Sundeep Kapur hosted a session that gave us some great insights on how to create content that is worth reading.

*Create content you can use for interaction.
Publishing content with no intent to create conversation will leave your online presence stale.

* Keep it authentic.
Your computer is a machine, you’re not – the interaction should be real.

* Only push your content to channels that are relevant to your target market.
Don’t just throw spaghetti at the wall to see if it sticks; place your message where your target market is.

* Give your readers simple nuggets of information that they can share.
A tweet is 140 characters, make sure your information is re-tweetable.

*Do not tell people to “Follow You” or “Like You”
Give them a reason to want to.

*When creating print collateral, think of sending readers on an online scavenger hunt.
Direct them to your “hub” with an offer.

*When posting content on Facebook, consider what you would share with your friends.
If you wouldn’t – don’t post it.

Stay tuned for more updates on SES Chicago 2010!

What effective tactics has your company used when creating and posting content?

 Online videos are an effective platform to share valuable information, while providing companies with the opportunity to create hype around their brand. For example, the King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort created a 3D flyover video of their popular Georgia golf course. This innovative video drives traffic to their website, markets their golf course and engages their online community. Check out the video here.   

Online videos are not only an effective marketing strategy; they are also an effective tool for search engine optimization. Search engines are showing videos in their search results, but what you may not be aware of is how many people actually go to YouTube, and other video sharing sites, and search for specific information as opposed to using a search engine. For this reason, it is just as important to stand out from the crowd on video channels as well as in the search engines. Video sharing web sites use tags for search engines to find them. You must include your main keywords in these tags if you want your video to be indexed by the search engines. 

 In order for your videos to be found by the right audience, be sure to research your top keyword phrases and use these in your upload descriptions and titles. Find out what your targeted audience is searching for and then use a keyword tool to identify keywords and phrases that you can really dominate. Keyword research is critical because it will help people find your content and over time will mean increase your rankings. Doing this crucial research and tracking click-thrus and website conversions will only help you to secure your most cost-effective keywords and phrases and boost the visibility of your videos. 

Blendtec, a company that produces blenders. The company received millions of YouTube views and great press for blending objects like iPhones and wood blocks, proving its product was durable. Not a bad way to establish your product’s credibility and get some attention, right? 

But don’t worry, you don’t have to blend objects or perform insane stunts to create an effective video. You just have to build compelling content and use your videos to spread the word to the community you want to target. If your content is compelling, and you promote your videos through social media channels and other marketing and public relations efforts, you can increase your product’s visibility and influence. 

Just remember, the goal of video marketing is to create short, attractive, effective videos based on solid keywords that convert viewers into customers and stand the test of time.  

 Has your company incorportated video marketing into your online marketing strategy? 

AIRHAWK, a comfort seating system for motorcycles manufactured by ROHO Group Inc., announces the March 18, 2010 launch of their website, www.airhawk.net. The Net Impact and XG-ad, a full service advertising agency specializing in print advertising, combined services to create the website design for the comfort seating system’s website, which is powered by the Auctori, web content management system (WCMS) built for search engine optimization.

AIRHAWK’s parent company, The ROHO Group Inc., approached our team to work with AIRHAWK’s print advertising agency, XG-ad, to create the web design for the premium product’s website. We took XG-AD’s Phohotshop design work, and made it web ready before placing it into the Auctori web content management system. The Auctori solution provides AIRHAWK with the opportunity to strengthen their Internet presence and their overall brand reputation by giving users a cutting edge yet professional site as well as the power to maintain their content in real time.

“This was one of the smoothest web launches I’ve managed.  We had the best of both worlds for design and internet marketing utilizing The Net Impact and XG-Ad.  The design is edgy and fresh while the back-end that I oversee is so user-friendly, easy to understand and of course, completely search engine optimized.  These two companies made a great team and in the end, produced a fantastic site that we are very proud of and excited to promote,” said Rebecca Heckert, eMarketing Coordinator, The ROHO GROUP.

Read the Full Press Release!

Join a great lineup of marketing specialists, including Steve Thomas, President of The Net Impact, St. Louis-based Internet Marketing Company, on February 26th, 2010 at Maryville University, for a 1/2 day seminar presented by the American Marketing Association - St. Louis Chapter.  AMA-STL’s annual student conference is well known as one of the premier marketing conferences in the Midwest. Connect with hundreds of students and marketing professionals and learn from the experts at this year’s seminar -  ”The New Decade of Social Relationships”.  Register today!

First a quck case study.  An Internet marketing client of ours, very progressive and intelligent group, leaders in their industry and well recognized nationally were operating a 6 year old ecommerce site that had just become ungainly.  Too many add-ons to the database, too many demands that were unanticipated at time of build and too many new generations of marketing people and IT had taken it’s toll. So, the right decision? Build a new site.  Off the shelf?  No way, too many special needs.  Custom but reusing exisitng platforms, yeah, that’s an option.  Bids for the new site from our team and competitors came in between $30k to $60k.  Expensive?  Maybe.. but for a web content management system that is customized for the exact business needs of a mission critical element, probably worth it. 

For several reasons, the “build it here” syndrome, paying for services when you have staff etc… the decision was made to go internal.  Result? 

• If this had been an outsourced project with a  forecast at the high side at $60k to the high bidder,  timelined to take six months to complete and consume approximately 200 hours of the client’s staff time (say at $100k with full load).  You have six months of disruption and $160k out of pocket for internal and external. 
• As an  internal project it took 2 years to build, consumed a full-time developer and a great deal of IT, web design and marketing team assistance and still didn’t result in the responsiveness that marketing needed.  That calculates into well over $350k of internal costs and a delay of an extra 18 months in getting to market.  I’d like to say that this is an exception but it is not.  This kind of experience seems to be more common than you would think.

Does that mean that it is not possible for a firm to build their website internally as well or better than using an agency?  No, absolutely not.  Plenty of horror stories exist for the alternative path.  Planning, resource selection and scope definition are needed on every project.  With that in mind, either way, inside or out,  there are few things you need to consider if you are planning to replace your site.  Let me share.

1. The first issue is to determine, “Who is this site meant to serve?”  in other words, “Who is the customer?”  In too many organizations there is still a turf struggle between IT and web marketingstaffs.  If your website is a mission critical piece of your marketing, then I am sorry to point out that the marketing department must be the customer. (IT staffers please insert “groan” here.)  The needs for content updates, product promotion, advertising and line extension has got to be where it starts. Your firm will be at a tactical disadvantage if every change, especially content changes and image changes, has to go through IT.  Truth is, most IT staffs really do not want to make the changes. They just don’t want to clean up marketing’s errors. What they tell me is that: “We would rather do it than fix it.”  Can the non-techy marketing team mess up a website?  Absolutely, but with the right platform and training, this won’t disrupt the server side of the equation.  In most enterprise focused WCMS platforms you can build in the proper level of authorities with enough containment to be certain that your content is fresh while the site maintains it’s integrity.  Most also have a life preserver allowing you to roll back to a recent correct instance and just do the changes again.
2. Second thought is, “What technology choice do we make?”  In some cases there is no choice.  Your infrastructure is in place and you will select an approach that fits.  In a cloud environment or SaaS though your choices are wide open.  How about, static or CMS?  It has been a long time since anyone argued the value of a static site over a CMS.  I think that debate is settled for any major player. 
3. Who will maintain the site once it’s built?  That  issue is sometimes, “Which CMS to use?”  I personally have no issue with open source IF a firm has the in-house expertise to maintain a Joomla or .NetNuke site with redundant developers or IF you sign a maintenance contract with the agency that developed your site initially.  Your call.  I will remind you though that there is not a corporate body with open source that is obliged to keep your personalized code and customization in step with new releases and or required web-wide advances.  Once you pull a version off the shelf then it is an obligation of your team or your development partner to keep things running through all of the changes that move the web forward.  Is there a fee for that?  Sure but you are either paying that fee as a service expense or payroll expense anyway.  Your new site will need fixed, debugged and modernized.  That’s how it is.  Plan on it.  If up time is critical then you need a resource.  24/7 support? Inside or outside is up to you.
4. Hardest point of all, “Do we build it here or partner?”  The build-it-here approach is admiarable but usually not a great argument for ROI.  The other questions linger about skill sets, priorities and redundancy.  The solution very well could be to perform all functions in-house if that effort does not challenge other customer centric or high priority projects.  Without redundant and comparable skill sets then you have to ask, “Who gets the B team?” - your clients, your other internal projects or your new website.  Part two of this question is to make certain that the bench strength will be in place in case your ace developer, artist… gets hit by the proverbial bus or a superior job offer.  A sudden change in business fortune can also change your priorities.  If that dreamy project for your top customer finally gets signed you may have a new dilemma, pull your web development team or hire into the new project.  It happens.  Who carries the ball if any of these events come to light? 
5. Often overlooked as well is, “Who manages the project?”  someone has to hold numerous feet to the fire or deadlines fall onto a to-do list next to ‘turn in my expense report’.  I have seen several projects falter because it is not the high priority of a critical task holder. 
6. Is partial partnering an option?  Could your creative team hand off designs to an outside web development team working in an environment that your IT team has proposed?  We do it all the time, and I’m sure other firms do as well.  Your look, feel, branding and functionality requirements built to your specs don’t necessarily require a 100% custom back-end to still give you the responsive machine you want developed in a stable platform that IT will approve and maybe even later support.  How about content and page population?  Often we will build out a sample set of pages and train the client’s marketing team how to populate the rest.  This combines some real hands on training with just in time creativity and also transfers the project ownership to your team pre-launch.
7. Finally, remember that you are building the site for a purpose.  It needs to bring traffic, develop leads, generate sales and build you brand.  All of your post-launch requirements have to be in place.  Can you do the SEO?  Can your team determine and your developer build testing oriented calls to action?  Will your analytics be built in?  Site map prepared for the search engines?  Having a great looking site that no one sees , or even worse, no one converts on, is not the reward for a long project like this.  Who makes sure that the new site is built for driving trafffic, improving conversion and testing for improvement? 

So, I’m already over 1400 words and haven’t explored all the possibilities. Just remember that as you embark on a new site, there should be a set of KPIs you hold the project members accountable for, whether internal or external.  Speed to market, usability, platform stability, ease of support and marketing effectiveness cannot be written off because it was an internal job. Hold your project to a higher standard.  Then decide who to hire.

Like waistlines, websites can get rather soft if you do not keep working on them…  

So here are a few tips on how to whip your website into shape for the new year! (No scale involved) 

1) Blog. Having a blog marketing campaign is a great way to offer your Internet audience a more intimate view into your business. You can share your ideas almost as fast as you can think them up. And, unlike your website, your blog can be a two-way conversation with your visitors! 

2) Add new, relevant content. A stale website is about as inviting as stale bread. Adding fresh content not only gives users a reason to visit your site more frequently but can increase your search engine rankings too. If your site isn’t easy to update, talk to us about installing a content management system, like Auctori.

3) Reach out to your users. This year consider sending an email newsletter. This is a simple way to position yourself as an expert in your field and stay in touch with clients. Email Marketing less expensive than most traditional marketing campaigns.

4) Become a social butterfly. Today it is simply not enough to just have your website optimized; you also need to ensure your company has a strong presence on social media networks. By incorporating social media features into a marketing campaign, companies can create their own brand-focused community that allows for user-generated content.

5) Pump up that SEO! Make sure your keywords and descriptions for all your pages are optimized to their fullest so that search engines and, most importantly, potential clients will be able to find your site.

Why wait any longer to start working on your website’s image?

Contact The Net Impact to learn how we can get your website in the best shape it can be to hit the ground running in 2010!

Wandering what The Net Impact team has been up to? Check out our January Newsletter to find out!

Unidev and The Net Impact are joining forces with the the St. Louis Area Foodbank to sponsor a food drive this holiday season. The canned food drive will be held from December 18 through January 5 at our office in Chesterfield, Missouri.

“Unidev and The Net Impact are looking forward to getting involved with such a wonderful organization. The FoodBank is at the center of a network of charitable people who want to make sure that no one in the area goes hungry, and for this reason, we are excited to be in a position to help those at this generous organization feed those in need this holiday season,” said Steve Thomas, President of The Net Impact.

The St. Louis Area Foodbank has grown to become the bi-state region’s largest non-profit. Through their mission “to feed hungry people by distributing food through partner agencies, and to educate the public about the nature of and solutions to the problems of hunger”, the St. Louis Area Foodbank is on track this year to distribute 20 million pounds of food and personal care items through their network of 500 partner agencies.

Looking for a way to give back to the community this holiday season?!

Stop by our office from December 18th through January 5th, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to donate  canned goods that will help the foodbank ensure they have the needed supply to get through the holiday season! Our office is located at 16690 Swingley Ridge Road, suite 260 in Chesterfield, Missouri 63017.

Learn more about how your organization can benefit the Greater St. Louis Area Foodbank by visiting: stlfoodbank.org

Read the full press release here! 

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all cross the ‘net,
Marketers were hoping, Click-throughs, their site to get.
The stockings were hung by the modem with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas would leave new software.

The retailers were twittering instead of in their beds,
While visions of last minute shoppers danced in their heads.
The online forums were busy with commotion,
as I had just settled down for the latest Facebook promotion.

When in my email inbox there arose such a buzz,
I logged off my Facebook page to see what this fuss was.
Then what to my tired eyes should appear,
But an inbox packed full of late holiday cheer!

O’ how my Google analytics had flew,
So many hits, I didn’t know what to do!�
With visitors and goals increasing so quick,
I knew in a second it had to be the pay per click.

“Now Google, Bing and Facebook searches are mounting!
My metrics are filled with clicks to be a counting!”

Now my search engine rankings on a daily basis fly,
I’ve never had so many potential clients interested to buy.
So many visitors’ my website did attract,
I knew all this online success was due to The Net Impact.

My web design looks great on every PC,
This has caused quite the jump in visit frequency.
TNI knows great customer experience is all in the details,
This is why I am bringing in the sales!

The Net Impact’s wish is this: may your site bring you gold,
And may all of your holiday wishes end up above the fold! 

The Net Impact’s Holiday Gift to You!

Interested in learning more about Google Analytics?

In light of the Holiday Season, The Net Impact would like to offer 2-hour Google Analytics training sessions for only $99. Our specialists will train your employees on the Google Analytics system and on how to use the reporting for success. Training sessions can be arranged as webinars or off-site meetings based upon your company’s needs. Contact The Net Impact to find out more about our training session special and how to take your analytics to the next level!

What’s been going on at The Net Impact? – Check out our December Newsletter to find out!

On November 9, 2009, Gohomebuyer.com, a comprehensive website dedicated to educating homebuyers to make an informed decision when buying a home, launched their newly redesigned website, which was designed and searched engine optimized by The Net Impact.  

“We hired The Net Impact to help launch our new product, Go Homebuyer!. The Net Impact redesigned our website, Facebook page, and assisted in developing a plan to help drive hits to our website. Their level of knowledge about design and optimization was tremendous. Thank you for putting us on the right course for web success!,” said Amanda Pozzo, Real Estate Educate, GoHomebuyer.com.

Go Homebuyer! Originally contacted The Net Impact to help implement a search engine optimization strategy. To create an effective approach, our team reviewed Go Homebuyer! ‘s current web analytics. After conducting a thorough internal site traffic analysis, we developed a plan of action to increase the site’s visibility in search engines and to improve visitor navigation. Go Homebuyer! also utilized our press release optimization service to boost the visibility of their press release, add additional links to their website and  to increase target traffic flow to their website.

When working on the SEO strategy for Go Homebuyer!,  Go Home Buyer! came to the realization that  their website would benefit from a site redesign in order to improve visitor navigation and conversion . In addition to search engine optimization services, Go Homebuyer! also looked to our web design services to boost their online prescence. Our design team created a new website and new landing page structure for the online company, which was then handed over Go Homebuyer!’s in-house developers who  applied the design. To reflect the look and feel of the newly designed website, we also designed a custom Facebook  and launched the Go Homebuyer!’s Facebook Advertising Campaign.

Gohomebuyer.com  offers a variety of online resources covering the most interesting and relevant information in real estate today. This includes a comprehensive suite of online courses which includes video, audio, graphics, activities and much more. Since Go Homebuyer!’s resources are all accessible online, the need for a user-friendly and attractive website is an important aspect to the success of their business.  Our search engine optimization team and web design team were a perfect match to meet Go Homebuyer!’s  online objectives to increase search engine visibility and to enhance the look and feel of their new website.

“We enjoy working with out-of-the-box thinkers like the Go Home Buyer! team.  Their innovate approach to bringing information and education to new home buyers and their  openness to new marketing ideas made this a great project for all parties.  We will follow up with a web analytics review in about 30 days to confirm and challenge aspects of our original strategy.   Any changes as well as additional testing is already in our thought process,” said Steve Thomas, President, The Net Impact.

 The presentation focused on:

-Understanding your Google Analytics Dashboard

-Navigating the Google Analytics report suite

-Defining the metrics that matter most

-Setting up goals to track conversion

The engaging conversation highlighted all of the advantages, latest features and benefits of Google Analytics. One of the topics covered was tracking social media traffic. Erica emphasized the importantance of tracking social media sites on the campaign level to effectively gather and analyze social media analytics.With Google Analytics, you can thoroughly analyze results using the various filters and components Google Analytics offers.  For example, tracking social networking sites will show you social media traffic sources in relation to your overall site traffic. This will in turn give you a good idea of which social media tools are working most effectively for your brand.

Web Account Manager, Erica Sharinghausen leading the discussion on understanding your Google Analytics Dashboard

What is a good bounce rate for my website?” …. “How do I track my Facebook Advertising? … ”What metrics should I pay the most attention to?”

These were just a few of the questions answered “at The Net Impact’s Introduction to Google Analytics seminar, which was geared to introduce business professionals to the basics of web analytics. Erica shared valuable insights on how to utilize Google Analytics to optimize online marketing, improve website performance and increase conversions.  Attendees left with a better understanding of how Google Analytics works and what tools and reports would best serve their individual business.

The Most Important lessons learned from the presentation

- Adjust spending on paid keywords that have high bounce rates

- Identify your problem – unpaid keywords with high bounce rates

- Identify landing pages that need to be more relevant or need stronger calls to action

-Setting up goals to track online success

The Net Impact Team would like to thank everyone who participated in the Introduction to Google Analytic Seminar and we are  looking forward to having many more interesting informational sessions to come!

Check out these great photos and videos from Wednesday night’s seminar!