TopRank Internet Marketing News

Industry analysts and media often focus on which online marketing is more effective: paid search ads (PPC), SEO, social media marketing…

The truth is each of these tactics can be effective for a business. Used together as part of a holistic online marketing strategy, they complement one another and become an incredibly powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal.

Why use PPC ads?

Pay-per-click ads are especially helpful for:

• Getting your brand in front of people already searching for information
• Tapping into previously undiscovered market segments
• Connecting with people ready to make a purchase
• Lead generation
• Launching new products or services
• Directing potential buyers to pages optimized for their search query deep within the site.

Once a potential customer clicks on ad, smart marketers will have them sign up for an email newsletter or follow the brand on a social account. The first interaction was paid; maximize that investment with an opportunity to connect on an ongoing basis and build a relationship.

TopRank is pleased to announce that CEO Lee Odden will be presenting and moderating multiple sessions at SES London this coming week.  As our online marketing agency continues to expand and provide subject matter expertise to clients both nationally and internationally, we view this as a great opportunity to share our advanced knowledge and experience with marketers at all levels.

As always Odden’s presentation will be flush with high level consultative advice as well as practical and tactical tips to point you in the right direction.  If you’re interested in learning about how to avoid losing all the SEO value in your website during a redesign or change of content management system (and much more) you can’t afford to miss this premiere industry event.

When should you start with Content Marketing?  Today’s online marketing is a race where the stakes are high, competition is tough and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to create a sustainable, competitive advantage. Consider these questions to help you answer, “When Content Marketing is right?” for you:

• What’s the right time to understand who your best customers are? Who are your “worst” customers?
• When is it a good time to know what your prospects and customers care about and why they buy?
• What triggers your prospects to discover, consume and engage with content that inspires sales, social shares and referrals?
• Does having no content plan really mean you’re planning to fail?
• If you don’t tie your SEO, Social Media and Online Public Relations efforts together in a way that’s “manageable” and efficient now, will you wait until your competition does?

Chris Brogan & Lee Odden on a panel at BlogWorld - Photo credit: (CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com and bub.blicio.us.

Where do you go when you’re throwing around the idea of purchasing a new product for yourself or making a business investment in a solution?  It’s safe to assume that the majority of people would say that is a no brainer.  You go online!  A recent study shows that over 44% of B2B marketers are utilizing blogs as a marketing channel.

How can you make sure your blog stands out in a sea of content online?  TopRank CEO Lee Odden will  provide insight into using your blog as an engagement tool for your audience.   Odden’s presentation “Optimize and Socialize You Way to Better Blogging” will emphasize the importance of combining both an optimized and a social element to boost your traffic and increase your reach while providing scalable and engaging information that audiences can apply to their own business.

The culmination of a deal signed just over a year ago is that Microsoft’s Bing now powers Yahoo! search. The actual search impact remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that the two search engines together (Yahoo! and Bing) account for only about 30% of U.S. searches – with Google at 65%.

The real SEO news is that Bing is launching its brand-new Adaptive Search. This is a tool by means of which Microsoft will attempt to adjust its algorithm to take into account the contextual relationship of a user’s search history.  Microsoft’s Aidan Cook explains the Bing Adaptive Search this way: “Every time you search on Bing, the information provided helps Bing understand what you’re trying to do. The more you search, the more Bing can learn – and use that information to adapt the experience so you can spend less time searching and accomplish what you set out to do.”

When it comes to a business’ online strategy, questions abound for social media practitioners about how to best leverage and integrate the many online marketing tools available.

The disciplines of search, social media and content marketing continue to intersect and often combine to create a powerful mix. Companies and individuals are creating competitive advantages as they adapt to shifts in technology and consumer behavior.  On Aug. 26, the monthly Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul (SMBMSP) will hone in on this integration.

Event details:
Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul
Friday, Aug. 26, 2011
8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Cambria Suites Maple Grove
9655 Grove Circle North
Maple Grove, MN 55369

SMBMSP brings marketers, PR professionals, students, entrepreneurs, social media practitioners and enthusiasts together for a unique educational opportunity incorporating panel discussions, presentations, case studies, debates and breakout sessions.

A fairly common – and quite fair – question by many companies when seeking a social media consultant is, ‘can you help us with Facebook?’

The answer, provided by most firms, is ‘of course.’   But what positions some social media consultants above others is this:  the best consultants will never agree to such a narrow focus.

For metaphorical purposes, let’s pretend the consultant in question is a golf instructor.  Each day, you pay the instructor, and he helps you master the first hole of stunning 18-hole course.  Weeks later during a tournament, you double-birdie the first hole – and don’t come within a whisper of the competition the entire balance of the day.  Would you consider the money paid to the golf instructor as money well spent?

In much the same way, a consultant that agrees to a narrowly defined program – for instance, just growing Facebook likes – is agreeing to something they know cannot produce anything more than narrow results.  (Or rather, they SHOULD know.)

How CISCO Integrates Social Media in the Organization – Via Dado Van Peteghem on Slideshare.

The new Google Analytics Beta – a detailed review. Via Smart Insights.

Shoppers Use Search to Find Deals. Three-quarters (74%) of US adult online shoppers use online tools to find deals, and the highest percentage (50%) use search engines, according to a March 2011 survey conducted by RetailMeNot.com and Harris Interactive. Via MarketingCharts.

New Google News. Automatic Personalization and Recommended Sections in Google News. Via Google News blog.

Social Media for SEO vs. Customer Engagement. Filling the sales funnel and creating customer experiences are two different things but both can be achieved through integrated social SEO and content marketing. Via Online Marketing Blog.

Amazon Server Troubles Take Down Reddit, Foursquare & HootSuite. So much for high availability hosting. Amazon’s data center issues affected a huge amount of social web activity and nearly 24 hours later, they’re still not back online. A boon for Akamai. Via Mashable.

Social Media Usage By SMBs Often Ad-Hoc. Really?  #sarcasm The social web is as mysterious and new to small business marketers now as SEO was 10 years ago. They’re pushing to see what pushes back in the form of marketing value without any coordinated effort or strategy in most cases. That’s a costly way to go about marketing your business. Luckily, experienced agencies like TopRank Online Marketing are here to help Via Information Week.

Loving Facebook fan pages for business?

Guess what, fan pages just got better – Whether you are a B2C or B2B company, Facebook has added new features and benefits that help you get the most out of your social media efforts.

Here are the top 10 Facebook changes TopRank Online Marketing team members think deserve a moment or two in the spotlight…

1. Engage with Fans More Directly – For the first time ever, Facebook fan pages can act as individual users with the ability to “Like” other Facebook pages – This feature allows brands to act essentially as an individual user. By “liking” other pages, you humanize your brand and show support for other organizations that are relevant to your fans.

2. Reach Your Audience with Sponsored Stories – Already using Facebook ads? If so, you can augment your existing ads with new Sponsored Stories.