Before Internet marketing came in to vogue, the best way to get customers coming to you was to have an extensive public profile and strong media presence. In other words, becoming an authority in your field or industry was the name of the game.

With new websites popping up every day, and competition for search engine spots and online ads getting fiercer than ever, being seen as a recognized expert and source of information is taking on new importance once again. The more known you are – online or off – the more sales you get, the higher prices you can charge, and the more respected your opinions become.

With that in mind, here are seven quick ways to become an authority so you have customers coming to you online and asking for your help, instead of the other way around:

1. Issue an online press release. Press releases are great for alerting the media to potential stories, not to mention drawing interest from other bloggers, webmasters, and industry observers. If you have something newsworthy to announce to the world, consider sharing it with a simple press release.

2. Get quoted in the media. There are a number of sites (like Prof Net) where you can register as a contact for media members when they need a source for a story. Or, you could simply reach out to publications and websites in your industry and let them know you’re available.

3. Write a white paper or e-book. Being an author has always been a quick way to gain credibility, and that’s still true in the Internet age. Although publishing your work might not make you huge profits from the sale of your e-book, it’s a great way to show new customers that you know what you’re talking about.

4. Guest blog on popular sites. In order to become an authority in your field, you have to have a following first. One of the easiest ways to build one is to go where people are already at. Find a handful of popular blogs or websites in your industry and offer to write a few guest posts. You might discover there’s a market for your opinions and grow your e-mail, social media, and contact lists a hurry.

5. Comment on other posts. Another way to take advantage of the same dynamic is by adding interesting and insightful comments to other people’s posts and articles. Just be aware that you need to have a strong, unique opinion before most people will take notice.

6. Tweet analysis of breaking news. If there are exciting things happening in your business or industry, why not tweet about them with a quick explanation? If you can’t fit what you have to say in a tweet, you can always tweet a link to your blog, press release, or website.

7. Make the right connections on Facebook and LinkedIn. As with everything else in your life, becoming an authority is a lot easier when you know the right people. Social media sites make it easier than ever to form the right relationships, so get busy making the right connections today.

Do you wish you were getting more from social media marketing? Why not talk to a member of our team about a free consultation today?

There are a lot of reasons you might be anxious to start a brand-new search engine optimization campaign. Perhaps you recently launched a new website, or even a whole new company, and want to see visitors start coming in. Or, it could be that you’ve been in business for a while, but are tired of watching Google, Yahoo, and Bing deliver hundreds or thousands of buyers to your competitors every month.

Either way, you’re probably feeling eager to get started. After all, who wouldn’t want to get all of the great business benefits that come from a working SEO campaign as fast as possible?

Even though you’re probably anxious to see results, it’s best not to rush into a new search engine optimization campaign without taking a few preliminary steps first. Here are three things you have to do before beginning your climb up Google’s rankings:

1. Audit your current site for positions. If you have an existing website, now is the perfect time to have your online marketing team take a good look under the hood. See where you currently rank for your most important keywords, how your pages appear to search engines, where your current traffic is coming from, and what kinds of links you have pointing to your site.

Note that you shouldn’t skip this step, even if you don’t have an existing site, since you can learn a lot from running the same kind of analysis on your competitors.

2. Research keywords for your plan. One of the classic search engine optimization mistakes is to simply assume that you know what your best potential customers are searching for. Just because a keyword seems obvious, however, or even gets lots of traffic, doesn’t make it the best one to concentrate on. A good online marketing partner can spend some time researching different keywords, ensuring that you get the biggest payoff for your time, effort, and money.

3. Experiment with pay-per-click Internet advertising. Given the effort it takes to reach one of the prime positions on Google and other major search engines, there’s really no excuse for not testing your landing pages, marketing messages, and other elements before you start showing up on the first page. By taking advantage of pay-per-click ads, you can get valuable feedback in a matter of days, not weeks or months.

Another advantage of PPC campaigns is that they’ll allow you to test negative keywords, which can be filtered out to help you avoid wasting time and money later.

Even though it can be exciting to rush into a new search engine optimization plan, following these three steps first is likely to make your campaign more efficient, and more profitable. Why not talk to a member of our team today about a free search engine optimization consultation for your business?

Although the world’s most popular search engine is notoriously tight when it comes to giving out information on their closely guarded search algorithm, Google’s Spam Chief Matt Cutts recently made news when he suggested that the next update to Google would be one that would penalize “overly-optimized” websites. In other words, if you have taken your search engine optimization too far, then those efforts could actually start to work against you in the near future.

For business owners and executives who rely on search engine optimization and online marketing, this might seem like bad news. However, it shouldn’t be all that depressing, or even surprising, when you think about it. Humans don’t like finding websites with endless keyword repetition and other low-end SEO tactics, so the better Google can get at filtering them out, the more useful it will be.

When you think about things in that way, this change could actually be a good one for a lot of companies. Here are three tips to keep you in the good graces of Google, as well as your customers:

1. Think “moderation.” Although there’s no way to be sure, the suspicion is that web designers and business owners who have endlessly stuffed tags, keywords, and inbound links into their websites in a mechanical way are the ones who will be most affected. The answer is to think and act like an actual person, and exercise a bit of restraint when adding new content to your site. Use keywords in moderation, and you shouldn’t have a hard time being found on the major search engines.

2. Be careful who you work with. As search engine optimization continues to grow, there seems to be a lot of “guilt by association” with the wrong kinds of web designers, linking partners, and SEO teams. Don’t tie your website to companies (or other websites) who don’t have a good reputation, and only work with an online marketing partner that is willing to take the long view and do what’s best for your company, and your customers, over time.

3. Put your customers first. This should be the golden rule of online marketing, and especially search engine optimization. Think like your best customer, and imagine what kinds of content you would want to find on your website. If what you have doesn’t seem like something that would read naturally to them, then know that you’ve gone too far and make the appropriate changes.

Do you want help improving your search engine optimization and online marketing plans? Mention this blog post and we’ll set up a free consultation for you today.

As we get closer to the end of tax season, most business owners will fall into one of two categories. First, there is the group who got everything they needed together a long time ago, and see April 17 as just another day on the calendar. And then there’s the second group – you know who you are – who are facing something akin to a “paperwork apocalypse” coming down on them quickly.

While we hope that all of you are falling into the first group, and not second, the fact of the matter is that the “rush” that so many of us go through around tax time is actually a pretty good analogy for online marketing in general.

Although there isn’t a calendar date when your blog post, pay-per-click campaigns, and other Internet marketing tools are due, that only adds to the problem. Why? Because business owners tend to put these activities off until they really need to start finding new customers – at which point it’s often too late for things like search engine optimization and social media campaigns to do much good.

And so, the lesson is that online marketing is a bit like your taxes, and that it’s best handled on a daily basis. Here are a couple of quick tips to help you stay on top of your plan:

Think in small steps. Instead of trying to cram and handle a lot of different Internet marketing activities at once, focus on one or two at a time and then move on. That will make you more consistent while keeping the process from being overwhelming.

Make a schedule. Just as you have to check in on your taxes and financials quarterly, it’s a good idea to keep to a regular Internet marketing schedule, too. By adding things like social media updates and budget reviews to the calendar, you’re less likely to put them off.

It helps to know what you’re doing. Online marketing – like the tax code – can seem confusing and arbitrary. The more you know about the role of things like keywords and online ads, however, the easier they are to manage… and the less likely you are to get yourself in trouble.

Expert help goes a long way. Everyone wishes they had a hotshot accountant when April rolls around, and Internet marketing expertise sounds great when you want to reach one of the first positions on Google. Don’t wait too long to get the expert help you need, since it’s much easier and cost-effective to plan ahead than it is to undo mistakes.

Are you looking for five-star online marketing assistance? DBurns Design is a Los Angeles Website Design Agency, and we are here to help!

In many ways, the viral video represents the “Holy Grail” of online marketing – something that a lot of businesses are looking for, but few seem to find.

It’s not hard to imagine why. When a video truly goes viral, it can be spread dozens, or even hundreds, of times by people you’ve never even met or had contact with. That’s potentially millions of people spreading your marketing message around. Who knows what kinds of profits could be generated from something like that…

A Couple Of Problems With Viral Marketing Videos

Of course, for all of the great things that should supposedly come from a viral marketing video, there are a couple of problems, too. The first is that generating a viral marketing video for your business is harder than it looks. For every one that racks up millions of views on YouTube, there are hundreds of others that fail miserably, and make the companies that produce them look foolish.

And secondly, going “viral” isn’t much of a business goal, anyway. Who is to say that a percentage of those viewers – even a small one – are going to turn into buyers? Most viral videos get spread around because of their entertainment value, not their commercial content, meaning that the best ones typically don’t work well as promotions for a business or company.

The Cure For Video Marketing Woes

Luckily, there is a simple cure for both of these problems: Instead of going viral to millions of people, strive to shoot an online marketing video that’s well done, meaningful to the customers you care about most, and is likely to be shared within small circles.

The key difference in that formula is that you’re aiming for a much smaller group, and one that’s easier to reach and influence. By trying to market your video to every business accountant in Seattle, for example, you make your task a lot easier. And at the same time, you make it a lot more likely that you’re going to shoot something that will interest them enough to contact you for help.

Too much time, effort, and money is wasted on looking for viral online marketing videos, which can be the equivalent of a winning lottery ticket that may or may not have any value. For real online marketing impact, stop trying to appeal to everyone, and focus on the small group of buyers who can make the biggest impact in your business.

These days, savvy business owners and online marketers know that having a new website isn’t enough; you also need a plan to attract traffic and turn visitors into buyers. That’s because the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing are more crowded with competitors than ever. You can’t simply rely on the hope that potential buyers will find your website and like it.

That’s where your online marketing plan comes in. To make you successful, yours should be more than just a list of ideas and incorporate everything you need to hit the ground running quickly.

What matters most, however, isn’t the specific actions, but the structure of your online marketing plan itself. As you put yours together – or get the help of an experienced Internet marketing team – consider the five most important elements:

1. That it’s tailored to your company. No two businesses are the same, and so no two online marketing plans should be, either. It’s important that yours takes advantage of your competitive strengths, rather than copying ideas from someone else’s.

2. That it’s expandable. Not enough business owners and online marketers plan for success. Make sure that the process you have for bringing new customers in can be scaled up if you find that it’s more successful than you had envisioned, or pulled back if you need to make some changes.

3. That you are able to track your return on investment. Are you doing well or poorly with your current online marketing plan? Regardless of your answer, do you have the numbers to back it up? Finding the path from visitors to your website to an improvement in your bottom line is the first step towards making smarter online marketing investments going forward.

4. That there are clear responsibilities. Whether your online marketing plan is enormous and comprehensive, or comes down to a couple of key activities, you should know which member of your staff or web design team is responsible for making it happen and following through. When no one is sure what part of an online marketing plan they are tasked with, things generally don’t get done.

5. That it’s flexible. Everything changes, especially on the Internet where the changes come frequently and at light speed. With that in mind, it’s important that your online marketing plan be flexible enough that you can shift strategies and tactics when you need to. It’s always a good idea to keep going with something that’s working, but you don’t want to be afraid to try new ideas and see what’s profitable, either.

Do you have a mobile version of your business website already? If you don’t, you certainly aren’t alone. For a lot of business owners – and especially those who don’t use their own smart phones regularly – mobile websites can seem like just the latest in a long set of trends.

But, if you look a little bit deeper, you’ll see that now is the perfect time to get involved.

With more than 100 million people in North America regularly accessing the Internet via iPhones, Droids, and other web-ready devices, mobile computing is too big to ignore. That’s especially true if you have an e-commerce site, or one that caters to customers who like to make quick decisions on the go.

The numbers are strong enough to make most companies consider adding a mobile version of their business website regardless of what else they’re doing with their online marketing campaigns. But, if you’re in the process of redesigning your existing website, then it’s a great idea to make a mobile version at the same time.

Here are three ways to integrate your mobile business web design into your overall online marketing strategy:

Brand your regular site and your mobile site together. They should share a common look and navigation structure, so that a visitor to one is immediately at home on the other. While they might not be exactly the same, especially from a web programming and coding standpoint, they should look very consistent with one another.

Emphasize usability. Data plan restrictions, download times, and the desire to find what they want quickly all lead customers to prefer sites with an emphasis on usability over huge amounts of content. Although it’s good advice for any business website, it’s especially critical on mobile sites to be efficient and get to the point quickly.

Tie in social media links on your mobile business website. No two web trends are more intertwined than the rise of social media and the prominence of mobile computing. The two just go hand in hand. Encourage your customers with social media links to follow you online, and you’ll be more effective as a marketer… not to mention get more out of your mobile business website.

What’s the first thing you notice about a business web design team when you look into their services? If you thought of anything other than their samples, then you are either unusual, or have been through the design and re-design process at least a few times in the past.

It’s understandable that business owners and marketers want to focus on web design samples. They are exciting, and give you an instant idea of what the creative team’s capable of, and what kind of future first impression you can make on potential customers. And as any veteran web design team can tell you, a great layout can go a long way towards helping you find success.

With that being said, however, the difference between a very good business web design team and a great one usually has to do with the quality of the questions they ask, not the look of their samples. Why? Because the more your designer and online marketing team understands your company, where it is in the market, and your bottom-line goals, the better job they can do of finding a solution that fits you perfectly.

In other words, there isn’t really such a thing as a perfect web design for everyone, only the perfect business website that works in a particular situation. What looks good for someone else might not be the best idea for you, and it takes a lot of knowledge about where your business is – and more importantly, where you want to be – to create something that’s more than just a great-looking set of pages. Once your customers dig deeper, you’re going to want them to find compelling reasons to pick up the phone, complete a purchase, or otherwise further their relationship with your company.

Web design samples are always going to be important, but they’re never going to be everything. If you really want to choose the right creative agency for your situation, concentrate on finding a team that has the right process, and asks the right questions, after you’re done looking over their portfolio.

What Makes Conversion Optimization So Important?

To a lot of web designers and online marketing teams, “conversion optimization” is one of those extra services that are occasionally offered or mentioned. At our company, they are a centerpiece of what we do.

Why is it so important? Because conversion optimization is what you need to make your site more and more profitable over time. Finding ways to turn higher percentages of visitors into buyers – even at a 10th of a percentage at a time – can easily double or triple the return on investment you see from your business website in the long run.

Here are some of the parts of the conversion optimization process:

Finding your best customers and most powerful marketing messages. The more you know about your customers, the more effectively you can market to them. That’s why one of the most important things we do is help our clients to figure out who their best customers are, along with what sorts of offers and marketing messages they respond to.

Identifying trends in your industry. What have your competitors been up to? By keeping an eye on them, you can get a better sense of what programs are likely to be successful for you, as well as spot new gaps and opportunities that other companies might not be filling.

Revising content and messages. No matter how hard you and your creative team try, the business website you launch is never going to be perfect. Add in the fact that your company will probably change its products, services, or focus at least slightly in the future, and you can see why making ongoing tweaks is important to maximizing your business website’s profitability.

Tracking conversions at different stage of the process. Usually, a business website isn’t really “successful” or “unsuccessful.” Instead, parts of the site work very well, while others aren’t as effective as they could be. By keeping a close eye on the metrics – and seeing where potential customers come in and out of your business website – you can maximize conversions at every step of the way.

Launching your business website is exciting, but it’s only the first step in a long process. If you want to get the most out of your time and investment, then work with us to enhance your conversion rate optimization and get bigger returns in the future.