Facebook fan pages are not just for personal users or enthusiasts, they have an important business function too, which Lancashire businesses can harness for their own good. They allow companies to connect with a much wider audience, throughout and beyond the Lancashire catchment area, for example.

Here’s another 10 reasons why Lancashire businesses should seriously consider setting up a Facebook fan page in 2012:

1. A huge market awaits! Facebook has over 600 million users alone, with half of this number logging on every day and spending around an hour surfing the site. Imagine how many of these are in the Lancashire area alone – then become aware of the fantastic possibilities for your business this provides!

2. Facebook provides its own analytics. With the Insights feature, Lancashire companies can track the demographics of their “fans”, sorting them by age, location and gender – thus helping you better target your marketing efforts. Comments on the page can also be tracked, helping to boost content.

3. Fan pages give you a branding opportunity. Lancashire-based companies can personalise their fan pages with their logo, bespoke backgrounds and designs – in fact, any “look” they desire to create a unique online presence.

4. There’s no limits! Unlike personal Facebook profiles, which only allow a maximum of 5,000 “friends”, there is no limit to the numbers a fan page can have – and the pages enable you to communicate directly with the fans, promoting special offers or informing of new products. For Lancashire businesses, they will be able to amass an ever-growing customer base, and communicate with them simultaneously.

5. Fan pages are great for SEO and Google. Because Google fully indexes fan pages, anything posted there will show up during an appropriate Google search, unlike personal profile content or a Facebook group. For businesses in the Lancashire area, this means that anyone in the area searching for the services your company provides will be able to find your fan page on Google – whereupon you can show them why you are the right choice!

5. Open entry. Facebook fan pages are open environments, where anyone who discovers the page can become a fan. This is unlike Facebook profiles or groups, where invitations need to be issued, or requests accepted. With potential customers in the Lancashire area stumbling upon your page via Google, they will be able to “try before they buy”.

6. High interactivity. Personal communication goes a long way in the modern digital marketing world, and fan pages are an excellent way to achieve this. Facebook fan pages mean a company can share content, videos or anything else they choose with thousands of potential customers – in Lancashire and beyond – absolutely free. This brings us to…

7. Free multimedia opportunities. Companies with a fan page can use it to upload as many files, pictures, videos, brochures and sound files as they want, with no extra charge. Compare this with the additional bandwidth charges levied by a traditional provider and you will soon see what a tremendous opportunity for engaging with your customer base this represents. Response rates to videos are much higher than just text.

8. Create events. When used together, Facebook fan pages and Facebook events are a powerful marketing tool. Fans can be swiftly informed about events or happenings related to your business in the Lancashire area.

9. Facebook fan pages direct traffic your way. All forward-thinking Lancashire businesses ought to have their own dedicated website, and fan pages are a great way to introduce first-time visitors to the site, by setting up the page as a mini-version – complete with ability to place orders or make enquiries. Facebook and the sponsored listings available also offer an excellent way of reaching your audience via a specific demographic.

10. Fan page design offers a great way to provide a highly professional presence for your business online. Engage with your audience on a regular basis and form a special relationship with your client base…

Online marketing is a constantly developing field of expertise, with innovations emerging weekly – but no development has been quite significant over the past year than the rise of mobile devices. With more people than ever before owning smartphones and tablets, mobile devices are fast becoming the most important factor among internet marketing experts, who all advise that optimising a website for mobile traffic is the priority for 2012.

Because smartphones and tablets such as the iPhone and iPad have a full browsing ability, unlike the previous generation of mobile phones, they can still navigate a “normal” webpage without too much difficulty. Nevertheless, they still benefit from a more mobile-friendly site – and this is especially true for commercial sites. From an online marketing perspective, increased mobile traffic leads to more sales and conversions, as nowadays an ever-increasing amount of online transactions are being conducted via mobile devices.

Search engine giant Google has confirmed once again that mobile queries reached a peak the week before Christmas last year – the same as in 2010 – which indicates that mobile users are making the most of their devices for the busiest shopping period of the year. With this in mind, retailers need to be offering internet marketing campaigns that target mobile devices and use adverts specially enhanced for these devices. They could even consider separate campaigns for mobile consumption with tweaked messages and offers – such as discounts for customers that place orders or make purchaes via their smartphones or tablets.

A report published last year by tech research company Gartner estimated that mobile traffic will overtake traffic from desktop and laptop computers by 2013 across the globe. With this “deadline” looming, any company or organisation that relies on its online presence should be optimising their sites for mobile traffic, if they have not already done so. The research also showed an underlying trend that is more worrying: many online marketing professionals had not woken up to this sea change in internet behaviour and did not trust users of mobile devices to register with their sites or make online purchases – although all the evidence points the opposite way.

Fortunately, good online marketing companies are perfectly placed to assist clients with the process of mobile traffic optimisation, and can offer both advice and technical expertise.

Make sure that your website is not left behind in the mobile revolution!

Planners and supplier from all over the world have joined i-Meet, and there is a plethora of countries listed on the registration page. The beauty of having such a global network is that if a planner is orchestrating an event in another region or country, he or she is able to connect with suppliers there well before the event is scheduled. In addition, discussing topics of the industry with people from different locations helps create a well-rounded view.

Planners can benefit from being members of i-Meet because they can find colleagues, exchange ideas, find answers from other professionals, and learn about the current trends in their field. The site features groups based upon both industry sector and geographical location. With over 50,000 suppliers from all over the globe, planners are sure to be able to find what they need. Planners can also gain access to reviews of suppliers, venues, etc. so that they will be well-informed before they make a purchase.

Everyone is interested in growing his or her business, and using an industry-specific network like i-Meet is a great way to do that. Suppliers will not have their profiles or advertisements drowned out by other industries, and planners will not have to sort through profiles that are irrelevant to their needs. Suppliers are able to build their experience and gain positive references and feedback so that they become more professionally recognized. And by connecting with other people in the industry, suppliers and planners will both become better at their jobs.

So, how does one build a business through i-Meet? First you create a profile as either a planner or a supplier and specify your location. If you are a planner, start discussions, join interest groups, request information from suppliers, showcase your skills, respond to requests for planners, search for venues, use planning tools, and exchange ideas with other planners. If you are a supplier, let planners know about your skills and services, join groups, take advantage of available media options, get leads on jobs, and earn good ratings from planners. Make your events memorable with i-Meet.

Dave, an avid internet marketer, freelance writer and SEO specialist, infuses his knowledge of many different subjects into all of his writings. His current project includes a website about freelance writing and where to find freelance work opportunities and freelance jobs around the internet.

Critics were alarmed at the proposed legislation, warning that it was badly drafted and would lead to government censorship of the internet worldwide and damage online security.

Thus, the Stop SOPA campaign was born, and represented one of the most effective online marketing campaigns of all time, with tech giants such as Google, Reddit and Wikipedia all getting involved in a day of action on 18 January. The search engine censored its own logo, Reddit took itself offline, and Wikipedia blacked out all of its content.

The legislation has since been withdrawn indefinitely, after US legislators were unprepared for the depth of the protests. Here is the key factor that made Stop SOPA such a stunning success:

It had a clear message and a definitive call to action. The campaign drew on the purest aims of any online marketing initiative: make sure the target audience knows what the campaign is about and knows what is required of it. This is as true of campaigns trying to secure new customers as it is of an online protest.

Last Wednesday, all the sites involved made it clear why they disagreed with the proposals and made it possible for users to add their names to the protest, with Google alone managing to gain 4.5 million signatures an online petition alone, and so many emails sent to the Congress that servers fell over and government websites crashed.

When it comes to online marketing campaigns for your company or your website, it will pay to follow the examples of Google, Reddit and Wikipedia, by reaching out to as many potential clients or customers as possible. This can be done by many means, the primary ones being a professionally optimised website, the canny use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and a regularly updated blog. You may not get the tens of millions of responses that the Stop SOPA campaigners managed, but the uplift to your company’s prospects will be noticeable!

A business of any size could benefit from using social networking sites. Large businesses may have accounts on several different websites with employees such as public relations specialists or department managers devoted to their maintenance. Self-employed people are able to find work by networking with other people within their industry, targeting a customer base, and making themselves customers.

Social networking sites can be set up at any time, but you must have the time to update them consistently or that you can hire someone to update them for you. Like most of life, the frequency of updates should be balanced. Too little activity will bore customers, and they will quickly move on to something more interesting. On the other hand, do not bombard customers with sales information because this will lead them begin blocking your updates. In addition, the content of the updates needs to vary. Instead of having a non-stop advertisement, let the customers learn more about the business as a whole. If you are self-employed let the clients know what kind of work-related activities you have been doing.

Social networking sites can be updated from nearly anywhere as long as there is a suitable device and Internet access. Access to the site is something that must be determined from the beginning. Obviously self-employed people will have access to their own sites. However, larger businesses must decide who will be able to post to the site. The employees that gain access should be trustworthy, responsible, and good at marketing. Should the employee leave the business, login information should be changed to protect the business’s security.

Social networking is likely a good investment of time for any business. Gone are the days of cold calls and handing out fliers because word-of-mouth advertising has become lightning fast. Now businesses can add key words to their profiles so that customers can find them more easily. They can also monitor the demographics of people who visit their profile so that they can tailor marketing to certain groups of people. Colleagues are able to share information among themselves, enhancing the ability of businesses to grow.

Although anyone can create an account on a social networking site, there is an art to running one well. Ability to post to a site should be limited to only a few people to ensure privacy and consistency. Businesses should post things that make them stand out in the customer’s mind (in a good way) so that sales will begin to increase. Frequency of posts must not be either too often or too rare, and keeping the target audience in mind will help businesses create effective networks to boost sales.

Greg Henderson, a California-based businessman with over 11 years in SEO/SEM, provided this piece based on personal endeavors and education in search engine optimization with a concentration on content optimization for the social media future. His current projects include a background checks website Easy Background Checks as well as a marriage records website Genealinks.

Ecademy is a great place to collaborate with other business people to learn and grow your business. We were that impressed by the organisation  at Online media direct we have sanction this Infographic which highlights the advantages of using the community. you can embed this info graphic on your own site using the embed code below -

[Source: Online media direct]

EMBED THE IMAGE ABOVE ON YOUR SITE

<a href=”http://www.onlinemediadirect.co.uk” ><img src=”http://blog.onlinemediadirect.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ecademy-infographic.jpg” alt=”Ecademy Infographic” / ></a>

Google Analytics is easily the world’s most popular analytics package. Businesses across the globe use it, from tiny blogs to major online retailers and affiliate marketers. In this article we’ll take a quick look at five very simple things that it can do for your site.

1. Track the progress of an SEO campaign. If you’re going to contract an agency to do SEO for you, it’s only natural to expect to see quantifiable results. The best SEO companies are only too happy to provide figures on how much traffic you’re getting and where it’s coming from (and more). For the most thorough picture, look at the figures from month to month and year on year so seasonal variation is taken into account.

2. Segment your visitors. Some users will like what they find on your site, spend some time there, and maybe go on to make a purchase, give your company a call, or otherwise convert from a casual visitor to a customer. Others will bounce off straight away and go elsewhere. It’s very useful to know where the two types are coming from- for example, if one organic keyword is delivering visitors of a very high quality and another is delivering people who rarely convert, you probably want to focus SEO efforts on the more valuable keyword.

If a poorly performing keyword is one that you really think should be delivering good value, take a look at where those visitors are landing. This brings us to the next point.

3. Examine page quality. Let’s say you have two high level category pages- men’s clothing and women’s clothing, for example. Comparing one against the other might reveal that men’s clothing has a far higher rate of visitor exit, with a lower percentage of people moving through it towards the products. In that case, the page needs to be redesigned. If the women’s clothing page is performing well, it’s time to figure how the two are different and what design lessons can be learned.

The new-look Google Analytics package (Version 5) also includes handy visitor flow visualisations, so it’s now much easier to see where users are being lost and how they travel from page to page within your site.

4. Estimate the effect of an offline campaign. Getting real data on the effectiveness of offline campaigns is difficult, whether you own a website or a bricks and mortar shop or both. One good trick is not to advertise your everyday URL. Set up a special page with a memorable name (www.sitename.com/special). The only people landing on this page will have heard about your site through the print, TV, or radio campaign.

It won’t be an exact figure as some people will head straight to www.sitename.com, but an estimate is better than nothing and this method will let you compare multiple offline ad campaigns against one another.

5. Find out what your visitors are looking for. If you have an internal site search capability, taking a look at commonly used search terms can give you some good ideas about new pages you might want to create. It can also provide clues to existing pages that should be easier to find. Heavy use of internal search is sometimes (not always) a sign that your navigation scheme needs to be tweaked for greater usability.

Jess Spate is professional web analyst with a PhD in data mining. She works with us to make sure all our clients get the very best out of their Google Analytics accounts. 

There are many factors affecting online purchase. Given the status quo that all online visitors have the intention of actually purchasing a product, there should not be a problem with converting the captured leads into sale. But, there is always something that lacks on your end as an online marketer.

Online Purchasing is a Risk

Whether your ecommerce website is running for 10 years or is just beginning, you cannot deny the fact that customers take a risk as they purchase a product or service from your website. How do you add credibility to your site? How will you be able to establish trust to your customers?

• Minimize down time issues

Your web hosting provider plays a big role in keeping your website visible 24/7. When purchasing a web hosting service, be sure to do your research as well. If a web hosting provider promises 99.9% uptime, you don’t always rely to that but be sure to research on company reviews and as well as testimonials.

Down time is sometimes caused by product or software upgrades, maintenance, et cetera. When a customer goes to your website, he may not be able to know this unless you put a message that says your website is undergoing some maintenance. Your website may not be functional upon maintenance, but you can always consider having to put a “sorry for the inconvenience” message a lesser evil than not having to place anything at all. It is also recommended to look for a web hosting provider that provides monitoring for down time days so you would be able to notify your customers for scheduled maintenance and updates.

If your web hosting provider fails to make your website available most of the time, it is highly recommended to switch to another provider that could provide you a better service.

• Customer Support and Trouble Ticket System

Online shoppers always seek the availability of online support and trouble ticket system in purchasing products and services just because they recognize the risk of not being able to get the value for their money being spent on a product or service. When launching an online store, providing customer support to answer queries and as well as solving errors and other forms of inconvenience to the part of the consumer should be a priority. Why? Because it is a way for you to get in touch with your customers and increase the probability of making a sale. Otherwise, your potential customers will stay away from your checkout page as your website does not establish enough communication and trust with them.

When you receive queries through your customer support email or trouble ticketing system, be sure to answer all queries, from low to high priority, within 24 hours. The shorter time your customer waits for response, the bigger the chances of actually trying out a product or service as you were able to display a great deal of trust and willingness to become a provider.

• Provide Trial Versions

This is normally relevant for service providers of software and learning materials which does not involve shipping or delivery of actual goods. Providing Trial Versions of your software or excerpts of a learning material gives the customers a better experience of what they are going to buy and the freedom of doing better purchasing decisions. In this way, consumers are happier and more satisfied with the product or service they bought and are more likely to make repeat transactions later.

• Confusing Checkout Pages

Checkout Pages are like checkout counters or cashiers. People arrive there because they are ready to buy the things inside their online shopping cart. But what makes them leave the counter even before making an actual sale?

Sometimes, checkout pages try to seize the moment to give out some suggestive selling before a user can actually arrive to the payment button. First, doing suggestive selling is good but it is actually time consuming for some users who prefer to checkout right away. Second, it triggers feelings of disinterest towards the product, service, or the whole website itself because of the lengthy process of checkout.

Your goal should be making a sale transaction in the fastest way possible. Eliminate potential barriers within the checkout process so that users can easily make purchasing actions in just a few clicks.

• Hidden Costs, Extra Charges

What’s more discouraging than being able to finally arrive in the checkout page with the bill having to add other costs on top of the price being advertised for a certain product or service? Shipping or delivery costs, taxes, and other charges needed together with the actual product or service price should be clearly stated in the product pages or better yet, get a good online shopping cart service which can help you with that.

• Few to One Payment Option

Online shopping has become popular due to the convenience of time and effort to purchase goods and services. But if you limit your website to only a few to one payment option, you are removing the freedom of consumers to purchase the goods and services according to the payment option they’re most comfortable with. Some consumers prefer using credit card payments instead of cash or use their PayPal monies instead of other forms of money, so you should be sure to open a merchant account that provides an all-in-one action in receiving any form of money.

• How users view your website

Your website has too many grammar and spelling mistakes which makes your website look very dumb. To avoid this, you can always do spelling and grammar check before publishing your content or hire a professional writer to do the content for you. The lesser errors you have in your website, the bigger the chances of establishing trust.

You may also want to check how you website looks. Are the colors looking great with the products and services you provide? Check your links and buttons if they are functioning well. Customize a 404 page so the users of your website would know that they are in a wrong page and have the ability to go back either the previous page visited or the home page.

Lastly, you should consider using Google webmasters tool to be able to know about website errors. Setting up of Google webmasters tool and as well as Google Analytics is free and easy. This should not be overlooked as it will help you make your website at full functionality.

About the Author:
Glen is a part of the NetIdnow team that helps individuals and businesses alike on how to create an online store using WebStudio Website Builder—an online store builder that allows people to make a website with or without HTML skills. Glen also enjoys sharing valuable information on SEO and Web Design.

Spiders
Spiders are computer programs that read web content and organize the collected data. The data determines the order in which the pages come up when people are searching for information on a specific topic. Spiders read text just like people do, but they cannot decipher images.

Titles and Page Headers
Words in title and page headers are the first thing spiders and people read. They should contain the strongest and most descriptive keywords relating to your text, because they describe the topic of your content.

Simplicity
Keep your text simple and updated. Use an easy format to make it easier for spiders and people to read. Try not to discuss multiple topics on one page, because it can confuse spiders. Create a new page for each topic, and use as many links as possible since spiders will follow the paths.

Keywords
Keyword placement decides your success. Sprinkle keywords throughout the body of your text. Utilize words that you would type in if you were searching for information contained on your website. The use of common sense when you are choosing and placing words usually results in rich keywords and flowing text.

Stuffing
Many people think that the more keywords they use the better success they will have, but keyword stuffing works the opposite way. Search engine spiders include programming that considers text containing overused keywords as spam and ignores the content altogether.

Images
Spiders cannot read images, so consider picture placement carefully. Use the ALT tag that allows you to include a text description of every image placed on your pages. Pages with flash may attract readers when they find your website, but use them sparingly because they have no affect on SEO.

Final Thoughts
You can maintain an attractive website and still make it easy for people and spiders to find, read and follow your content. Confusing or complicated text does not correlate into success. The text needs to make sense and read smoothly to hold the readers interest. Use relevant keyword phrases in anchor text to link with other pages to further increase SEO.
Rebecca Jones is a contributing writer for Invesp, a company that assists clients with their conversion optimization efforts through site testing and adjusting pages to promote landing page optimization.