Your Brand in a Digital World

In the pre-internet world, marketers said there were three things that were important; location, location, and location. It was important to be where your prospects could find you. In small towns, it might have been the square, or on a busy corner, as we moved to the suburbs it became the mall. Successful businesses often worked to assure their buildings and signage projected an image. The kind of image that people would like, remember and want to return to. And of course no one expected to b...
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Marketing on the Web Celebrates 5 years in Business

I am pleased to announce that Marketing on the Web is five years old today! While I served as an in-house marketer for many years, I started Marketing on the Web in 2007 to assist Huntsville-based companies with their internet marketing efforts. We feel this is a significant milestone because the Small Business Administration reports that more than half of small businesses fail within their first five years. We have been fortunate to have our business continue to grow each year. Many local...
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Jump Start Your Brand with Instagram

Small businesses and corporations are always looking for new DRTV marketing ideas, and many choose to hire a direct response advertising agency to manage their marketing strategies.  However, not all businesses are able to afford such advertising.  Luckily for them, the variety of social media platforms has made marketing more affordable and accessible than ever before. Facebook has been a popular tool for many years and it was no surprise when they purchased Instagram, a free application tha...
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What is duplicate content?

What is duplicate content and why should you care? Google's Matt Cutts has said many times, there is no duplicate content "penalty" (you won't be kicked out of the results), but it can substantially impact your rankings. When you have duplicate content search engines can't determine which page should rank for a given phrase. Perhaps worse, if some people link using one address (URL), while others link using another address, neither page will have the credibility that it would if all the links po...
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How to Create an Effective Website

There are hundreds of thousands of sites online today, and nearly every business that is looking to succeed has added to that vast quantity by making a site of their own. Trying to get your site to the top isn't as easy as it once was, and those interested in staying ahead of their competition must create effective websites. A good website is more than just a great landing page and some additional media. In fact, a great website should have at the bare minimum: The Ability to Create a Good...
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PubCon Social Media & Search Conference 2010

I attended PubCon in Dallas last week. I have attended several Search Engine Strategies (SES) and Search Marketing Expos (SMX) over the years, but this was my first PubCon. PubCon is driven by the folks at WebmasterWorld, which is the leading source of what is happening in search and is a different crowd than either SES or SMX. I went to PubCon to get a fresh perspective on the SEO universe and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed. I picked up especially good information on reputation management...
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Need a Website, Hire a Design Professional

Your company website has the role of a sales person, working 24/7, representing your company, answering questions, educating the prospect. Many times it will be the first impression prospects will have of your business and should convey quality at every turn. Like any good sales rep, its appearance should be a reflection of its audience, wearing tennis shoes if it’s selling skateboards and a suit if it’s selling financial advice. A website is in many cases the first impression someone has of ...
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Search Marketing Exposition West 2010

I am attending the search optimization and marketing conference SMX West in Santa Clara next week. If you will be at the conference and would like to get together, drop me a note. For my customers, this is one of the larger industry events. While I follow in the neighborhood of 20 blogs on marketing and optimization all year, this show does a lot to pull all the information together. Confirming trends and many times is the launching point for new techniques and information.
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