Tag Archives: brand

Building A Web Site For Publicity

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Publicity is everywhere

Companies large and small are building web sites that contain too much information, or create a nightmare to navigate.

I read an article about this problem titled "Analytics that Boost Web Revenue". The author of the article, Karen Vogel, uses an airport to illustrate how web sites are getting so large (depth in pages) that if an airport didn’t have signs and sections for you to enter, you would be lost.

I believe that if you are a company that offers a lot of information, such as a financial institution and want feel you need to have all the services explained. Or your company sells automotive aftermarket accessories and you put your entire catalog on the net.

That is ok, if you build the site so customers can navigate back easily, or are able to not "get them lost’.
Too often companies add links upon links to take you deeper, or to another site for support information. That’s how you will loose customers.

A web site is part of your publicity campaign. It is what people will think of your company. It’s that image building I spoke about many times before.

To keep a positive image when you are facing this problem with too much information, I suggest building a separate site, maybe three different sites that can link to each other.

This will keep specific information in one place, and provides you the ability to market your company in several markets through different web sites.

Remember, customers are looking for information, or something to buy, solve a problem. Don’t give them a reason to hate your company because you put everything inside the site.

Maybe it is giving customers a summary of the information, about the services or products you offer. Then give them the option to contact you for further information.

Customers like choices. Make this work for you and that will be the publicity reward– a positive name (brand) in the industry.

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Are Customers Finding You Through Search Engines?

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Your Customers Are Probably Going To Your Competitors Site

Ever wonder why your site isn’t getting all the traffic you want? Notice that your competitors are listed higher in the search than your site? How can this be when it is your key words?

A recent study found that "Fifteen percent of people who search for a company’s brand name end up going to Web sites of the brand’s competitors, affiliates or to price-comparison sites because those sites rank high in the results, according to a study to be released today by online competitive intelligence firm Hitwise, New York."

The study goes on to tell you that you need to buy more of the keywords that fit your company description. But what if your competitors are already paying for those key words?

In my opinion, that’s the problem with bidding wars for keywords.

Ms. Prescott, a senior analyst for Hitwise, said. "People are searching more navigationally than they used to."

Some even suggest buying your brand name that might be spelled incorrectly. This actually helps customers find you. People don’t use a spell checker in the search navs for Google, or Yahoo. So this could be a good suggestion.

Unfortunately, you can be spending a lot of money bidding for your brand name, or words that relate to your brand. Is there another solution? Yes!

I’ve said this before, blogging. But not just a blog site. You need one that has the muscle and wisdom behind the site. It is the special ingredients of how the site is structured, how the key words are inserted into the daily blogs, how it is found by search engines.

Let your competitors pay for the keywords and phrases, while you establish a blog site that will get your company, brand name, listed at the top of the searches. It’s time to let blogging work for you!

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Getting The Word Out

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Branding is important so is blogging

All companies are fighting for the same thing. An Identity.

Without this, you can’t be visible, you will have a difficult time selling a product or service, and it will be very difficult to stay in business.

Today’s competitive market (in all industries) is looking for better and more efficient methods to creating this identity.

The word "Branding" has become a popular term in our business language. This is what an identity is for a company. Although branding does encompass more than the traditional identity program. All businesses need to have a serious look as to how they are perceived by customers, competitors and the media.

When developing a branding program, you need to look at all aspects of the company. When you have placed a true branding program in place, you then need to get that image, brand into the marketplace.

Doing this can be done in several ways. I strongly recommend that companies include with their Publicity Campaign a business "blog site".

Blogging is more than a term; it is now part of our daily lives. Even more so in business.

A good blog site will consist of RSS feeds to attract news about your industry, and market. It will also be created in a fashion to reflect your image–BRAND. In addition it needs to be monitored and produced by a professional blog company that knows the "back end" of the marketing. Doing a blog is only one small part of blogging.

Writing and using links, images, keywords, phrases and many other unique techniques can be a very productive site to make a company gain visibility and brand recognition within 90 days.

So be careful before you just plunge into a blog site. Make sure you work with people who know the techniques of the business side. These are the people who can make things happen for you and your company.

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Where is Search Going

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Search Engines Build Momentum

Search engine marketing is not something that just happens by chance. It is an art, a science, and a lot of work.

Many clients think the old ways of adding meta tag descriptions, or key words and submissions to all the search engines will get results. Not true anymore.

The search engine (SE) battle to be the biggest and best is heating up again.

More companies are finally realizing they can build an ecommerce web site while maintaining a traditional storefront. With this attention, the SE’s are getting more sophisticated on how they list a web site.

I saw an article by Kevin Ryan titled "Search and the Brand". He mentioned a lot of interesting things, besides the awards stuff for this event.

For example, at the Advertising Week event, Mr. David Verklin, CEO of Carat Americans, pointed out a study that was completed in December of 2004 showed 92% of consumer electronics and other computer purchases. This is only one category. But it illustrates how consumers are using the net for more ease of purchasing. That means they will be using SE’s more often to find products, companies and places to make purchases.

HP saw their click volume increase 45% and the transactions increased 65%.

At this Advertising Week event, it was noted that keyword purchasing hit an all-time high as well. Some advertisers were now purchasing odd words, like "possum". Popular words such as "automobile" or "Honda Element’ are still expensive.

So what’s the other solution to fighting this marketing battle? Try "street smart marketing". By this I mean it’s time you have a plan that includes a blog site with back end tie-ins. Publicity should be part of that overall plan. Together, these become powerful marketing tools and can build a brand name within a few months.

Publicity in all places

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Your Mission Message

I was wondering this afternoon if any companies have taken publicity to another level.

Well I think I found one.

I saw Dan Janals‘ blog that spoke about the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas using publicity at, and what I call, the next level pr.

He mentioned that when he purchased water from the hotel (Wynn’s own brand) it tasted so good that he complimented the worker on its fresh smooth taste. The worker’s reply was "does it make you want to gamble?’

According to Dan, he thought "now that’s a mission statement!" He also realized all of the workers and the different sections of the hotel (registration, restaurant) all gave you the feeling of wanting to be there. That in turn will get people who enjoy the gaming part want to stay longer.

Then as he entered the elevator, he noticed all the buttons had names of the floors, like spa, casino, rather than First Floor, etc. This is another way of re-enforcing their mission statement…which is all connected to their BRANDING.

You will notice more and more that building a brand has become essential in building a successful business.

Make sure you include with your publicity a branding program. It’s the smart way to do business.
 

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