Is Your Local Business Righteous for Pinterest?

In its very essence, Pinterest is a socially-oriented image sharing site. This pinboard-style website allows for the creation and management of theme-based image collections like interests, events, and hobbies. You can browse the pinboards of others, re-pin images to your own collection, and like images that you may like. Pinterest was created by Paul Sciarra, Ben Silbermann, and Evan Sharp, and launched on March 2010.

Twitter and Facebook are the undoubted leaders of the social media marketing world, but consider tapping into the power of the relatively new Pinterest. Some of the greatest advantages of using Pinterest for your business, according to comScore, are:

• Pinterest is one of the fastest growing standalone sites ever with 19 million users in March.
• The average user spends an average of 89 minutes on Pinterest, higher than LinkedIn and Twitter and only second to Facebook.
• You will get a targeted traffic of young females who are relationship-oriented, with the site attracting 65% women with an average age of 32 years.
• With Pinterest, you get clearly defined interests in visual and creative categories like furniture, jewelry, clothing, and other vintage and lifestyle goods.

According to the ecommerce marketing company Shopify:

1.      The referral power of Pinterest is equal to that of Twitter at present.

2.      Shoppers who are referred from Pinterest are ten percent more likely to buy compared to those referred from other social networking websites.

3.      Pins that have prices receive 36% more likes compared to those that do not.

Notable brands like Coca-Cola, The Wall Street Journal, and Neiman-Marcus are all using Pinterest. 

It is however, important to note that not all local businesses are suitable for Pinterest. There are several tips that will help you determine if your business is on the righteous path for using Pinterest.         

What do you sell?

Businesses where visuals play a vital role in products/services will benefit from Pinterest more. A business that sells art or jewelry, one that showcases beautiful lawns or remodeled kitchens or one that prepares gourmet meals will entice customers to buy the products or services on sale through Pinterest since human beings are visual creatures. You could include product reviews, customer testimonials, past works, and other content to entice customers. On the same breath, Pinterest might not be the place for you if you are offering such services as accountancy or legal services.

What is on your Website?

You could use Pinterest to showcase the services or products you have on your website. You can include links to your website so that customers/clients who are interested in the images they see can find their way into your landing page. This is a good option since you will get targeted Web traffic. Only those who like what you are offering and who know about you will end up in your landing page. Once on your website, customers/clients can call in an order for local delivery/pick up, find their way to a nearby outlet, make an inquiry, or do online purchase in the case of an ecommerce site.

Do you primarily cater to women?

Pinterest is indeed the best place if your business primarily caters for women. As the statistics above indicate, most Pinterest users are women. This is therefore, the best place if you are involved in such businesses as women fashion and coupon code businesses.

Do you have the time and resources needed to make Pinterest successful?

It is advisable that you only use Pinterest if you are willing to dedicate reasonable time and resources to the campaign. You will be required to update content regularly for a high ranking in SERPs (search engine results pages) and you will be required to engage with other users on a daily basis (or on near-daily basis). For success in your Pinterest campaign, you will be required to complement the Pinterest campaign with other social media and other Internet marketing campaigns such as affiliate marketing and email marketing.

Are you targeting an international audience?

Using Pinterest is a good idea if you are targeting more than the customers/clients in your locality. Thanks to the Internet, local businesses are now able to compete with larger businesses from around the world. Pinterest does not really help you if you are only targeting the people in your building since they will already know about you and what you are selling. 

You could enlist the services of a professional to advise you if your business is suitable for Pinterest. You could even have a professional manage your Pinterest campaign for convenience and professionalism. This way, you will be able to concentrate on running your business.

Is Pinterest set up to maximize my presence?

The process of setting up Pinterest is straightforward and it does not take too long, but proper steps must be followed if the profile is to have the desired effect. There should be descriptive keywords in the ‘about’ section. This section should give details on the business, including its location. Add website URL to the Pinterest profile and link the account to Twitter and Facebook for greater Web traffic. Add a Pinterest ‘follow’ button on your site and a ‘PinIt’ button on each one of your products/services. This will allow for following and sharing respectively. Have different boards for your different products/services with names that are easy to identify. The boards should highlight the products/services you have on offer. It is also advisable that you create boards promoting discounts. Pin an image in each one of the boards and use descriptive language in the boards, including the prices of the products/services where applicable. One the most common mistakes of using Pinterest is pinning images to your boards exclusively for promotional purposes. Mix up whatever you are selling with something interesting, even if you are not selling it. You could also use your boards to give tips and advice, such as how to wear a belt if you are selling belts.

Are you able to engage the Pinterest community?

A Pinterest campaign will only be successful if the community is involved. To do this, follow like-minded individuals and businesses in your local community, comment, re-pin and like content that your followers seem to care about and host regular contests.

Do you have another social media presence?

Complement your Pinterest campaign with other social media campaigns for maximum benefits. Remain active and integrate activities in all social medial platforms whenever you can. Take time to review the content that followers seem to enjoy more. All in all, Pinterest can be a powerful tool for ecommerce marketing for local small business.

6 Tips for Writing Compelling Blog Titles

Blogs form an integral part of any good Internet marketing campaign. Blogs are key to keeping loyal consumers and readers informed and engaged with your brand.

Quality and relevancy of your blog content is crucial. However, before users get to read the great content you have on your blog, you have to attract them to it in the first place.

In order to achieve this, you must have a catchy, compelling blog title that makes users want to read what is in the blog post. There are several ways through which you can write blog titles that will attract many readers to your post.

Below we offer 6 tips for writing compelling blog titles:

1 .You should be precise, clear and to the point. From the title, the readers should instantly know what they are going to get when they read the content of your blog. If the title clearly captures what they are looking for then they are definitely going to read that blog post.

2. People will always be looking for blog posts that tell them how to accomplish something. By using a title that tells the readers how to solve a certain problem or achieve something, they are more likely to read your blog post because they want to learn from the information you are offering.

3. Your title should tell people that the information you are sharing is new and they need to know about it. People are always looking for new products or new ways of doing things, so if your blog title gives this impression, it is bound to attract a lot of readers.

4. The use of numbers and lists in your title will also help in attracting readers to your blog post. It breaks down the article in a way that readers will find easier to read. It also sets expectations for what is in the post. For example, if your title is '6 tips to writing compelling blog articles', the readers will come to the blog posts expecting exactly that.

5. You will also be able to attract a lot of attention by being sensational or even controversial with your title. Readers will be immediately curious to read more once they see a title that challenges the norm and general expectations.

6. Using the right keywords in your title is also very important, as this is what the readers will use to find the blog through search engines. If you get the keywords right, your blog will have a better chance of ranking in the SERPs and readers will be quickly attracted to it since they will see that it talks about what they are looking for.

These are just some of the things you can do to attract more readers to your blog with your title. Remember to also write high quality blog content and give the readers what you promise in your title.

Adapting Your Business to Evolving Trends

The digital landscape changes every day. It is important that businesses keep up with the latest changes since there is intense competition over the Internet. Every business should take advantage of social media, and the most righteous businesses use these channels strategically and creatively.

Be Social & Start Learning About Your Target Market

Having a presence in social media allows you to interact with customers and potential customers. This will help you in gaining more awareness of who your target market is, and the things they appreciate. In essence, a social media presence is an effective and cheap market research tool. Create a Facebook brand page, a Twitter account, and Google+ profile page. Start asking questions and starting getting insights. Sound simple? It is.

Your business should take advantage of such geo-location check-in services as Facebook locations and Foursquare. These services are important because you will help potential clients/customers find you easily. You could have rewards or discount opportunities for clients/customers who update their status that they are at your business premises.

Depending on the nature of your business, you can also take advantage of crowdsourced discounts and deals, such as LivingSocial and Groupon. You should also try such social commerce services as Armadealo and Shopkick. These create personalized experiences, which are important in that your clients/customers will share them.

Get Listed. Get Found.

Your business stands to benefit from such referral-based solutions as Yelp, Angie’s List, and Service Magic. These solutions promote the visibility of your business. The shared experiences with customers/clients mean you can improve your business, brand, products, or services.

Rewarding engagement will lead to greater ROI (return on investment) and improves customer loyalty and you should therefore consider using such gamification platforms as Fangager and Badgeville.

Be on the Cutting Edge 

You should also consider taking advantage of the mobile phone app frenzy. You could create an app to have an edge over your competitors. Mobile device users are making more and more decisions while on the move and they are reviewing their experiences and comparing options on these devices.

You should have a multi-disciplinary approach when creating an online presence and overall Internet marketing strategy. You should focus on tablets, laptops, desktops, smartphones and other platforms. You should create an experience that is holistic and optimized for each of these platforms.

Consider where the consumer click path begins and ends as you steer experience based on customer expectations. You should also take advantage of M-commerce and Facebook F-commerce. Determine what the expectations of your customers are and what they value in each platform and channel.

Knowing where customers engage will help you improve the customer experience. Customers are then more likely to share the experience.

Competing with Cloud-Based Businesses

Accenture, a global management consulting, outsourcing and technology company that has a presence in over 120 countries (and a staff of over 246,000 people) recently released a report titled ‘Where the Cloud Meets Reality: Scaling to Succeed in New Business Models’.

The report was based on phone and in-person interviews with 40 IT executives, operations executives, and business unit executives in 30 high-tech industry companies. All the businesses interviewed are Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Software-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service cloud-based businesses. The Interviews started in May 2011 and ended in November 2011.

According to the research findings in ‘Where the Cloud Meets Reality: Scaling to Succeed in New Business Models’, high-tech companies are having a hard time transforming their traditional business models of shipping packaged software or hardware products to business models that provide new services based on cloud computing, the latter being more complex. The goal of this research was to come up with insights that will help companies that are interested in cloud-based business models.

According to the research findings, senior management executives in most companies lack the understanding of how the complexity of cloud-based business models impact operations in almost all functions of their establishments. The disconnect is significant since the interviewed companies intend to adopt over 5 business models for revenue generation by 2015 and it is likely that most of these models will be based around cloud computing. The companies interviewed had an average of 2 to 3 models today, adding a lack of security to the outlook of these companies.

Tech companies that use the old models are having a hard time competing with those that have already adopted cloud-based computing/services. Theses companies are being faced with operational challenges as they try to figure out how to support the new models and to deliver the experience that enterprise customers are demanding. These companies are having a hard time coping with the disruption that the change is causing.

According to the Accenture research, there are several steps that companies that are changing to cloud-based computing/services can take. They need to determine the exact business models they need so that they do not invest money in the wrong place. They must identify and create the distinctive capabilities that are needed in the delivery of business in the cloud.

Accenture also added that these businesses also need to develop segmented operation models to deliver the service capabilities and to save money whilst enhancing the customer experience. They also need to design governance model that will help in the making of such critical decisions as decisions on resource allocation.

What are you thoughts on these movements in business operations and resource allocation? Provide your comments below.

The Mobile Future of Search Marketing

Many people are increasingly using the search engines to find information, products or services that they need. In the past, most of these searches have been performed using personal computers, but the trend is now changing.

There has been an influx of mobile devices that allow users to access the Internet from just about anywhere, especially when they are on the move. The social networking sites are also very popular and are being used by millions of people all over the world. Many people now use their mobile internet devices to make searches online and also to access the social networking sites. This combination presents a great platform for the future of internet search marketing.

Mobile + Social Infusion

Businesses that are tech-savvy have recognized the role that mobile internet devices and the social networking sites are set to play in terms of internet marketing. Already, more than 50% of all online search activity occurs from mobile devices. This is because people conveniently carry their mobile devices around, and if they feel compelled to search for anything, the first place they will go is their mobile devices.

Having recognized this, businesses are now looking for various ways of, not only appearing at the top of SERPs during related searches, but also having their websites in a format that is easily accessible and navigable using the various mobile devices. Many businesses are exploring new and creative ways for mobile marketing and attaining more customer through mobile-based strategies.

Mobile Marketing Moving Forward

Once a business understands how people will use their mobile devices to find whatever they are looking for through search engines, it should be able to come up with a mobile friendly website design or landing page instantly available wherever they are. The page should be designed to captivate and engage the visitors, provide what they want, and convince them to pay money for your products or services in the end. It is important to localize the search parameters so that the visitors will see that the products or services that they are searching for are actually available easily and this will act as an additional reason to do business with your organization.

Businesses have also recognized that people share a lot of information and ideas about various aspects of their lives on social networking sites. Any business that can understand the dynamics of these social network site users can use it to market its products and services to a potentially huge audience. This requires establishing a presence on the social networking sites through fan pages and related ideas, and actively engaging the target audience through regular updates, comments and sharing of other relevant information.

Google Drive Evokes Content Ownership Concerns

Google Drive is a new product by Google that enables users to upload content to a central platform where others can use and share the content. With all of the other Google products out there, like Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calender, etc, it would be sensible to drop one's DropBox (a similar content sharing platform) for the new Google Drive.

But before you accept this new product by Google, there are some notable implications that you might want to consider. Below is summary of the terms of DropBox and Google Drive (summed up Internet marketer by Jay Dahl.)

So as you can see, any content you upload to Google Drive is essentially theirs. For many businesses (especially those in the SEO and website optimization professions) sharing their information with the big G is not in their best interests.

Google Drive might still serve as a fine product for individuals and personal use. However, these terms are somewhat alarming, are they not?

What do you think?

The Essence of Pinterest for Your Righteous Business Strategy

Social media sites have evolved from simple networking and friend sharing platforms to major marketing tools. As a result, businesses off all types are taking advantage of the immense popularity and marketing potential that these sites have to offer.

A rising star in the line-up of social media players is Pinterest. Launched in 2010, Pinterest has grown to peak the interests of many people. The rich media-based social platform has grown at an alarming 4000% over the past six month alone. Furthermore, Pinterest has shown a greater influx of traffic over other social media sites like Google Plus and YouTube.

The astounding growth of Pinterest must not go ignored, even by the small business marketers. Now rated the 3rd most popular social media network on the Web, Pinterest offers a unique platform that helps brands build awareness and customer acquisition.

The Power Behind Pinterest

Pinterest centers upon the sharing of interactive media, primarily images and videos. The essential purpose of the site is to provide a user-centric platform where people can distribute and share content that they like.
Similar to Facebook, this concept is offers a wealth of opportunity for righteous business marketers.

Exposing quality content to the masses (particularly creative infographics and customer-focused photos) can result in greater brand awareness for all types of companies. And what separates Pinterest from other social media sites, is its simplicity. There are no conversations and news-feeds - just sharing the goods.

Evoking the Pins of Your Target Market

Although many marketers are quick to assume that Pinterest is just another big business platform for major brands, the social sharing site offers opportunities for all. By enabling marketers to create a virtual pin board surrounding a specific theme of choice, Pinterest allows even local boutiques and small businesses to show off their content.

Pinterest allows marketers to really drill down on the interests of their target market. For a target audience of righteous business professionals, marketers can distribute eBooks, diagrams, and flow charts, all with notes that highlight important points throughout the content. For fasion-savvy shoppers, marketers can publish images of their latest clothing lines, product videos highlights, and other creative media to attract the eyes of users.

The advantages of this social media marketing platform is that almost any type of business with any type of audience can exploit opportunities. Whether for search engine optimization or purely brand exposure, marketers can flex their creative muscle with Pinterest.

Are You Pinterested Yet?

With Pinterest on the rise, this is on social media site that almost any marketer will want to exploit. Just be sure to brand virtual pin board so users can identify where this great content is coming from. There are also a number of other strategies to using Pinterest for SEO and website optimization. Here, we just want to give you a taste of the righteous business potential of Pinerest.

Why Internet Marketers Need to Ready Themselves for Industry Consolidation

The Internet marketing industry is on the verge of a significant movement toward consolidation. After years of developing niche specialties in the industry, many SEM and Internet marketing providers are under pressure from clients to offer a fuller range of services.

In short, clients do not want to deal with a bunch of niche website specialists to meet their needs. Many prospects, particularly larger scale brands, want companies that can support a number of specialties, such as web design, SEO, copywriting, and Pay Per Click, to name a few..

Internet Marketers Moving Forward

In order to meet this challenge, there will be two options for companies in the SEM and Internet marketing industry. The first one will be mergers by small companies to form larger, more viable entities. Such an approach will work for companies like Havas and GroupM, which offer niche specialties in the web world.

The other strategy will be the acquisition of smaller website companies by larger organizations. Companies like Google, Bing and Facebook will seriously consider acquiring smaller boutiques to acquire the skills they need to meet the emerging needs of their clients.

Examples of Consolidation Movement

BoostCTR is one of the small providers that seem to be making themselves a target for acquisition because of their newly launched enterprise service - ad copy optimization. This program will increase the click through rates hence the return on investment for a search engine. The company is yet to name the big player in which they will be work with, but the company's CEO, David Greenbaum, noted that major search engine providers are looking for more specialized firms that can offer these capabilities.

The main driver behind the expected era of consolidation comes from the pressure from clients and the fact that there is too much fragmentation. Boost, BrightEdge, and Kenshoo are examples of niche providers with unique specializations. Calcalist, an Israeli publication, pointed that the drive towards consolidation is a sign that the website design and Internet marketing industry is entering its maturity phase.

Internet Marketers and website design companies alike are positioning themselves to ensure that the expected consolidation brings better fortunes. From niche web design boutiques to organic SEO firms, the shift is already apparent in many forms of web business.

So what exactly does this mean? Will a re-emergence of full-service ad agencies with core focuses in Internet marketing capabilities be the result?

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.

Holiday Shopping Using Google

Do you remember how it feels when you have to go to a mall to find the perfect clothing. You visit numerous stores, try out tons of options, and eventually you may or may not get the items you want.

Gone are the days when you have to go to malls and visit endless shops to find the things you desire. You can find each and everything online using none other than Google!! Right from a apparel, electronics, home decor, furnishings, mobile phones, and more - you name it and it's most likely available online. And sometimes also at lower cost.  

Below are a few basic tips on how to shop and find the best deals using Google.

1. Make a list of all the articles you want to shop for. e.g: party dress, gift for parents etc.
2. Then use the same keyword and just add the word online to it and search Google. For.e.g to search for a party dress on Google, you would just need to search party dress online
3. Google will show up a lot of websites which sells party dress online.
4. Now look at the description of the site, it will give you some basic information about what the site is offering and select the site you like.
5. Usually the shopping websites will have a list of items along with the photographs. Some of the sites also offer the facility to zoom and see the product closely.
6. If you like the product, you just need to add it to your cart and give your address information and checkout.You will get an option to pay using your card. some even offer cash on delivery.
e.g. of a sites : http://www.greatglam.com/
7. If you are looking for something specifically in your area e.g dentist in your area: just use the keyword: dentist followed by your city name or area name.

Search Using Product Name and Offers

Apart from random searching on Google, another way to find great products online with amazing discount is to search using a different keyword. Taking the same example again, if you want to look to party dress online with great discount, just search Google with the following keyword: party dress online discount. It will show up with all the sites which offer discounts on party dresses.

Few things you would need to keep in mind which shopping online using Google is security. Always ensure that the site you visit from Google, has some signs that will indicate that the site is genuine. e.g the site could have a logo which says 'Safe shopping guarantee' or it would have also have contact no's or toll free no's on the site. Some of the site also have representatives online whom you can chat will and they can guide you through shopping.

Tips for Better Blogging

Creating a blog can be quite challenging. At first it may seem easy to make a blog, especially if you are renewed with the vigor on the project. Buy what’s hard is maintaining and also renewing the interest of your readers. To make a blog work, not only do you make a good impact on your readers, but you also make sure that your blog does not stagnate as you go along.

That’s usually the common problem of most bloggers in blogs or whatever type of blog that you make you might want to make sure you get fresh material and that you update it constantly. More often than not, we become victims of our own procrastination or also sometimes we get too busy with what we consider as the important things that we forget to keep the blog alive.

Sometimes it’s not just keeping the blog alive. I admit, writing can be fun and a blog can give you a great outlet to what you are thinking but it won’t be as great if nobody reads your blog right? Make sure that you keep your articles interesting – and by that I mean you might want to start as if you are conversing with your readers. Speak your reader’s language so it’s not only about you – it’s also about them. Being able to relate to a blog keeps readers wanting for more.

Know what you will be blogging abut. A certain theme will do and that will also help keep you focused. Blogs are usually shared by readers to their friends and this will help you gain more readers and more attention.

Make sure you don’t fill up your blog with a lot of keywords. Keywords make “filing” of your articles easier but don’t overpopulate it. Use ones that most f your readers would look up or one that aren’t to colloquial. Common and easy keywords will give your article much more exposure.

To gain more attention, not only do you have to make your articles interesting, you might also want to submit them to RSS feeds. This way interested readers would be updated every time you post a blog and to those subscribed to the same RSS feed will be able to look up your articles. RSS feeds give your blog more exposure.

A more effective way to promote your blog is by advertising in social networks. A lot of people log on to the social networks so why not advertise there? You can seek the help of peers as well as the groups you belong to help spread the word. This usually doesn’t even include you having to pay off the advertising for your blog. You might also want to advertise in search engines as well but whether you’ll want to pay for the advertising is up to you.

A usual problem is getting a constant stream of topics especially on your off days. It a usual problem every writer encounters but not an unsolvable one. You might want to consider lazily browsing the internet – a lot of ideas will come to you. If you hit a wall, don’t forget to bring a pen paper or tablet with you. The old saying that great ideas come to you in the wee hours of the morning is quite true- they poop out of your mind when you least expect them. By noting them down you won’t easily forget that came up. 

Tips to Maximize Your Cyber Monday Potential

The day after thanksgiving, a.k.a Black Friday, marks the start of the holiday shopping season but for shoppers who'd rather keep it easy there's Cyber Monday. 2010's Cyber Monday generated $1 billion in sales and Volusion social media manager, Matt Winn says it is critical for small businesses to compete with larger, well known retailers this time of year.

A red letter day for ecommerce sales, Cyber Monday was started in 2005, basing on the observation that consumers made purchases at work to avail of holiday sales and faster internet connections. Since then, there were marked increases in sales conversions on subsequent Cyber Mondays and small businesses should ensure they get a piece of the pie. With large retailers offering stiff competition, what's a small ecommerce website supposed to do?

1. Determine the discounts you can offer. Customers are going to hunt for the best bargains just like on Black Friday. The more discounts you're offering the more buzz you can generate which translates to heavier traffic and more sales conversions. But be careful not to get too carried away. Lowering prices too much may be great for the top line but it can harm your bottom line in the process.

2. Prepare for the influx of customers. Make sure that your website's bandwidth can handle the heavy traffic and ensure that your stock and inventory system is in perfect working order. You'd want to avoid customer issues that can harm your business long after Cyber Monday has come and gone.

3. Great advertising matters. A lot. Every ecommerce website owner knows the value of good advertising and for the biggest day of the year, you have to optimize it. Here are a few tips to get you going:

·         Spend time on search engine optimization as well as using social media networks to advertise.

·         Send emails more frequently to enhance customer recall. Grab the customer's attention by including "Cyber Monday" and discount highlights on the subject line if possible.

·         Ensure that web pages look clean and fresh. Improve loading time by compressing graphics to the minimum without compromising appearance.

·         Vice president of marketing and creative director for future-ink, Jeune Ortiz, suggests a special landing page for Cyber Monday sales to minimize distractions. The first page a potential customer sees should provide personalized, relevant content. Highlight popular merchandise and use influential sites to announce Cyber Monday promotions, offers and discounts.

·         Ecommerce websites should have a dedicated mobile page to maximize sales. Research indicates that mobile shopping is on the rise highlighting the need for mobile presence if you want to maximize sales.

·         Lots of customers visit ecommerce sites for the first time on Cyber Monday. To maximize this opportunity, Sarah Schager, Internet marketing strategist for Vertical Measures recommends collecting email addresses to allow you to contact them for future promos and offers. She says, "Following up with customers is vital to building your brand. A one-time sale is great, but a lifelong customer is better."

Preparation is the key to maximize sales potential on Cyber Monday. Create a buzz, avoid disasters and sustain consumer interest by optimizing web presence and you'll be looking forward to really happy holidays.