A little background for you: When you develop as many websites and work on as many SEO or PPC Campaigns each month as we do, you start to document trends. Quickly determining which designs convert, which ones do not — and why that is.

Each and every client has his or her idea about what they believe may best work for their brand or in their niche — and in all fairness, most of our clients have a much better understanding of their own market than we ever will.

What we do have, however, is experience and insight on what an end user responds to.

So here’s a short, quick and straight-to-the point rule on how to get your message across & convert more visitors in to leads or sales:

The #1 Rule — Throw one ball at a time.

Picture this:

You’re standing on a football field, and there’s a group of 10 NFL footballers standing about 20 yards away from you. At the exact same moment, all 10 throw a football toward you. You have 10 footballs hurling your way.

How many do you think you will catch? Chances are, with that many footballs heading toward you at the same time: None.

Now let’s change the scenario:

I’m standing in front of you. Just you and I, and I have 10 footballs in a basket next to me. One after another, I throw a football toward you. Consecutively, one at a time. How many do you expect to catch now? Five? Seven? All of them?

The same can be said about sending a message when a visitor hits your website.

If you attempt to throw dozens of messages, Calls To Action and general bits of information to the end user, chances are; they won’t catch anything.

On average, you have about 3.6 seconds (yes we track these metrics) to capture an end users attention & get them to do what it is you want them to do, if they are bombarded with messages, calls to action & a myriad of different attention grabbing page elements – they’re not going to catch anything, nor do what it is you’re hoping they may do.

Need a real world example? Let’s take a look at our own website.

Less than 30% of all visitors will ever use the scroll bar down the side of your website. If you clutter the top half of your website (considered above the fold) with non actionable content, your chance of a conversion has just decreased by 70%.

Again, you have approximately 3.6 seconds to deliver your message and ask for the sale/lead/action.

Many would argue that the web is interactive, and that the “Fold” doesn’t exist in an interactive medium. We beg to differ, and did the research to prove just that. We’re not alone, either — check out the Browsersize Application published by Google Labs:

1. Visit: http://browsersize.googlelabs.com
2. Type in your website URL in the ‘Enter URL here’ field.
3. Click Go.

The page should refresh, and display a colored overlay. The percentages represent how many users will actually ever see your website. Now ask yourself — what % of users are actually seeing your Call To Action?

Repeat the process, and this time put in our website: www.loveclients.com in the ‘Enter URL here’ field.

Notice where our Value Proposition is positioned? And our Call to Action? That’s above the fold, first thing.

The botton line is, the more visitors that actually get to see what it is that you want them to do, and the less clutter you’re pushing out to them, the more those visitors will actually act.
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To learn more about how the team at LoveClients can assist your business in generating more targeted visitors, and more leads or sales visit www.loveclients.com & initiate a Live Chat with a Search Marketing Expert, 24×7 – 365. We never close.

First: There’s No Flash.

Theoretically, flash could show up on the iPad in the future, but as we pointed out in our article on why we don’t develop in flash, we’re not betting on it. The source code isn’t very well-optimized for mobile smartphones, and Apple is already taking a practical/political stance on the plugin that suggests they’re going to heavily push HTML5 instead.

How does this affect us? Well, for one thing, flash remains 100% non-searchable. If you embed your content in flash, you not only cannot be properly indexed by Google, but you’re increasingly going to miss out on a ton of mobile traffic coming your way, and now on future search traffic from the iPad. If you build a fall-back site for iPhone/iPad/non-flash users, great, but that’s double the development costs and time, and requires you to update across two platforms. While Flash is plenty useful for some things, the fact that it’s not on the iPad is an important harbinger for where search and internet marketing are going in the future.

Second: It’s a New Paradigm.

While everyone was busy complaining that the iPad was “nothing but a large iPod touch”, some key writers online (especially Steven Frank) realized that inherent in that very statement is an entirely new way to think about how we use computers.

We’ve been using what are essentially “swiss army knives” for the last 20 years, and for a huge number of users, that level of functionality is absolutely, completely unnecessary. At the same time that this concept opens up the computer where it doesn’t really need to be open, it also makes computers incredibly complex and annoying for people like our collective grandmothers.

That’s a good metaphor for us — we often re-write clients’ copy in order to cater to a metaphorical grandmother, not because we’re trying to “dumb anything down,” but rather because it means you’re explaining your product in simple but honest, respectful language.

If the iPad becomes that one magical computing device that finally gets the grandmothers of the world onto the internet in greater numbers than they already are — and I already know it is the first and only computer (besides the iPhone) I have ever considered trying to get my own grandmother to use — that will be a massive, massive flow of new users streaming onto the internet.

They are going to be searching for things, and they are going to be buying things, and they will be doing so from their iPads and future iterations of the device. If it is a success, it will bring a mass of people online who are just not going to make the effort otherwise.

Three: It Will Probably Change the Advertising Game.

Both Google and Apple are pushing mobile advertising, and the iPad, for all that’s been written of it existing in the ‘netbook’ class of computers, is likely to be considered more of a mobile device than anything short of the iPhone itself. Hell, it runs the iPhone OS, after all.

That means those same ads that are quietly showing up in various apps right now, in what remains a small-but-about-to-massively-explode market? A huge part of that market will be taken up by iPad clicks.

Personally, I’ve never once clicked on an AdMob ad, mainly because I didn’t want to bust out of my app and see some ad — it just doesn’t seem natural. But if the iPad eventually introduces some sort of rudimentary form of multitasking, or the advertising models take advantage of its new “Popover” UI element, then I’ll probably be singing a different tune.

That means in a few short months, we could be optimizing your AdWords campaigns to be showing up inside the latest and most popular iPad app, where a customized landing page with a format that none of us have even thought of yet will be showing up.

It’ll be an exciting time, and we’ll be there for it.

At Loveclients, we do a ton of work trying to improve our customers’ sites so they make real conversions, and increase their sales, or visitors, or — well, let’s just say we’ve got lots of different clients with lots of different goals, and we’re constantly working to hit them all.

But here’s one thing that’s consistent for all of our clients — if you have good content that leads your visitor towards what you want to do, you will convert them into a customer much quicker.

This is broken down into three things:

1. A Clear Value Proposition
2. A Call To Action
3. An End Result

Whether you’re trying to improve your own rankings or have called upon us to do it, these three fundamentals are worth understanding.

#1: Make a Clear Value Proposition.

You need to tell your customers what you offer. Don’t just blindly list features and characteristics of your product, hoping that one of them will grab the visitor. Instead, explain why this product will fill a need, will solve a problem, or will be necessary in the customers’ life.

Sometimes this means setting up a problem/solution type of proposal, which is quite simple:

1. The customer has a problem.
2. Your product solves that problem.

It works for any business model, but you need to put a little work into it, to make sure your copy reflects — as easily as possible — what your product or service can do for the customer. There are no secrets here — this is exactly what we’ve done with our primary Loveclients page. We know what we do: get small and medium businesses real results online. So how does that fit into this model? Like this:

Problem: It’s hard to increase your traffic and have your site found. It’s complicated, there are dozens of steps, and it takes a lot of consistent work.

The solution? Hire us. Simple as that.

#2: Write A Single Call to Action.

The call-to-action is how that solution becomes a conversion. On our site, we don’t have a massive ‘sign up’ button leading you towards entering your information and immediately starting to work with us.

Sure, that’s our final goal (as it is with any business), but we understand that if that were our main Call to Action (people call it a CTA), we’d have some trouble finding as many happy clients as we do.

Instead, we want you to chat with us. That’s the whole point. By using our ultra-simple chat interface, we can explain our service further, give you honest, transparent advice, and answer all of your questions, all with zero pressure, zero obligation — just easy, clear examples.

#3: Have an End Result.

This one is the most simple — if we do our job right, it means you like what we have to say, appreciate our honesty, get something out of the examples we show you, and sign up for our service. And then everyone is happy!

This is how the system works. It’s not secret advice, it’s just good, common sense when it comes to marketing, and these are the same principles we try and implement on your site.

You Can Implement This Right Now.

Let’s say you’re working on the copy (the all-important text, crucial to increasing the search-ability of your site). But you’re wondering what kind of copy you need to get onto that front page; what exactly do your visitors need to see immediately?

Just keep the three above rules in mind. Build out from them, and not from a lengthy mission statement or press release. Now, if you’re a bigger company, you’ll probably need a full content strategy, as it’s not as easy as just splashing some punchy copy on a front page and letting it do all the work for you — but that’s for another article.

This Literally Works for Anyone.

By pushing this angle, you’ll gain more customers. Conversely, a dense mission statement or pointless front page does nothing for your web presence, no matter what your business is.

Really — we can’t count the number of major corporations who would benefit from this approach. Sure, we know they offer literally hundreds of products and services sometimes, but just take a look at a company like Apple, who really understands clean, clear copywriting — they turn over billions of dollars in business, but their website doesn’t hide behind a complicated corporate ‘front’.

It’s just not necessary.

If your site is one of the main ways your business is trying to make money, or even if it’s only a side channel — follow this advice, and get ready for a real difference in how your visitors respond to you.

photo from flickr user dbdrobot.

Of course this isn’t web or blog content, but rather just business or personal emails we send back and forth. But can we ever use any of it as content for our sites?

Indeed we can.

The Value of Author’s Letters.

I’ve been reading Norman Mailer’s letters recently, and it occured to me that he made dozens of great points, observations, and arguments while writing to friends and editors. This is normal–we often say great stuff in our emails, too (probably not as great as his, but hey).

But it’s not really publishable, per se—it’s generally only great authors who get that privledge, and thank god, because reading through people’s random emails would be an atrocious task.

But what about the few times we do write something truly memorable in an email? An anecdote, a product review, a recounted experience—we send a lot of these things to each other. I tell various stories in a ton of different contexts: flickr captions, google reader shared item comments, my photoblog, and in emails, too.

Many of the best things I’ve ever written are likely buried somewhere inside emails. If I were running a business, surely I’d have sent many good thoughts and observations on my business out to various friends and associates. Keep that part in mind while I tell you a story.

My Friend and his Duplicate Emails (He’s Proud of Them).

I’ve got a friend who admitted to a strange practice: when he tells an anecdote that takes more than a few lines in an email, he’ll often copy and paste the whole thing into other emails when someone asks about it.

After a few seconds of personalization, that second (or third, or fourth) recipient gets the great anecdote too.

Why not just make it into a blog, you might ask? Well, a blog changes things: it’s automatically more public, and it has a frontend that requires more work than just firing off an email. This is changing, of course, but updating a blog still isn’t really as easy—for most of us—as sending an email.

How to Keep Track of Your Finest Email Moments.

So let’s say we want to keep track of our greatest e-mails, those moments of prosodic excellence where we’ve written something truly great and might want to see it again in the future, or perhaps even use it. Is there a way we can keep track of this stuff, and quickly and easily turn it into published content?

Tracking isn’t much of an issue with something like GMail: just create a tag called “content” or whatever you’d like, and any time you notice you’ve written something that might be useful elsewhere, give it that tag. Every once in a while, go through your ‘content’ tag and see what you can find.

Getting All That Good Writing Online, Somehow.

So how do we get it online? Obviously we could just copy and paste it to our blog, but there’s a new service that makes this even better: it’s called Posterous. It’s been catching on recently among a few high-profile bloggers, and its mission statement is simple: blogging through e-mail.

It’s microblogging, much like tumblr offers (they too offer e-mail postings), but with a real focus on posting from your inbox as the primary way of getting content online.

A Practical Way to Make This Work for You.

Let’s pretend you’re running a blog and company website that promotes your independent printing shop.

Every once in a while, you write a great email to a friend, extolling the glories of letterpress, or talking about a new printer you just brought in, or talking about what a pleasure it was to finish a particular job.

As you know, getting interesting content (you don’t send deadly-boring emails, do you?) like that online is invaluable for several reasons:

• it keeps potential customers on your site,
• makes your business far easier to optimize for search engines,
• and increases the chances that other people around the web might enjoy something you write and link to it, thereby greatly increasing your traffic—and potential sales.

So try this out: setup a quick blog on Posterous. They’ve just taken the extra step of not requiring even a sign-up in order to create an account—you can just email their post@posterous.com address directly and within a few seconds you’ll have a subdomain and an account.

Then, every time you write something good in an email, take a few extra seconds to forward that to the posterous email address. You’ll already be in your e-mail client, so there won’t be much of a time commitment to speak of.

Then, just feed the posterous RSS into your main blog (you can do this through posterous or—likely—through your blogging platform too), and you’ve instantly got another way to add content to your site directly from your inbox.

If this Posterous Idea Makes Things Too Complicated, Not to Worry.

I didn’t want this article to sound like an ad for Posterous—we’re not affiliated in any way. But I like the site.

And I was just using it as an example of how simplified blogging tools are getting. What’s really important to take away from this article is this: if you are at all a writer, if your emails occasionally contain great bits of information about your business, life, or anything that might serve you well if published online, take advantage of it! Don’t just let that content be for one person—edit it a bit and put it to work for you.

Lots of people are busy extracting their own little lessons out of Iceland, so I’m going to go ahead and do the same, and tell you that Iceland can teach us three fundamental lessons about SEO. And they’re good, interesting lessons to boot.

#1: Don’t Use Non-Experts.

The first thing Iceland did wrong was use non-experts. The people who were responsible for running their banks were simply not smart or trained enough to engage with the insane complications of international financial engineering. And yet they went ahead and did it anyway.

If guys from a tiny island that’s only existed as a country for the last 50 years suddenly felt confident enough to start purchasing football teams and foreign banks, can you imagine the number of shifty-but-overconfident SEO companies out there, thinking they can make a quick buck in this still-wild-west world of the internet?

So beware. If an entire country can succumb to a kind of collective hysteria driven by people who really don’t know what they’re doing, what’s to stop any number of incompetent amateurs from getting into the make-money-from-nothing SEO game?

#2: You Can’t Make Money From Nothing.

Speaking of which, that brings us to our next crucial part: Iceland was making money from nothing. The lack of serious oversight and the complexity of the financial transactions meant that Iceland was constantly borrowing against its own currency, inflating it, and then reaping the profits.

But there was a big problem with all of this: most of these riches were coming from nothing. They were the ultimate bubble. So when the crisis hit and Iceland’s currency was suddenly devalued, they were left with huge foreign debt and no real way to pay it off.

The same goes for ‘black hat’ SEO companies. We all know what happened to those Icelandic profits—they disappeared in a few weeks. Pay an SEO that sets up an artificial traffic network that Google suddenly cuts off with a simple change to its code, and your ‘profits’ and ‘traffic’ have disappeared overnight, too.

#3: Not Everyone Can Do Everything.

Finally, there’ s the fact that most of Iceland’s banker kings were former fishermen. Pure old school. Nothing wrong with being a fisherman, except that it sometimes means you aren’t the best person for a new, difficult job.

Same goes for SEO: that old-school ad agency desperately trying to re-brand themselves an SEO company might not be the best company for the job. You might like and trust them, but do they really know the new market? Have they done the research, and can they give you the analysis down to the last detail?

Don’t Force Yourself to Ask for a Bailout.

There’s nothing like a huge financial crisis to bring into sharp relief some fundamentally unsound practices that we should all avoid, no matter what context we’re working in.

Online marketing is growing and expanding at a rapid pace. But it doesn’t mean you need to throw your ethics to the wind and jump on-board, whatever the consequences. You might gain some short term cash (or notoriety) at the beginning, but take Iceland’s lesson to heart: there is no substitute for real, hard work. Don’t wake up one morning and realize this painful lesson is still ahead of you: use Iceland as an example, don’t get ahead of yourself, and stick with integrity.

(photos from flickr users traitlinburke, gudmunda, and de-ve. Used under a creative commons license.)

In the end a small businesses with a good leader can swim nimbly through any situation whether it be economic, strategic, demand/supply related or anything else. So without further ado, here are the top reasons why the small fish rules the ocean.

ONE: Small Businesses Are for Everyone!
With low start up rates and your choice of business platforms, ideas, inventions, services and products the internet business world is for anyone and everyone with an idea. Innovative and ambitious folks as young as six and as old as… well, I guess as long as you’re not dead you can start a business. Website tools are designed for beginner and intermediate designers alike making website set up easier than ever. All you really need is a computer, internet and a little extra time on your hands.

Computer Economics Inc. of Carlsbad, CA, calculates that approximately 8% of all teenagers in the USA, or about 1.6 million are making at least some kind of income on the internet.

Young Michael Furdyk was only 10 when he started M&S enterprises with his friend, Sean to teach people in their neighborhood how to use their computers. At 16 he sold his first website, MyDesktop.com, for over $1 Million in 1998. Now 26, he is the founder of TakingITGlobal.org which is run by 15 core staff with the help of 50 contractors and “coordinators”. He also consults for several Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft and advocates heavily for Youth IT and Technology Education. Because Furdyk was able to think big, and go big without actually growing big, he was able to dictate where he put his efforts and resources. He was also able to remain flexible and make a quick profit on the turn around of his smaller, less meaningful projects.

TWO: Inexpensive Start up and Maintenance.
If you’re considering putting your business online, don’t think that it needs to be as big or profitable as Furdyk’s. Many online stores have an even less expensive start up and make their owners a reasonable annual living either as a part-time or full time venture.

Take for instance Jessica Jollota of Biddeford, Maine. She started MySilverCrown.net as a place to exhibit and sell her handmade jewelry and gifts. The website startup/maintenance cost is about $15 per month and the sales it generates act as a nice second income.

Worried about the cost of goods, or that wholesale distributers won’t sell to you because your order isn’t big enough? Even wholesalers who would prefer large orders from big retail names, have to recognize when shelf space is getting tighter as more products fill the market. The internet broadens their customer base instantly so it only makes sense to give small, online retailers a good deal on smaller orders.

THREE: Find your niche.
Big businesses need to diversify in order to keep up with business expenses and sustain their profit margins. Small business owners on the other hand, are able to do one thing really well and make a good living for themselves and then some. There’s always holes in the market that are too small for the large companies to deal with in a cost efficient way. Those small holes can mean big profits for a small business owner who is willing to pick it up

One such example is Jibbitz, those little decorative buttons for the popular Croc Shoes. They started out as a fun arts and crafts project for Sheri Schmeizer and her three kids and were soon in demand all over the neighborhood. They knew they had found a unique niche in the Croc market, so the Schmeizers officially launched Jibbitz and in one year they had sold over eight million of them. Since then, Crocs, Inc. has acquired Jibbitz and Mr. and Mrs. Schmeizer operates the wholly owned subsidiary of Crocs Inc. as the President and CEO.

FOUR: Less Stress in Hard Economic Times.
That’s not to say that an economic downturn isn’t stressful or even possibly catastrophic to small businesses. But, thanks to that maneuverability we talked about earlier, small internet businesses or businesses that at least have an internet presence are more likely to come out of those situations intact at least.

When the economy hits a downward spiral, big companies start downsizing and put most of their effort into saving money. Smaller businesses typically have cost effective strategies implemented no matter what the economy is like. The difference is that many small businesses have less overhead to worry about and therefore are running on a wider profit margin than those big corporations. While the big sharks are worrying about their next meal, the little fish is focusing on developing a new niche or territory.

FIVE: Self-Sustaining and Self-Generating Growth.
The amount of revenue a small business brings in determines the level of strategic growth it will undergo or the amount of cutbacks it will have to make. This “bootstrap” strategy (named for the old saying: “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.”) applies to staffing, outsourcing, physical growth as well as the acquisitions and sales of other businesses.

Most successful small e-businesses only have 1-5 employees along with (possibly) some contract workers. (Wikipedia was a prime example of this for a long time.) When your company starts taking on new projects and revenue then increasing staff to accommodate customer/company demands is reasonable. When times are tough it’s much easier (and ethical) for small businesses to let go of one or two employees if necessary, than it is for large corporations to let go of hundreds or thousands of employees.

This theory also applies to internet marketing, SEO and SEM tactics. Pay-Per-Clicks, keywords and other SEO/M tactics are not only inexpensive, but can easily be adjusted according to which keywords, PPC’s or tactics are bringing in the most visit-to-sale conversions. Although it’s always a bad idea to skimp on marketing, having a revenue-centered plan is always a smart idea so that you never go above your budget line.

SIX: The Anti-Growth Strategy
You’re small, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be picky. Sure, some folks think that they should take on every client that comes their way because “every little bit helps” right?”

Wrong! Customers who aren’t making you a lot of money, don’t pay on time or are taking time away from better paying clients aren’t worth your effort! They can actually take away from your bottom line and make it tough for you to operate a successful business.

This is sage advice for many small business: Don’t grow too fast. Make staying small your growth strategy.

CNNMoney.com did a report in October on a small company called “Incredible Foods” run by Jim Christy. About ten years ago Christy landed Starbucks as one of his new accounts.

“They were opening new stores in northeast Ohio and Pennsylvania in 1998 and wanted me to distribute a single product, a crumb cake.” Christy stated.

I think we all remember how fast Starbucks grew over the last ten years. Christy had to hire two employees just to cover all the paperwork and reports for his Starbucks account. Not to mention the fact that he had to dedicate five trucks for delivery to their multiple locations nationwide, pay for gas, insurance, employee benefits, workers comp and still turn out products for his other clients. Starbucks was generating about 48% of his annual sales. However, Christy was uncomfortable with putting 48% of his eggs in one basket. He felt that by cutting the chord with Starbucks, reducing his staff size from 13 to 6, working out of just one office instead of two and focusing on local markets he would be able to run a stronger company.

It was a risk to give up almost half of his revenue, but he was right for doing it. Last year his company made $2.2 million and he expects a 22% increase in revenue for 2009. Incredible Foods is another great example of a company that had the flexibility to take a risk, stay in control and become stronger by staying small.

SEVEN: More Freedom to Form Strategic Partnerships
Recently Yahoo and Google called it quits on their strategic advertising agreement since it may have possibly brought up some antitrust law issues. Even if corporations can steer around any legal issues that arise with forming a partnership, they still are faced with lengthy approval procedures.

Small businesses don’t have that problem since they aren’t big enough to be a threat to anyone. (At least that’s what we want them to believe, right?) Forming partnerships, whether it be for SEO and advertising purposes or just working on a common project or goal together, can be beneficial for everyone involved. Sometimes all it takes is exchanging a short write up and a links to increase each other’s traffic. Want to make a stir with your partnership? Put it in a press release. You can do it because small businesses have the freedom to create strategic partnerships with whomever (and however) they choose.

April O’Keefe, owner of AOK Herbals in Kittery, Maine, started up her small business for just $5000. Her ability to create strategic partnerships with other locally owned companies is one of her primary marketing and advertising resources – her second being word of mouth referrals from clients. Online, O’Keefe benefits from link exchanges and cross-selling of products and services. Offline, they reap the same benefits in addition to being able to work together as strategic partners with the common goal of educating and empowering their clients and the community they serve.

Because this group of local small businesses is able to stick together and form relationships without government regulation, they are stronger as individual businesses. It is a luxury that big businesses are not always able to enjoy.

EIGHT: A More Personal Approach.
This one is obvious. Small businesses often mean more personal service. Although buying from big businesses can have its advantages, most people are getting increasingly tired of becoming just another sale or number. They want to shop in a place (even online, believe it or not) where they can call or email someone with a question and get a “live” person on the other end. They want quick and reliable service from someone, not some company. You, the business owner, are able to deal with difficult situations and questions directly and immediately. Customers appreciate this and show it with loyalty and referrals.

In the last 5-10 years there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of local economy and small business support. This is why putting an emphasis on your local area in SEO/M efforts is so important. Customers feel that they are contributing to their country or local economy somehow when they know their purchase is from a local or a small business owner. Put your face on the website. Let your clients know who you are and thank them for supporting your local/small business.

NINE: Adapt and Overcome!
There’s obviously an overarching theme here that large businesses lack the flexibility and control that small business owners have. Part of that is the ability to completely change the direction of your business at the drop of a hat. What you’re selling now, may not turn a profit tomorrow.

Today you may be selling friendship bracelets, tomorrow you could be selling ketchup. It’s that easy because you have the flexibility to flow with the market, and enough control over your company to make key decisions quickly without having to consult with anyone else. How, when and why you decide to go from bracelets to ketchup is completely up to you.

TEN: Strategic Marketing
I don’t know if you’ve ever been witness to a corporation who is either

a) Trying to rebrand itself
b) Trying to change their current online marketing strategy, or…
c) Trying to adopt an online marketing strategy… period.

It takes a team of marketing professionals to come up with an idea that has to be approved by some executive or board. Then of course some website designer, copywriter, consultant, board member or manager will always have an objection so in an effort to please as many people as possible they’ll make adjustments. It can take up to 18 months and it’s relatively painful to watch.

What does your small business strategic online marketing plan involve? You and your consultant. That’s it. Your consultant advises you and you make the final decision. The whole thing will take anywhere from 1-30 days to devise and implement. By the time that big corporation implements their strategic online marketing strategy you would have been reaping the benefits of your new online marketing plan for months.

Yahoo! President, Sue Decker stated that “Yahoo! continues to believe in the benefits of the agreement and we are disappointed that Google has elected to withdraw… rather than defend it in court.”

The agreement was an essential step in strengthening Yahoo! Corporation. It would have allowed Yahoo! to step up their investment, growth and general business strategies. Decker stated in a memo to her employees that although the Google deal would have helped to accelerate their strategy for growth, Yahoo! still has other deals and efforts in the works. She also went on to say that this fall-through does not change “Yahoo!’s commitment to innovation and growth in search.”

She cited the improvements that Yahoo! has undergone including “monetization and driving query growth.” Decker also noted that just in 2008, Yahoo! has added and developed new ranking models, index updates and expansion and fine-tuned their overall performance. “Not surprisingly, we are seeing results, with the company benefitting from strong RPS gains, as discussed in our Q3 earnings call. Further, we are adding search and contextual ad functionalities on a regular basis.”

At a 2.0 conference in San Francisco, there were questions about whether Yahoo! would allow Microsoft to purchase it under the current circumstances. Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang replied, “There’s no new news.” But he also stated that buying Yahoo! at the right price would be the best thing Microsoft could possibly do right now. When asked about a possible purchase of AOL, Yang said that he couldn’t talk about it.

Yang did however talk about his commitment to Yahoo!. “I don’t take my position lightly. It’s a very serious obligation… There has been a lot of change, a lot of people coming and leaving, but the plans we’ve tried to execute against have been done and I’m extremely proud…”

Despite their disappointment, execs at Yahoo! seem to be incredibly optimistic and seem to plan on moving forward aggressively. According to Decker’s memo, Yahoo! is stepping up the “efforts to create a more open, efficient and effective marketplace…” This will mean new tools designed for easier interaction between users, advertisers and publishers. Yahoo! also has plans to lead the way in cutting edge technology advances in order to provide better products, services and platforms for customers. As consumers, business owners, marketing professionals and developers we’ll just have to wait and see where Yahoo! really decides to go from here.

You are a part of one or have seen heaps of buzz about them. Social networks are here to stay and are only going to get bigger.

From an advertiser’s perspective it’s pretty hard to grab someone’s attention and keep them focused on your adverts. So many times have I seen companies pour millions of dollars down the drain on social network advertising, in the hope that people will buy their products or services?

So why doesn’t advertising work on social networks?

All the online marketing gurus say it’s about building brand awareness, and it is to some extent. But if you have been in the business long enough, you’ll know that measuring brand effectiveness can be very expensive and time consuming. There are a lot of companies out there that provide these services such as Nielson Buzz Metrics, but be warned – only if you’re willing to spend the big bucks.
Don’t get me wrong, BRAND is important, but like any sales or marketing person will say “Show me the money!”

So how can we leverage off social networks and actually take some ROI?

I have a theory and as cliché as it might sound, it’s about getting personal and understanding the “4 core elements” of personality groups and targeting them based on their characteristics.

If you are a marketer or not, most companies target their databases into areas that are functional, beneficial and emotionally appealing – which is mostly known as the value proposition. But before that is concluded they break their databases down into segments which are usually based on primary and secondary research.

Online segmentation is however measured differently as other elements come into play such as time spent, bounce rates, etc. This can be very difficult to do and is also extremely time consuming.
But what if there were another way to segment and target a core set of consumers online based on your value proposition? I believe you can – through social networks.

I strongly believe that the future of online targeting will be based on a person’s characteristics.

Here are some advantages:

• Personalised communication strategies for campaigns
• Greater understanding of behavioural patterns
• Making each experience relevant, personal and engaging

Now here comes the cliché part, based on astrology (I know, for all you men out here banging your heads against the wall, there is some logic behind this) you can “assume” all people share common characteristics based on their element sign.

These are broken down into 4 elements:

• Fire = Leo, Aries & Sagittarius
Are known to be; irresponsible, impatient, boastful, positive, extraverted, active, creative, ingenious, dynamic, highly energetic, outspoken, fiery temper, passionate, emotionally intense

• Water = Scorpio, Cancer, Pisces
Are known to be; deeply intuitive, imaginative, emotional, reserved, not gregarious, exceedingly passionate, self pity, sensitive, pessimistic, overly vague, secretive

• Earth = Capricorn, Virgo, Taurus
As known to be; stable, practical, realistic, cautious, hard-working, dependable, highly materialistic, inhibited, introverted, down to earth, calm

• Air = Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Are known to be; free spirited, philosophical, intellectual, open minded, idealistic, adventurous, restless, unpredictable, interactive, extraverted, emotionally aloof, opinionated

Even if you don’t believe in astrology – it’s about finding the right set of ‘people characteristics’ for your product or service. Understanding the personality that wants or needs your products or services is important and knowing how to leverage on that.

Because at the end of the day, they will be your distribution channel when it comes to word of mouth or recommending your product or service to other people online and offline.

So having the right personality representing your brand will be just as important as the way you communicate across all channels.

Website and Web Page Titles
Your website title is one of the first things that major search engines look for when ranking your page. When your title and description accurately reflect your content, (which should also be fabulous,) it drastically improves the chances that your web page rank will rise like fresh baked blueberry muffins. That’s not enough though. You’ll also need a website title that’s noticeable and makes people want to know more and click through to your site.

Think local. If your business is in London, make a specific appeal to London and the surrounding area. People all over the world will still want to view your website for its valuable information. However, it makes good business sense to make a local appeal too since people are more comfortable making purchases from companies that are close by.

List your business name and some important keywords in your title. Small and New businesses list keywords first. Larger and well known businesses can list their name before the keywords. i.e.: A small business may write: Best gourmet coffee in Maine at Schmoe’s Joe. While a larger company may say: Schmoe’s Joe: Best gourmet coffee in Maine.

For every page on your website, use a different tagline with keywords that you know people will look for. i.e.: Schmoe’s Joe: About Our Gourmet Coffee Company, Schmoe’s Joe: Buy Gourmet Coffee Online, Schmoe’s Joe: Gourmet Coffee Accessories.

Website titles should be as short as possible. Don’t try to squeeze ten keywords in to one headline. You are more likely to get better results with one or two quality keywords than you will with half a dozen of them. This is mostly due to the fact that web surfers are looking for instant information. They don’t typically read that much into a headline anyway. In order to get lots of quality keywords associated with your site, use the method above and put a different keyword in the title of every page.

Content, Blog and Article Headlines
According to John Caples, author of “Tested Advertising Methods,” There are three major types of titles that attract the most clicks:

1) News Headlines:
It is human nature to seek out information and find out what is happening in their world. News headlines offer objective facts which make readers feel more knowledgeable and in control of their environment. Examples are: “Celebrity Searches Lead to Malware” “New Remote Application Available for iPhone and iPod” and “Buy New Wii at Discount Stores”

2) Curious Monkey:
Everyone has a little curious monkey inside their head distracting them from the task at hand and telling them to click on the video of the skateboarding dog. Headlines like “Cat Declared Hero” “$80M Disaster” or “Bubble Boy Lives!” can get people’s attention pretty quickly.

3) Self Interests:
This is the most effective since readers are interested in things and ideas that they will personally benefit from. It appeals to a need, a want or an ego. For instance: “Learn Spanish in Two Weeks” “Retire Ten Years Early” or “Affordable Mansions”

When appealing to the “self-interest” spectrum, beware of overuse. Consumers and web surfers have become fairly desensitized to marketing and advertising on the internet, if not extremely wary and cynical. Over-sell it and they may think you’re a scam operation. There needs to exist a delicate balance between a quality product and an intelligent, subtle yet strong appeal to their ego and desire. It all comes down to finding what kind of tone your demographic responds to. Do they want something edgy and fresh, subtle and intelligent, or maybe they are more likely to click on a headline that is funny and bizzare

Remember, you don’t have to be #1 on the search engine’s list to get the most clicks.  It’s better to have a few high quality keywords and an appealing headline than a title that is too vague or contains too much information.

Currently, online retail sales only represent about 4-8% of all purchases made in the USA. That means that the majority of all purchases are still being made from traditional brick and mortar stores. So why should offline retailers focus on online marketing and SEO? Because according to BIGResearch, 89% of offline purchases in 2007 were largely influenced by online research conducted by the consumer. Not only that, but TMP Directional Marketing released research data suggesting that approximately 82% of individuals who use local search engines followed up with some sort of offline action such as an in store visit or a phone call.

Marketing managers are calling this the ROBO effect (Research Online, Buy Offline). And it seems to be more than just a trend. These numbers have been going strong since the inception of search engines and are headed up. In 2007, over $500 billion of offline purchases were influenced by online research. (eMarketer) Jupiter Research estimates that that number will reach $1 trillion in just two short years.

Sherman states that this offline/online research/purchasing pattern is a “vicious circle.” Effective offline marketing campaigns will drive people to the web to do more research. In turn, 39% of people who did an online search based on offline information purchased a product from the same company whose ad prompted the search in the first place. Again, individual stores have a hard time measuring the effects of their offline ads in correlation to their online presence. But it’s undeniable that having some sort of searchable online presence will induce sales that wouldn’t have otherwise occurred, or may have occurred somewhere else.

It seems that mostly large businesses are the ones who are desegregating their online and offline marketing efforts. Even so, only 55% of online marketing managers are integrating their SEO efforts with offline channels. For instance, television ads are by far the most effective way to prompt consumers to do a search. However, only 12% of all companies use television as a means of driving people to their website or a search engine. SEO and SEM managers don’t intentionally ignore the obvious channels for driving internet searches and traffic. Most search marketers work for small firms that can’t afford television ads. But don’t worry, there’s hope for the little guys.

Get a web address if for no other reason that to blog, draw in consumer participation and offer more information about products. If marketers want to take it one step further, they can offer an 800 number for consumers to make their order. Another option that many businesses like Cabella’s and Payless Shoe Stores offer is the ability to order online and pick up their order in the store that is closest to them. This is a great way to create an online presence while driving traffic to your store.

Use the same branding online as you do offline. Colors, logos, tag lines, etc. should all be integrated into your website and online advertisements. Many businesses are using videos, articles and blogs to drive traffic to their website as well. This enables your website address to show up in integrated searches. And lastly, make sure that there is keyword synchronicity between offline and online content. This will allow users to find you more easily.

Before and during your website’s construction make sure your target audience knows its coming. Buying your web address and then setting up something aesthetically pleasing or interesting that says “website under construction. You will be able to learn more about XYZ company’s products on January 01, 2009.” Give a date. You’ll be surprised how many people will remember.

This of course, brings us to advertising. Although television is the most effective way to prompt people about using a product, businesses can use newspapers, magazines, radio shows, email blasts and even direct mail to get their business name and web address out there. What’s important is that they know who you are, they have some keywords they can use to find information about you online, and they have a web address. The point is to think holistically and use a consistent design and message everywhere so that they will remember who you are and ultimately have you in mind when they go to make their purchase offline.

When people search online 36% are looking for news, 31% are looking for images and 17% are looking for videos. Sherman states that “Search marketers should put a priority on optimizing press releases. Optimizing other types of digital assets is important, but should be secondary.” He also states that it is important to know who your target audience is and don’t be afraid to assign them “personas” so that marketing campaigns and in-store customer service efforts can be tailored to them. For instance Best Buy has discovered and named four customer profiles: “Buzz” the techie, “Barry” the wealthy professional, “Ray” the family man and “Jill” the soccer mom. Each one of these identified personalities will receive different kinds of information and product offers in-store and out.

Another way to drive up sales in your brick and mortar institution is through the use of social networking. Social networking is essentially online buzz marketing. By creating your own blogs and participating in other companies/peoples blogs and chats you can build up your own image, improve a negative misconception that the public may have had about your business or a product, and offer the kind of information that people need to feel comfortable making a purchase from you. It essentially plays on the power of word of mouth and reviews. Social marketing needs to be done right though. The focus should be on sincerity, responsiveness, and a casual non-sales approach. Social networking (marketing) is especially useful because it involves direct communication with the consumer when they feel least inhibited. They are more likely to give honest opinions and tell you exactly what they think, want and need. It’s like having your own focus group, but better.

Here’s a few more online facts that may shock and surprise you. According to the Universal McCann’s Comparative Study on Social Media Trends, April 2008:

• 73% of active online users have read a blog
• 45% have started their own blog
• 39% subscribe to an RSS feeds
• 57% have joined a social network
• 55% have uploaded photos
• 83% have watched video clips

Many search marketers face organizational challenges when attempting to integrate SEO/SEM into their marketing mix. Stakeholders may see the internet as unknown territory, and therefore are threatened or intimidated by it. They may also have some sort of “vested interest” in keeping with traditional offline marketing techniques. However, by sharing best practice techniques and case studies proving the success that offline and online integration can bring, they may slowly change their mind about it.

Good marketing means working smart and knowing your customers habits. Right now all consumers believe that knowledge is power and the internet is a source for both. This makes online search engines a powerful tool for offline businesses if they decide to use it. Remember to think holistically, remain consistent in branding efforts and use it as a part of a larger online/offline marketing campaign.