The Expansion of the Internet

It is already huge and getting bigger all the time.

The Internet is a big place and it is getting bigger – an expanding universe of content. It is vast and has tools, information and entertainment for any taste or fancy. The Internet also allows us to connect and engage with others in our various communities. For example, let’s say we are very fond of donuts and want to connect with other dedicated fans of donuts.

The Internet offers the following ways to connect (just to name a few):

• Your Blog: I am a (self-proclaimed) authority on donuts
• Twitter: I’m eating a #donut
• Facebook: I like donuts
• Flicker: Over 1 billion photos of donuts
• Foursquare: This is where I eat donuts
• YouTube: Here is my cat eating a donut
• LinkedIn: I am good a eating donuts
• Pinterest: Here is a recipe for my favorite donut
• G+: I work for Google and eat donuts

OK – a bit of humor but let’s now look at two significant factors that are going to make the Internet even more valuable and more sweeping.

Market Norms versus Social Norms

Dear Mom,

 

Thank you for having us over for dinner Sunday afternoon. The meal was fantastic and your storytelling about the days when nonnie (Italian for grandmother) cooked big Sunday meals when everyone came over was entertaining.

 

Enclosed is a check for $250 dollars as compensation for the wonderful afternoon.

 

Your loving son,

Gary

Improve Website Performance

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If you want to get the best out of something or make proper decisions to improve performance then you have to make measurements. It is fundamental. Without a measurement system you simply do not have the information to know how to make adjustments leading to improvement.

What can a website owner or a blogger learn from Major League Baseball (MLB)?

Get More Traction and Exposure for Your Content

Here are some practical tips to gain more exposure for your content.

Put the marketing back in your content marketing.

The Challenges of Real Estate SEO

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The digital real estate competitive landscape is getting tougher and more sophisticated. There are big names such as Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com that have vast resources and are committed to online dominance.

Without a well designed SEO strategy followed by consistent execution, it’s very difficult for a real estate company to maintain position in search let alone improve it.

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Here are three Prezi presentations.

These Prezis are on Blogging, LinkedIn and Google Analytics.

Social Media Marketing – It Starts with a Plan

Here is a blog post for everyone at the EVA (and others too!). It is on social media marketing and was presented at the EVA Lunch & Learn on March 25th. The Prezi (a presentation), at the bottom of this post, is the Prezi used at the EVA Lunch & Learn and here is a summary of what is in the Prezi.

Do some up front research . . .

• Know your audience
• Know what you want to be to your audience
• Determine what your audience wants
• Determine what your audience needs
• Understand where they spend their time (facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest . . .)
• Know what problems your audience is trying to solve
• Define how you can (will) add value

Define your plan . . .

• Define specific goals and objectives
• Determine your measurement system
• Define goals that push you but that are attainable
• Make sure your goals are time bound

Your strategies must be connected with your business objectives and resources.

Social Media Marketing is a new marketing model.

This new model requires you to learn how to:

• Interact
• Share
• Add Value (delight!)
• Engage

It is important to build up a body of delightful and high-value content in your center of content (your website and blog).

You need to do the work to gain views, likes, shares and to start conversations.

There are 2 delightful (of course!) and insightful (yeah!) videos in this Prizi.

Enjoy!

Organic Search – Shows Strong Growth

Being found in the organic search results without too much difficulty has always been good for business. A recent report by Search Engine Watch shows that search engine optimization was a very strong channel for growth in 2014.

The reason is two-fold.

 

1. When people search for something they want to find it and block out distractions.
2. Once these active seekers find what they want they convert at a higher rate than people bombarded by ads. Conversion is vital for online success.

The study covered more than 50 brands and 1.1 billion natural search visits in 2014.

Is Your Content Google Hummingbird Friendly?

When you set up a new website page or write a new blog post is it all about you and your self-serving objectives? If this is the case then you are likely to limit your search exposure with your content marketing.

Google is now starting to rank content based on user search intent and the context of the content itself. You need to understand this and make an effort to mesh with this. To mesh with the search engines drives quality traffic and this can lead to higher conversion rates.

Here are some ideas to help your content stand out. These types of content work well for humans and as content ideas in today’s SEO environment.

Leveraging LinkedIn – Profile, Connections, and News

 

There are many things that you can do using LinkedIn to build more and better relationships.

We also know that doing more and better business is all about relationships.

 

Here are five tips for leveraging LinkedIn and a Prezi that further expands on how to leverage LinkedIn. The Prezi has a very well done, high-energy and fun video on LinkedIn.