News Announcements: What We Learned at Slice and Advice
July 7th, 2011
- Search Engine Optimization: Organizations are always looking for ways to get better results in Google searches. We talked about many of the "best effort" approaches to developing content that gets Google's attention, including how to format your web pages within our content management system, SiteNow. We were pleased to hear clients share how our SEO efforts have resulted in significant improvements in search results and web traffic. We also shared some of our copywriting guidelines to help maximize search engine effectiveness. You can download a copy of these copywriting guidelines from our website.
- Using Forms Effectively: Many of our clients use forms to collect information from visitors. Whether its a customer survey, event registration or information request, building a form in SiteNow is a quick and easy task. We shared ideas on how to use forms effectively and how to use the information gathered for future marketing efforts.
- Adopting a Mobile Strategy: One of the most discussed topics was mobile websites and content that works on mobile devices. It's important that every organization have a mobile strategy in mind and begin thinking about the types of information visitors will want to access on a mobile device. We shared ideas on when to use a mobile website, how to integrate mobile websites with social networking and geo-location checkin services like Foursquare and Facebook Places, and how to make sure your content works on all modern mobile devices.
- QR Code Marketing: There was a lot of interest in QR Codes during the event. Some of our attendees have invested a great deal of time in adding QR codes to their products and marketing material so that users can scan these codes with their smartphones to learn more about products and services. We shared ideas on how to use QR codes effectively and gave a quick tutorial on how to generate these codes. To learn more about QR codes, check out our blog post on the topic. For a free QR Generator, check out QRStuff.com.
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Strategic Marketing: Facebook Marketing Tips
June 24th, 2011
One of the most frequent questions we receive is "How can I use Facebook to market my business?" There are a lot of tactics you can use to leverage the power of the world's largest social network, but here are five that we recommend to clients on a regular basis. These have been proven time and again to increase Facebook "likes", as well as website traffic.  Add a Facebook widget to your homepage. This gives your visitors a glimpse of the content you provide on your Facebook page and an opportunity to "like" you directly from your website. Some Facebook widgets also include the option to share your page with others, view friends who like your page and more. These widgets are free from Facebook and can be styled to match the look and feel of your website design. Ask for some help from your friends. Send a Facebook message to everyone who currently likes your page and ask them to share it with a friend. One of our clients increased their likes by 50% in a few days simply by asking people to share or recommend their page with others. By using the Facebook messaging option, you can target those people who already like your page or organization without announcing the campaign as a status update. Use Facebook ads. Facebook ads are inexpensive and give you many options to reach specific groups of people. You can set your ad to display on pages of people who have children, who are within a certain age range, live in a specific area, etc. You can combine various demographic components to make your campaign extremely targeted. Facebook ad tools even show you the estimated number of people who will see your ad. These ads can link to your Facebook page, your website or any other address. If the goal of your ad is to sell a product, consider adding a landing page to your Facebook page with information about the product you are selling. You can link them to your website from this page. If the purpose is to increase likes, invite users to like you from this landing page.  Use Facebook Deals. Facebook Deals is a great way to present special offers, discounts and coupons to customers. And since Facebook Deals is connected to Facebook Places, the coupon or special offer is only available when customers are at your location and checked in on Facebook using a mobile device. The check-in is shared with all of their friends as a status update, expanding your visibility on Facebook. Create a Facebook Event. Facebook events are a great way to announce a special event, sale or promotion. But you don't have to limit your event to a single day. Consider setting an event that lasts for a month, or a season. When a user accepts your invitation, Facebook updates their status and your event is visible to all of their friends as well. Set the event to recur every day so that everyone who accepts your invitation will see the event each time they log in to Facebook. Contact us if you have any questions about how to use Facebook and other online initiatives to increase sales and maximize the return on your marketing investment. |
Posted by Kent Callison | 0 Comment(s)
News Announcements: SiteNow Upgrade: Calendar 2.0
June 21st, 2011
Part of what makes SiteNow so popular with our web design clients is the frequent updates to key features. The Calendar module has been a popular feature for our SiteNow clients since we launched it last year, providing organizations with an easy way to announce events on their site. SiteNow Calendar 2.0 takes all the features of our existing calendar and adds new features, including:
- Event categories
- Event search
- Email reminders
- iCal and vCal downloads
- Date ranges for events
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News Announcements: Slice and Advice - A Different Kind of Lunch and Learn
June 15th, 2011
July 7 at Williams Web from 11:30am-1:00pm.
Everyone is welcome and you don't have to be a client of Williams Web to attend. Space is limited, so visit our event page to learn more or to register.
Not able to attend? We can't deliver a slice of pizza via email (yet). Use our contact form to submit a question and we will deliver some advice.
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News Announcements: SiteNow Upgrade: SiteNow SMS
June 13th, 2011
SiteNow SMS is a new feature allows you to upload and manage a list of mobile phone numbers and transmit SMS messages directly from the SiteNow admin tools. This is a great feature for organizations that are affected by inclement weather. Messages work with any phone that supports SMS messaging and additional content can be linked, such as video or documents, for users with smartphone devices.
Availability: SiteNow SMS will be available on or before July 31 on a site-by-site basis. Contact us to learn more or to add SiteNow SMS to your site.
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