TopRank Internet Marketing News

People and companies that start blogs often do so for different reasons ranging from promoting products to opening up channels of communication with customers.

Answering the question of “How you start a blog?” must go beyond the mechanical process of signing up at a service like WordPress, Blogger.com or Typepad.com.  While each of these services provides step by step instructions, they don’t have any way of providing a blueprint for success in each specific situation. 

IML Audience Response Systems

IML, a market leader in interactive audience response systems, offers the only wireless voting keypad to include a built-in microphone and live text messaging functionality.  Such innovative audience response systems are used in a variety of settings, from conferences and events to fundraising and silent auctions and are sought by meeting planners, coordinators, and corporate marketers across the U.S.

In their search to expand market awareness, web site traffic and sales, IML has engaged Minnesota based SEO firm, TopRank® Online Marketing, to develop and implement an internet marketing program focusing on search engine optimization (SEO), blog marketing, and digital public relations (PR) services.

iPost is a leading email marketing software company specializing in practical email solutions that drive dramatic improvements in profitability across multiple channels.

iPost has engaged TopRank Online Marketing to develop a holistic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Blog Marketing program to increase search engine visibility within a highly competitive market.

To build brand awareness and increase visibility for ipost.com, TopRank Online Marketing will deploy a push / pull strategy and implement a mix of SEO and blog marketing tactics including:

• Keyword analysis and research
• Technical analysis of the website
• Content optimization and recommendations

Social media provides a great opportunity to engage your target audience and increase brand awareness online. Social media encompasses blogging and blog marketing, social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn, microblogging via sites like Twitter, social news and bookmarking, video sharing, image and audio sharing, and wikis.

To develop a social media strategy that works for your business, the first step is to outline your goals. What do you want social media to do for you? Drive traffic to your website, engage your target audience in conversation, build relationships with your prospects, or build awareness for your brand online.

On October 16th, TopRank CEO Lee Odden will be presenting a Workshop on search engine optimization and public relations at the DMA08 annual conference in Las Vegas.

Search Marketing and Online Public Relations

The future of organic search optimization is heavily influenced by the effect of combining SEO and online public relations tactics. Online marketers stand to gain a distinct competitive advantage by leveraging media consumption trends and understanding how SEO and PR intersect through optimizing news content such as press releases and online newsrooms. Learn results-focused PR tactics such as pitching bloggers and online media as well as proactive online reputation management and PR analytics.

One of the biggest traffic drivers for any corporate website can be a blog. Corporate blogs are a great way to engage prospective clients and customers in the inner-workings of the company, as well as to inform the public of your products and services and stand out as a thought leader in your industry.

However, in order to increase the effectiveness of your corporate blog, you need to keep these blogging best practices in mind:

Content – Your blog posts must be interesting and useful to your readers. Develop your unique voice and don’t be afraid to post things others will not agree to.

Blog marketing continues to be a hot topic in the online marketing industry. As more and more companies head down the road to a company blog, you may be asking:

How do I know if a blog is right for my business?

Having a company blog provides an interactive channel to communicate with your prospects and can help increase traffic to the corporate website.

If you are thinking about starting a company blog, first ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I have something to say to my customers outside of regular marketing collateral?

TopRank has been asked to program and moderate a session on Search Engine Optimization and New Media at Blog World Expo in Las Vegas.

TopRank CEO Lee Odden will be moderating audience questions and initiating topic discussion with a tier one panel of SEO and blogging experts including: Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts, Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com and Michael Gray aka graywolf of Atlas Web Services and wolf-howl.com.

Blog World Expo will be held in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center September 20-21, 2008.

TopRank provides business blog consulting, optimization and marketing services to small and large corporations in the U.S. and Canada.

Website Magazine recently published an interview with TopRank CEO Lee Odden on blogging, microblogging and the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose:

TopRank, a Minneapolis, Minnesota search marketing agency is truly one of the best when it comes to natural SEO, social media marketing and new media PR. Website Magazine contributor Dante Monteverde quizzed TopRank’s CEO Lee Odden recently (a sample is below) on the keys to driving blog readership, the efficacy of micro-blogging, and what attendees of SES San Jose can expect from his session titled “SEO Through Blogs & Feeds.”

TopRank CEO Lee Odden has been tasked with presenting on two sessions at the 2008 Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, CA August 20, 2008.

• SEO Through Blogs & Feeds - Blogs are the “Swiss Army Knife of Internet Marketing” and Odden will be presenting several case studies and tips for successful blog marketing as part of a search engine optimization program.

• News SEO – Winning strategies for online marketing include a holistic approach including digital asset optimization. Odden will present strategies for combining the optimization and promotion of an organization’s digital assets for both SEO and public relations benefit.