranking at the start of the new year. There are several tools out there that can help you do this. It’s a good idea to check in with the rankings every month or so to see if you are improving or not. A steady drop in rankings may mean your website has other problems, like broken links or missing pages. Of course, moving up means you’re doing something correctly. Part of the initial consultation we offer at Evolving Interactive is a ranking report for the keywords you pick and we recommend.  If you’d like to know more about SEO rankings and how it affects your business, contact us for a free consultation to get you started in 2012.

And since we’re already on the subject of the new year, all of us at Evolving Interactive want to thank you for keeping up with us at the Evolving Interactive Blog this year. We appreciate your guest blog posts, your comments, and your interest. We look forward to writing for (and with) you in 2012. Happy New Year!

Search engine optimizers live by one motto: “Content is king.” What this means is Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines want to provide the most relevant website for a search, and use a website’s body copy to determine search results. If you own a dry-cleaning business in Chicago, you’d want to be on the first page when a potential customer searches “dry cleaning in Chicago,” or “Chicago dry cleaners” or “best dry cleaning in Chicago.”

These terms are referred to as “keywords,” or “search terms,” and are relevant search strings for your business. You should start by making a list of potential key words and phrases that you think potential customers might enter when trying to find your business. Next, head over to Google Insights and enter some of these keywords. This is a handy tool for showing just how popular a given search term is. After all, there’s no point in trying to rank for a term that never gets searched, right?

Using Google Insights to compare the possible search terms I listed above, I see “Chicago dry cleaners” is by far the most popular. Obviously this is the term your imaginary dry cleaning business should try to rank for. But how do you rank for a term? What can you do on to show Google, Bing and Yahoo that your site is more relevant than others?

Search engines love descriptive, original content, and this is one of the best ways to prove that your site is relevant for the keywords you want to rank for. Write the body copy of your website in an informative, conversational tone, using the keywords you want to rank for in a natural manner. Provide some quality information about your business and why a customer should choose your business over others. It’s also a good idea to make regular updates, edits and changes. This shows search engines that your website is current, valid and operational, and you’ll be rewarded accordingly.

There are a few other things you can work on to further optimize your site. Are you using your keywords in the alt tags for your images? How about in the URL itself, your domain name and your header tags? If you aren’t familiar with these terms, taking the time to familiarize yourself with basic HTML is another good idea.

At the end of the day, effective SEO isn’t really difficult. It’s time-consuming, and you have to be smart about how you approach it, but if you put user experience above search engine optimization, the rankings will follow naturally.

This is a guest blog post from Evolving Interactive featured Blogger, Tyler Moore. A bit about Tyler…

Tyler Moore lives and works in Indianapolis. His interests include blogging, web design and development, marketing, SEO and technology. He specializes in both on and off site SEO, and currently works as an SEO consultant for DocRaptor. DocRaptor is a Ruby on Rails application used to convert HTML to PDF format with a simple HTTP POST request. DocRaptor is a subscription based SaaS with a freemium business model, and handles styling better than competitive services. You can contact Tyler via email at moc.liamgnull@eroomlrelyt.

Link Building – This is one of our premier SEO services for our clients. It’s the strategy (art) of connecting with relevant sites and having them link back to your site because you have something important to share; like an idea, product, or service. Link Building is my #1 favorite lazy day SEO activity. I turn on a movie or play a few albums, and just plug away at the computer. Most of link building is research, and reaching out to websites. It takes a while, but it is the backbone of search engine optimization. Plus, you can get in the zone and make a lot of progress when not distracted with the dreary outside world.

Blog Writing – Considering our last post, you can look for inspiration in anything to promote your website with a new blog post. A grey day is no exception (re: this post). Grab a hot beverage and just write. Try to keep it loose and comfortable. Come up with a few topics you haven’t blogged about in a while, and give a few reminders and updates to your readers.

Social Media Promotions – From a marketing standpoint, this is a slam dunk for local businesses that are social media savvy. In order to get a few extra followers, likes, and shares; target the people nearby passing the rainy day blues in front of their computers. Offer a promotion that will warm them up a bit. For example, “Rainy Day Special – The first five people to repost this on their wall receive two free movie passes, Starbucks Giftcard, etc”. If you’re running a restaurant or local service, you can give away a little something to get people to call you, as well as promote your company online. (I know this is skirting a fine line between being creative and proactive…I’ll fix that)

Organize Your Monthly Schedule – Don’t do today what you can put off tomorrow. While this seems like the ultimate lazy brush off, it can actually be quite helpful. Take a look at what needs to get done for the month in your marketing campaign. Go to your calendar; mark your time for link building, social media updates, blog posts, and more. Get organized, and it will help you when you feel like be more proactive on the next sunny day. I’d actually recommend doing this once and a while anyway, but why not on a day with nasty weather?

Website Maintenance – This is another thing you should do every once in a while anyway, but it can be tedious, so better to get it done without the allure of the great outdoors (of Chicago). Go through the back end of your site, and make sure everything is working properly. Make sure each link on your site is working, that your 404 page is in order, and update your content with some fresh, keyword rich text.

These tips should help maintain your valiant SEO efforts while keeping your occupied mind off of the rain, sleet, and hail of the longest season. Happy internet marketing!