Online Reputation Management Ethics: What to Say and Not to Say at All

Online reputation management may be all about handling negative reviews properly. However, you also have to be ready to accept some criticism.

That fly in your signature clam chowder won’t show its way out by itself; you need to take action. Instead of replying with a criticism of your own, prove to customers that it won’t happen again in your other dishes on the menu. How you’ll do it is for you to decide. Perhaps you can start with cleaning the kitchen before closing and opening time; flies like it when you knock the sugar jar over.

There’s no denying the fact that freedom of expression is a human right, so the critics can send you negative reviews all they want. Yet, it doesn’t inevitably mean you have to put up with their aggressiveness. There’s a limit to what people can say and how much of it before you have to draw the line.

Sometimes, an apology is the best way to do online reputation management. If the facts point to your shortcomings, simply say you’re sorry and do everything you can with what you have to prevent an incident from coming full circle again. Granted that apologizing is difficult for most people, it shows that you owe it to your mistakes to be a better business.

On the other hand, all the more you should take action if your business is bombarded with lies. It’s the Internet; there are as many trolls in a given section of cyberspace as stars in the night sky. While legal action is possible, try to settle the dispute face-to-face first. Misconceptions are not worth the time and money to pursue for damages.

In a world where people have been drawn in closer together, public opinion has also become more solid. It’s easy for one person’s negative review about a product of service to reach to the far corners of cyberspace. This is the kind of problem any reputable company specializing in online reputation management aims to solve.

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Facebook Fumbles to Avoid when Getting Social Media Marketing Services

If you hire a dependable social media marketing consultant, you just might be able to efficiently promote your business website on social media sites like Facebook. However, you should know that social media can be a lot less predictable than other online marketing strategies like web design and search engine optimization. This in turn leads to people making these common Facebook mistakes:

The Megaphone Problem

For many businesses, Facebook is an excellent portal that can connect them to their target market, yet others treat the site like a one-way street. You should engage your followers to like and comment on your posts instead of simply putting up nothing but ads and promotional stuff.

The Predictability Pitfall

As previously mentioned, there are no sure-fire ways to ensure that your Facebook marketing plan goes off without a hitch, maybe unless you somehow manage to read the minds of all your followers. To hone your marketing strategy, though, you should check out your metrics from Facebook Insights regularly to get an inkling of what might work for you.

No Call to Action

One of the most important parts of your Facebook ad campaign should be the call to action, which is the part where you tell your readers to take part in your aim. Common calls to action include telling your readers to “like” or “share” a page, or maybe even ask them to leave comments on a Sponsored Story 

Mishandling Poor Reviews

The best businesses are those who can stay on their toes even when faced with poor reviews and bad customer comments. Always remember that efficient social media marketing services depend on how well you take comments as much as how well you can do damage control.

Marketing on Facebook requires knowledge and foresight on the part of the business owner. After all, it’s not only your campaign that’s on the line, but even your very reputation itself.

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PPC Advertising: Paying for Results

There are many advantages in marketing a company's services online. Aside from its convenience in reaching multiple people through search engines, most options for Internet marketing are free, with with concerns focused mainly on making high quality and optimized content for the website. To some companies, however, they want to make use of the capabilities of Internet marketing to its fullest. In some cases, they turn to the search engine managers themselves for paid marketing.

Pay Per Click Marketing

Pay per click (PPC) marketing is by far the most effective and fastest way to put up a promotion or content online. Client groups would pay the search engine provider or other websites so they could put up their promotions and content on either the highest part of the search list, or as display ads in a private content website. Costs are usually charged per click on the ad or the website, thus the term “pay per click”.

Its advantages

Unlike SEO or SMO, the website or the ad being paid can be put up faster and may stay in its higher position until the client company stops paying. Client groups pay for the keywords used in the PPC content, the list of keywords would be used by the search engine provider to make the PPC website a priority when customers search for them in the Internet. The cost being paid to the search engine can also be used to keep track of how many customers actually visit their site for their services. These numbers can be used for future references, possibly as feedback for free online advertising strategies in the future.

The Internet is a very vast source of Information and services. From research work to leisure surfing, the World Wide Web has now become a lucrative avenue for business promotions. Online marketing strategies have been developed in the most recent years to make full use of the Internet. With rules and regulations on proper Internet marketing also being drafted, PPC marketing can be a helpful option.

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When Engaging Web Design Services, Make Emotional Appeal the Priority

Admittedly, contracting professional web design services to create an aesthetic that appeals to the customer’s emotions can cost a business significantly more than having a website that meets just the basic requirements of design. Against this point, however, business owners should consider that investing more money in a better website will also yield significant financial returns.

When employed correctly, emotional website design turns ordinary visitors into brand evangelists. In the same way that viral videos spread quickly because people are inclined to share them, so too will a great website compel visitors to get the word out about that site.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/industry-news/when-engaging-web-design-services-make-emotional-appeal-the-priority/

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Online Reputation Management Influences Business Marketing

Reputation Management is a business strategy, using one company's reputation as an effective marketing tool. Excellent products, cheaper services and positive client feedback influence the promotions of a company, as more customers want to look for the best services they can afford. Since the Internet is one of the primary sources of information that many people access today, businesses have also relied on the wide range of online services to further market themselves to potential customers. Utilizing techniques like Search Engine Optimization can help companies improve their online reputation.

Important Components for Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization or SEO makes use of multiple keyword-based content postings to boost the rank of a company website in search engines like Google. Proper SEO articles have major parts in them that not only put the company web page on the top portions of the search engine results pages, but also boosts its credibility among searching customers.

Keyword Usage

Keywords are the most important part of any SEO content. These words are what customers usually search for on Google when looking for products to buy. If a customer wants to look for “plumbers in California”, the most relevant sites (based on Google's algorithms) appear in the first pages of the returned results pages. Website content with proper keyword optimization often gets this priority when being browsed on the Internet.

Reliable Content

A credible website not only focuses on keyword optimization as a means to boost their online reputation. Most customers would also want to read through the company's field of expertise, service quality and client feedback to know if the business or product is worth investing in. Proper content for SEO must contain short but relevant information to make people more interested in the company in question.

Online reputation management has become a unique form of marketing strategy, ranging from colorful promotions that reach a wide variety of people, to informative services for those with specific needs. Strategies like SEO will continue to be utilized, all the more now that the majority of the people in the world are using the Internet.

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Make Social Media Marketing Services Give You An Advantage This Year

Business that opt to use social media platforms to promote their respective brands must first understand the power of social media. They must realize that millions of people will have access to whatever it is they post online, and these people will come from different backgrounds and have different influences. As more people turn to social media for information on products and services, the content posted on these platforms should not only capture the market’s attention, but also retain it.

With help from a trusted social media marketing consultant like Aligned Right Media, businesses will be able to improve the quality of their online content and create more engaging posts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. Having interactive content will keep existing clients coming back to your sites more often, and at the same time generate a buzz within your target market and attract prospective customers.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/info-articles/make-social-media-marketing-services-give-you-an-advantage-this-year/

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Client-Website Agreement: On Proper Pay Per Click Marketing strategies

 Companies are increasingly using the Internet to market their services and boost their reputation through online content. Strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) and social media optimization (SMO) are currently being utilized by businesses and organizations to make it easier for their target audience to view their articles and social media pages. While both methods are proven to be useful in generating traffic and improving visibility on the Net, certain ethical rules are being implemented now to ensure that the content posted is credible and isn’t meant only to trick search engines into boosting the page’s rank. An article posted on the Practical ECommerce site further suggests ways for a company to capitalize on another internet marketing strategy: the pay per click marketing.

Pay per click marketing (PPC), also known as paid online advertising, is more business-oriented and involves the owner of an online advertisement and the owner of a website.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/info-articles/client-website-agreement-on-proper-pay-per-click-marketing-strategies/

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Easy Ways to Build Your Business a Good Reputation on the Internet

The Internet is the place to go to if you’re looking for a cheap way to become popular. A simple yet fascinating video you post on YouTube can put you in the limelight. However, this is only helpful if you’re becoming popular the right way. Many of those who seek online fame end up losing their career and staining their reputation instead because of poor reputation management.

Having a good online reputation is all the more crucial if you own a business. A tiny negative claim about your product or service posted on Facebook or Twitter can seriously dent your brand. That’s one risk you have to take if you’re determined to market your business online. Here are some ways to maintain a good online reputation.

One is to always assume that there’s no such thing as absolute privacy on the Internet. While it’s true that you can adjust your privacy settings to limit views of your private photos or files, there’s no guarantee that only you will be able to view them, or those who can view them won’t stab you in the back. Always keep private photos safe in your personal computer.

Online reputation management is easier when there are no controversial photos, videos, or conversations about your business leaking out in social media sites. As a business marketing tool, your website should never be associated with any controversy, so it’s best to always ensure that all materials you release online will paint your brand in a flattering light in social media and forum sites.

Encourage your clients to join in forums and share their opinion about your product or service. Good reviews in independent reviews sites are considered reliable by many people, particularly your prospective clients. In fact, many consumers today visit reviews sites first before purchasing a certain product.

There are online reputation management companies that can help you keep your business’s name clean on the Web. If there are materials scattered across the Internet that you want to have removed as they may damage your current reputation, these companies can help you remove them.

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Seasoned Business Owners Trust Online Reputation Management Experts

No company can resist the multitude of marketing and reputation-building opportunities offered by the Internet. Unfortunately, due to limited restrictions, the Internet can also be used to destroy reputation, given the cutthroat competition on the market. If not rivalry, the consumers’ freedom to post and comment about their opinion of a product or service may trigger status downfall. In an article written by Lauren Simonds for Time, the importance of online reputation management is explicitly discussed, including how businesses operating online can prevent small unnerving issues about them from being magnified, or reverse the impact of an existing issue.

This is where a trusted online reputation management company comes in. Dedicated to eliminating all factors that pull down a business’s reputation, this company can guarantee a clean, new start.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/info-articles/seasoned-business-owners-trust-online-reputation-management-experts/

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Search Engine Optimization Company: Improving Web Marketing Techniques

While many can create websites of their own, not a lot of people understand how SEO works. Search engines are progressively being developed to produce results that are more organic and relevant to the requests of users. Thus, businesses can no longer rely on simply peppering their websites with keywords to move up the ranks. Developers should turn their sites into locations users will actually want to visit.

For true optimization, businesses will have to pay closer attention to the types of content they’re offering on the Web. If implemented properly, updated and informative content, paired with social media interactions, can put a business on the map. Businesses with limited knowledge and experience in Web marketing can’t do all this alone. They can enlist the support of handy search engine optimization services.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/industry-news/search-engine-optimization-company-improving-web-marketing-techniques/

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Lord Over Your Competition and Market with Local Internet Marketing

A lot of so-called marketing experts love jumping the gun and proclaiming that SEO is dead. However, despite what these people say, SEO is still alive and thriving. In the hospitality industry in particular, one survey shows that more than half of the website revenue of survey participants came from direct referral from search engines, including organic and paid SEO.

Does your company belong to the hospitality industry? If it does, then you have the same goals as any business: to promote brand awareness, reduce expenses, and ultimately, to increase sales. SEO—particularly a well-planned local internet marketing scheme—can be an effective way to present your services to the world.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/industry-news/lord-over-your-competition-and-market-with-local-internet-marketing/

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Why Local SEO Is a Surefire Means of Local Business Online Marketing

You only want what’s best for your business, so you would opt for the best marketing strategies. Whatever product or service you’re offering, it has to be properly marketed to bring in more sales. However, marketing, especially on the Internet, can be a little tricky. A lot of businesses that do online marketing actually become popular, yet their sales remain only as high as those of companies that don’t aggressively advertise online, some earning even less. What’s going on?

The problem with some tools used for internet marketing for local business is that they target an indefinite market. Meaning, a large percentage of internet users who are able to view the products and services being advertised are not really capable of or interested in buying them. If only there were a way to narrow down the target market to only those who need the products and services, are able to buy them, and are easy to reach, making sales would not be so hard.

This is where local search engine optimization comes into play. It is very useful, particularly to small businesses, for a number of reasons. One is that SEO is an expensive type of service and it gets costlier when the keywords you purchase are popular. If you’re running your business locally, it would be wiser to buy keywords that mention your business’s location instead of keywords that only mention your product or service.

The idea is to limit the visibility of your business to people living in your area. This way, you’ll have a better chance of making actual sale because the people viewing your products and services are nearby and would therefore prefer to buy products from your store.

Additionally, Google enables internet users doing a local search to view a picture of the business they are searching for and the business’s location on the map. You won’t see this unless you do the search yourself. It means you’ve enjoyed more services than you’ve paid for if you use local SEO in your local business online marketing.

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Local Internet Marketing Firms Discuss Yelp’s Fake Review Crusade

Last October, 2013, the Fair Trade Commission of Taiwan slapped Samsung a hefty fine of well over $300,000 for posting fake reviews about their products and competitors. While this was going on, BlackBerry quickly denied claims of hiring third-party services to create fake reviews about their messenger app.

Officials and consumer watchdogs are alarmed at the steady increase of fake online reviews in various industries. Americans rely heavily on online reviews to look for good products and services, with at least seven out of ten looking at the reviews first before buying the product or service.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/industry-news/local-internet-marketing-firms-discuss-yelps-fake-review-crusade/

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Mistakes That Can Be Avoided by Hiring Internet Marketing Consultants

The problem with that is that start-ups sometimes make a few mistakes with their online strategies. A good example of this is investing in online marketing without determining how to measure the success of the campaign. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are needed to know the effectiveness of the campaign. Another mistake is to focus online marketing on only one field; good online strategies use multiple vectors like social media, SEO, and e-mail campaigns.

Other pitfalls include expecting too much of the campaign and being disappointed with the short-term results. These mistakes could have been avoided by consulting a knowledgeable online marketing consultant from companies like Aligned Right Media and others. It may mean an extra cost or two for your business, but there is no doubt that professional consultation will guide you on the right direction to take for your marketing strategies.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/industry-news/mistakes-that-can-be-avoided-by-hiring-internet-marketing-consultants/

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Mixing Offline and Online Marketing for Local Business Growth is Good

Marketing is a necessity for business owners who want to expand their influence. There are different ways to market a business brand, and each have their own perks. A March 12, 2014 story on Mashable discusses a growing marketing tactic for businesses: making use of social media.

Online marketing in itself is a great tool to employ, as a considerable number of people are always on the Internet. Leveraging the power of the Internet to get more people to look into the business is a solid strategy; after all, it is cost-effective and it works 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/industry-news/mixing-offline-and-online-marketing-for-local-business-growth-is-good/

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Online Marketing Consultants: When To Get One

Modern business people of different stripes have experienced it: the business is doing well and the customers are coming in. However, it feels like you could do better. You know your product has got the legs to go the distance in the market. All you need is to get the word out.

Traditionally, this is where marketing comes in. Getting the word out on your services or product to the masses can be tiring and hiring a professional to do the work for you solves a lot of problems. Mostly because it takes a whole lot off of your shoulders.

Online marketing consultants are an evolution of the traditional marketer. Instead of using traditional media, they use the Internet as their venue. Being an open platform, it can be a very powerful tool in letting people know about your product.

Why Online Marketing?

Why go online for your marketing needs? For one, the Internet is very accessible. Most people have Internet access or at least a way to get access. Advertising on the Internet ensures that people see your product.

Another reason for going online is the low barrier of entry. You may spend thousands of dollars on a TV ad – but an Internet ad campaign will only cost you a fraction of the price. This is advantageous for many small and local businesses.

What You Should Look For

Online marketing consultants can be easy to find – just try a search on Google and you'll find several pages of them. The problem is to find a good and dependable one. When you contact a possible online marketing consultant ask them these questions: their experience in the field, how they operate, and how they plan to help your business. A good online marketing consultant usually has a ready answer for all three questions.

Online marketing may seem daunting but there's no need to worry because there are people out there who can help turn the Internet profitable to your advantage.

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Picking Out a Good Web Designer

It’s tough to market a budding business, especially in today’s digital age. One vital publicity component (which also doubles as a business management tool) is putting up a website. This way, you can consolidate company information and let prospective customers reach you easily online. Anyone can build a website, but not everyone’s great at it, so this is when a professional web designer should be called in.

Before picking a web designer, however, consider these factors first to land the best candidate.

• Check their portfolio. Assess their previous works and see if they have a keen eye for aesthetics and functionality.
• Talk with them. Tell them what your requirements are. Good designers are honest and will lay down what they can and cannot do. If they exert the first effort of getting to know you and your company, you may have just found a keeper.
• Watch the meter. Do not hire someone who will charge you an extra cent for every tweak to the site, even the most minor ones.

Lastly, passion is king. If the designers write blogs, create graphics, or use the web in their free time, their love for the craft is genuine. Passionate people are usually committed to what they do best. No matter how repetitive it may seem, they’ll still fulfill their tasks and come up with creative ideas or concepts, because they absolutely enjoy what they’re doing.  

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Tips on Maximizing Social Media Marketing

A lot of people have their own social media accounts, and a lot of them are frequently using these networks for different purposes as well. A lot of businesses understand the marketing potential these networking sites have, and have made the move in order to reach more audiences in a more convenient avenue.

There are a lot of perks a business can obtain from social media marketing. However, the campaign must be done effectively in order to get the ball rolling in the first place. It is easy to make mistakes in marketing the product or service on a social network, so here are some tips that can help.

Limit Social Media Activity

As much as a business would want to establish a presence on every social networking site in existence, it would be too gargantuan or too impractical a task to perform and achieve satisfactorily. It is better to choose three to four social media websites that the business would like to focus on, and built a strong following on these sites.

Choose the Time to Update Carefully

The time a social media update will be posted is integral on the target audience. If the business’ audience works a regular 9-5 shift, then it is better to post content an hour before or after those shifts, in order to encourage people to look at it.

Research

Constantly check the industry for any updates, and look at what the competition is doing to know what to post next.

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Reliable Internet Marketing Services Your New Businesses Should Get

Some people might be inclined to think that effective internet marketing services are reserved for larger businesses. The fact, however, is that small businesses stand to profit from internet marketing the most.

Internet marketing is about boosting the visibility of a business website and making it easier for people to find. This is very important for newer businesses because studies have shown that 89% of all consumers will research a product or service online before purchasing it. That said, a new business will definitely profit from the following services

http://alignedrightmedia.com/blog/industry-news/reliable-internet-marketing-services-your-new-businesses-should-get/

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A Primer on Pay-Per-Click Advertising

You ask Google to put your ad alongside search engine results when users search for a certain keyword. Google asks you how much it gets paid for every click of the ad. That’s pay-per-click.

Also known as cost-per-click, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is an effective marketing strategy for getting ahead of the competition. In search results, you get first-page priority when you pay for the ad spaces located on top and to the right of the results. Search engines will stop hosting the ads if you run out of funding to pay them per click.

As a casual Internet user, you may think that you don’t click on those ads. If that was the case, then Google would’ve been long bankrupt since it derives up to 98 percent of its yearly revenue from those ads. Being the most prominent search engine on the Internet, it’s safe to say that at least some are clicking on those ads.

PPC is a cheeky tactic, to say the least. Whether or not users intend on clicking the ad, a click is still a click. However, the business can benefit from PPC marketing as much as Google does.

For starters, PPC yields faster results than SEO. Whereas you have to create quality content (which takes time) in SEO, you simply bid for the ad space and be on your way using PPC. This also works for keywords that have trouble ranking because they’re overshadowed by popular ones.

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Redeeming Repute: Online Reputation Management

Just as businesses are free to promote themselves over the Internet, consumers have every right to share their thoughts regarding certain products and services through this media as well. Good and positive reviews are often highly regarded by businesses, since such feedback is necessary to effective marketing. However, while a certain degree of negative criticism lends credibility to the feedback system, an excessive amount can paint businesses in a poor light, and can even turn away prospects.

Businesses with a considerable online presence will want to manage their own reputations in order to regain customer satisfaction. Typically, this involves methods such as engaging dissatisfied customers, posting apologies, making amends through refunds, and other similar forms of compensation. Yet the task of actually repairing a business’ repute online is a lot more difficult, especially since negative reviews can sprout from just about any website or blog.

Retailers suffering from the adverse effects of poor reviews can hire online reputation management services to deal with these business threats. Since scathing reviews can appear whenever users try to look up a business in search engines, online reputation management works to reduce the harm caused by such statements through various means. Although businesses might feel overwhelmed by the amount of backlash they’re receiving online, they can always rely on reputation management services to find a way to reverse the negative trend and mitigate the effects of unfavorable feedback. 

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Why Responsive Web Design Should Be The Current Goal Of Web Designers

The Internet has come a long way from its beginnings. People now access websites on a daily basis, popular sites managing to be visited by millions of people. This makes it the perfect venue to advertise products and services.

The main way to have an Internet presence is to have a website. Companies often use their websites as the main way to inform potential customers of their services. Some companies create their own websites, but more often companies give the job of designing their web sites to professional web design services.

The Mobile Revolution

Nowadays, a lot more people are accessing websites through means other than their desktop. The rise of smart phones and tablets as viable means to surf the Internet has started a new trend in web design. Called “responsive web design,” this describes how a website manages to adapt itself to what device is being used to access it. This means tablet and smart phone users may access the same site as desktop surfers but they get a different experience.

This is because that different devices have different properties. You can't possibly compare a smart phone to a desktop PC in terms of processing power, after all. However, with responsive web design, web designers manage to make them work on both platforms.

Higher Accessibilty

This is mostly because responsive web design is based on the idea of using the bare minimum requirements of technology to deliver maximum readability. This means that web designers aim for simplicity that enables websites to be readable in multiple platforms. This is not easy to do though, because it requires web designers to put additional features on their site so that mobile devices can access these sites.

Fortunately, this results in increased traffic to the site. It's been recently noted that mobile access of websites has risen recently. This trend will continue in the future as more mobile devices are released and they are made more powerful. Web designers should take note of this trend and keep it in mind for the future.

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Tips on Maximizing Local SEO

Local businesses are good for the community they are servicing as they know first-hand the temperament of the market when it comes to the service that they are offering. Another benefit that it provides is that it spurs local employment, which helps in the overall development of the locality.

However, there are also a lot of competition out there for local businesses. One good way of dealing with competition and getting ahead of the pack is by subscribing to local SEO strategies. Thus, here are some tactics that can help any business owner maximize the Internet into becoming their locality’s favored service.

Go Mobile

A lot of Americans are using smartphones and tablets when they are scouring the Internet for sources. A majority of these mobile searches happen at home or at work. This gives great importance to a mobile-friendly website that can cater to this growing demographic.

Maximize Business Listings

Another way of establishing a local business online is through accreditation from a third party. The availability and consistency of the business on third-party pages are surefire ways that can help Google rank the business better.

Interactivity

User reviews are also integral factors in keeping the business visible to the search engines. This makes it important that interaction and response to these reviews will help the business build a better reputation with the search engine spiders.

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How a Local Small Biz Gets Big via Local Buzz

Online marketing and search engine optimization has been getting much attention from small business owners. However, not all firms take advantage of local buzz or local search engine optimization. Local buzz focuses strategies on improving online presence within the community where the business operates (the county, the city, the town, etc.) to win over more customers.

Experts have observed that prospective customers search for information and reviews of local products or services online. They use platforms like Google Places or Google Maps, FourSquare, Facebook Places, and others. Due to this trend, small businesses benefit from management of online marketing strategies within these sites.

With improvement in local buzz, small businesses would be able to attract more customers within their immediate areas. Well-written, optimized profiles, and professionally published images of the small business would provide prospective customers relevant information regarding the business credentials, products, and services. Positive and authentic reviews within those pages would be beneficial too in encouraging more costumers to experience your services themselves.

In forming local small business marketing plans, seek experts on local buzz. These pros perform audits on your company's current online presence or reputation in the top listings of your area. They will recommend comprehensive solutions for timely improvements, as well as manage your profiles and pages to fit the requirements and trends in local buzz. With their tools for local search optimization, they contribute to making your small business big on the local scene.

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Keys to Social Media Marketing Success

Social media marketing allows you to efficiently reach out to your target audience in a more interactive sense. However, successful social media marketing campaigns hinge not only on the amount of effort you put into them, but the actual relevance and reader-friendly value of the content you’re writing. Here are a few examples:

Talk about ideas, not products.

Of course, you should always find time to promote the products and services you offer, but don’t let that be every time. Instead, write about ideas and topics related to those products (you still shouldn’t veer away from your theme). For instance, if you’re selling assorted carnival foods, talking about fun activities families can have at the park could be worth reading.

Visual content attracts.

Never take for granted the eye-catching potential of a single picture. As much as possible, incorporate nice photos or artwork in your social media posts. This should give your readers’ eyes a rest from reading nothing but text. Then again, don’t go overboard and turn your article into a photo show with short captions.

Keep it interactive.

Remind your readers to post their comments on your article. Know that the value of social media sites is its interactivity; these are the places where customers get to interact with their favourite brands as much as it is a gathering place for friends and family.

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Make your Local Business the Neighborhood Fave via Online Marketing

Picture yourself as an upstanding business operator who’s maintained a good reputation with your community these past several years. The business has done well and people can’t stop raving. However, you get wind of newly-settled residents who are eager to see more of the area, but while your business is in on their list of go-to locations, an online search has turned up close to nothing.

If you are nonplussed about more advanced marketing options for your business even if you have an online presence, you can let a professional local marketing specialist forge the thrust with you.

Search engines like Google have mechanisms for listing local businesses – all it requires is for you to provide the company name, address and phone number. Your online marketer will also help find business directory sites to put your particulars in. At the same time, the marketer’s search engine optimization team will tweak up your site around certain keyword sets. The main page should have content that’s conversational in tone to further connect with customers.

You can also encourage customers to leave feedback in a special section of the site, but take care to detect fake reviews. Consult your online marketing specialist on assembling quality links to your site. You should also include the business’ home city and state to further detail your location.

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The Relevance of Dates on Your Business Website’s Blog Posts

Dates in blog posts aren’t usually an issue for some readers as long as the information in it still stands relevant. Then again, as the status quo does change day by day with new trends and releases, a matter as simple as putting a date on an entry becomes a make-or-break element for online content.

One of the reasons why blog posts forgo the date is because the content is perceived to be universal enough to be considered “evergreen articles”, such that the data will still remain relevant for a long time. For these articles, placing the date of publication becomes detrimental instead of helpful. It presents the risk of being perceived as outdated, even when the validity of its ideas is not necessarily limited within a specific timeframe. A three-week old content can already be considered “old” news, what more for one that is several months, or even years, old?

Forgoing the date is a double-edged sword, however. Just as there are people who don’t mind the lack of a date, there are also others who do. Today’s world is all about being up to date. Everything’s changing rapidly every minute, and there is an insatiable need for developments to be reported as they happen. News outlets, for instance, can’t afford to not add a date because they report on events as they unfold.

When using blogs to market your local business, therefore, ask yourself if the content is generic enough to be considered “evergreen”. 

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Why Internet Marketing Is For Your Company

Today's customer is a smart cookie. They will look for the best deal possible under any circumstance. With the prevalence of the Internet, a customer's search is often rewarded by them finding exactly what they are looking for at the best possible prices. What is a company to do with this more informed modern customer?

Well, if your business is offering a product or a service that needs to reach the most number of customers possible, the best option will be to go for Internet marketing. For this purpose, there are several advantages you can reap from going to an Internet marketing company to advertise your product on the World Wide Web.

First of all, the Internet is now the medium to trust for many customers, practically replacing television. When people use a search engine to look for what they need, they often trust the first few results that pop up. Next, Internet marketing reaches the largest amount of people. You can have people from halfway around the world dropping by your website at any time, if your product interests them.

Another advantage to advertising on the Internet is that it is cheap. An Internet marketing company often costs less to hire than traditional marketing companies. A website is also easier to maintain and lasts longer than any TV ad or print campaign. With all of these advantages in mind, trusting your company's marketing strategy to an Internet marketing company is one of the best choices you can make.

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Several Pointers That Help Make a Great Website

The internet is an effective medium for marketing as the medium can easily reach its target audiences in a relatively short amount of time. It is due to this effect that a lot of businesses have created their own web pages to attract customers and spur their growth upwards.

However, terrible webpage design can easily baffle potential clients and lead them away from your website. It is due to this fact that a lot of companies enlist web design services to help further establish their online presence. This does not exempt business owners from learning about what makes a good website.

These pointers should help businesses point out to web designers the direction that they want their website to go to.

A Simple Design is better

Simplicity is king on web design. It is tempting to just dump information and features in one page and let the reader sift through it, but this decision will just steer potential clients away from your business. Potential clients can simply look for other viable sources if your site is too confusing. Scrap the excess features and deliver the goods cleanly.

Photos

It is important to remember that the web is pixel-based, so a low quality photo that is improperly sized will look terrible on the webpage. It is important to size the photo correctly to streamline the entire webpage.

Color scheme

The internet has evolved over the years to emerge as a visually appealing medium, so usage of colors is an important thing to consider. Different color combinations will mean different things to different people, so it is important to carefully consider which color combinations a business website will have. 

 

These are only some of the things that can have a positive or negative effect on a business’ webpage. Business owners still confused about web design can go and talk with reputable providers of website design services to learn more information.

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Tips for Social Media Excellence from Social Media Marketing Services

There used to be a time when social media sites were about having conversations with friends. Today, social media websites like Facebook and Twitter have begun to adapt past their typical social functions and are now used to relay information between people via share buttons. As such, it is now important for businesses to also have a presence on these sites.

Using social media websites is a great way to interact with both existing and potential customers, especially if done correctly. That said, here are a few tips to help you excel at social media:

Use More Sites

Go beyond Facebook and Twitter and create accounts for sites like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google Plus. The more social media sites you use, the more people you can reach out to. You may want to consult an experienced social media marketing company on which social media sites you should invest in.

Follower Recognition

Use social media as a way to interact with your customers. Be sure to immediately address any concerns and answer any inquiries they direct your way. At the same time, if they post something positive about you, show your appreciation by sending a thank you message and retweeting/reposting their comments.

Professional Help

Monitoring multiple social media accounts at the same time can be draining, especially if you are doing it yourself. You may want to hire professional social media marketing services to help you monitor your accounts more effectively. Consulting experienced professionals can also help you discover new methods to help you further excel at social media.

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An Excellent Social Media Marketing Company Knows the Web’s Dynamism

The past years have proved the worth of social media sites in the realm of online marketing strategy. These sites have become an integral part of the said marketing method, which delivers excellent attention and traction on the Internet. However, many people are still in a quandary as to how it works with SEO or other online marketing techniques; expert social media marketing services, however, know very well.

Basically, to have an effective bullhorn means having good site content. Content that receives great social communication increases its reach to many users and is thus more likely to attract more links. As anyone in the SEO world knows, links help a lot in raising a site’s search engine ranking. Other than the technical relevance of good content, the mere fact content garners much interaction means it has something that is attention-grabbing or useful.

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Important Services Every Internet Marketing Company Should Provide

Are you the type of person to use the internet to research a product or service before purchasing it? If your answer is yes, you are a part of the 83 percent of Americans that do so. This statistic is important because there is a good chance that potential customers for your business are also a part of that statistic.

Another statistic business owners should take note of is that the vast majority search engine users never go past the first page of the search results. As such, it is imperative that your site is a part of the first page. Fortunately, this can easily be achieved by hiring a reputable internet marketing company in your area.

If you are interested in hiring an internet marketing company, be sure to review the services it offers before hiring them. Try prioritizing firms that provide the following key services:

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization services are the best way to improve the ranking of your website. This method involves creating informative content with backlinks that redirect traffic to your website, resulting in a higher search result ranking.

Local Buzz

People do not necessarily rely solely on search engines to learn more about a business. They can also use outlets like Google Places or Yelp. As such, it is important for your business to have a strong presence in your local listing.

Online Reputation Management

One of the drawbacks about the internet is that you cannot easily monitor everything people say about you and your business. Sometimes, unwarranted negative reviews can pop up and harm your reputation, reducing the number of customers your business attracts. As such, you will need a dedicated team to help you resolve these types of problems quickly and efficiently.

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Pay Per Click Marketing Campaigns Support Businesses’ Advance in 2014

Businesses that utilize pay per click services will help businesses reach greater audiences. These campaigns will also cost less compared to other internet marketing campaigns, as businesses will only pay every time a user clicks on the advertisement. Good PPC campaigns will also help effectively reinforce the brand to potential customers.

Businesses who know how to utilize the power of the Internet will reap great rewards. Interested businesses can consult trusted services like Aligned Right Media to get their campaigns started.

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Effective Online Reputation Management Helps Businesses Regain Clients

Services like Aligned Right Media can offer online brand management to these distressed business owners. Effective online reputation management can effectively remove negative reviews and listings from the top rankings of search engine results and allow businesses to attract would-be clients to their services before they get to read any negative material.

Online reputation is a fickle matter to handle, so business owners should take the problem seriously. Interested owners should contact a reliable service to get things started.

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Always Look for High-Quality Local Search Engine Optimization Services

On the other hand, Google has mentioned that comments with poor spelling or grammar posted by visitors will not affect the ranking of a website. However, Google’s Matt Cutts does remind website owners that their content should have proper grammar.

When hiring local search engine optimization services, never settle for second-rate content. Be sure to review the company’s work for previous clients to see if the content the SEO company provides meets your standards.

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Simple Tips to Achieving Effective Local Small Business Marketing

Nothing builds up your business’ credibility than a review from a reputable source. Try registering your business with sites like Angie’s List and the Better Business Bureau. Receiving high marks from these websites provides credibility to the reviews others have written about your company.

If this all seems like too much for you to handle alone, you may want to hire a reputable local internet marketing company like Aligned Right Media. Do not hesitate to give them a call if you need help establishing a strong local online presence.

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Strategies for Effective Online Brand Management

Top Strategies You can Follow for Effective Online Brand Management

Whether you have a small or large business, managing your online brand is crucial to having a positive and strong internet presence. Making sure that your target market is aware of your brand and that your business is seen in a positive light can be quite a handful. Employing strategies practiced by the most successful online brands can help you establish a secure niche in the internet market.

How to Raise your Brand

• Excellent products or services is key to an effective online brand management. Providing a good experience for online users and customers is always the best way to improve your online presence. 
• Your brand name should communicate your message. Make sure that your brand name and domain name gives online users a clear picture of the services or products you provide. Aside from communicating your message effectively, a business name should be able to get the attention of your target market. 
• Creating a social media profile not only enables you to reach out to potential customers, it also allows you to rank for related keywords in Google. Facebook, Google+, and Twitter makes it easier for people to find you and can provide opportunities to engage your target market on a daily basis. 
• Brand reviews can make or break your online reputation. Establish relationships with authoritative sources like industry-related blogs so that online users can find relevant coverage about your business and enable you to pitch services positively. 
• Like brand reviews, contributions to relevant blogs will allow you to reach a wider audience while putting your business in a positive light. Building content-rich profiles in authoritative blogs also facilitates ranking for brand-related terms. Being a regular contributor can help you take control of both search results and online perception of your business.

Help from the Experts

Managing your brand need not be a complex process that will take away time from running your actual business. There are management consultants that offer online marketing services that can build your brand and reputation. The power of good branding can give you success in terms of investment and a robust reputation.

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Skilled Internet Marketing Consultants Can Help Jazz Up Your Website

Of course, a website sporting a fast interface and vibrant visuals will be worthless if there’s no quality content to educate the users on your product or service. In previewing the site, NBC News Digital vice-president of news and product Gregory Gittrich said it was an opportunity to tell a story differently through simple images and full articles with associated videos.

You can satisfy your customer base when your site has enough features to keep them interested. All you need are skilled online marketing consultants to strike gold.

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Online Marketing for Local Business: Clambering to the Higher Perches

Picking out the relevant keywords to be optimized will be an important part of the operation. In line with this, the earlier website analysis will help uncover the keywords common among other sites and see which keyword groupings have not been tapped. Communicate your objectives to your local business online marketing professionals so they can work on your site right away.

Content will be key to bringing in traffic. A content team assigned to the project will be tasked to use keyword-optimized titles and generate well-written material laced with an appropriate number of keywords. A company like Aligned Right can deliver if you can guide them on what you need.

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How to Determine the Right Internet Marketing Company

Practical Tips on Determining the Right Internet Marketing Company

As today’s current market trend is dominated by internet use, it comes as no surprise that more businesses and companies are striving to dominate the online market. A webpage is as crucial as your physical storefront when it comes to success. If you are far from being internet savvy, you can always get help from seasoned internet consultants.

Marketing your Business Online

An internet marketing company combines profound understanding of marketing concepts and versatile application of technology to effectively advertise your products or services. It is of the utmost importance that you choose internet marketing consultants that have:

Commitment. It’s not enough that you agree on a set of services. Marketing specialists show their commitment by taking the time and exerting effort to get to know your business, goals, and vision for the campaign. This way, you’ll be sure that the online marketing project is tailored to your preferences and represents your brand completely.

Experience. Accomplished online specialists are familiar with the ins and outs of the industry. A consultant that has completed many projects successfully will be able to anticipate the present and future needs of your campaign.

Skill. Don’t just settle for any online consultant that can whip up a regular webpage for your business. You want a site that looks professional, content that engages online users, and a structure that makes it easy for visitors to avail of your services.

Online Marketing is an Important Investment

With millions of online users scouring the web, internet marketing consultants can transform your business and make your brand a household name. Get the right services from the right consultants and you can watch your investment grow into long-term success.

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Some SEO Lessons an Internet Marketing Company Always Takes to Heart

A professional internet marketing company like Aligned Right Media takes these hard lessons to heart. Google has grown in algorithm so much that even the simplest SEO violations, whether or not intentional, can yield severe consequences. Even Google itself isn’t exempted from its own rules. Believe it or not, it has penalized itself in several instances.

In the end, that’s why it’s important to look for quality internet marketing services. They don’t rely on such tactics, and that fact will prove beneficial to your business.

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Is ‘About’ Always About You? An Internet Marketing Company Explains

A professional internet marketing company like Aligned Right Media won’t care if you have a professional business site or an informal blog. Both have their respective up and downsides, but internet marketing has no solid preference between the two. Just remember to stay with your tone once you’ve chosen it.

If your blog is written in a fun, tongue-in-cheek way, make the About page just as fun. If your website is written with professionalism and formality in mind, present your goods and services similarly. Don’t sound awkward by incorporating an introductory tone different from the rest of the website.

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Website Design Services for Online Marketing

The importance of an official website to online marketing runs on multiple dimensions. Elements that make up the website should be strategic for it to become an asset for the company. With professional website design services, an official website can serve significant functions for online marketing and even for formal business transactions. 

 For Credentials 

The “Home” and “About Us” pages should be informative of the company's profile. This provides the opportunity to win client trust. Certifications, portfolios, and galleries of previous projects can be made or uploaded to give potential clients a clearer image of your business. 

For Product or Service 

Descriptions Putting up a website allows the business to fully describe their product or service line. Photographs that are captioned in detail and even videos with accompanying descriptions can be posted. Tutorials, unique web offers, or promotions can be sponsored as well. 

For Potential Client Relations 

Where businesses are concerned, customer service should always be capitalized on. There should be a section where inquiries or free estimates can be submitted. Provide clear instructions and disclaimers where necessary, such as turnaround times for responses, so as to set reasonable expectations. 

For Management of Actual Clients 

Websites can host accounts for members of your organization or customers of your business. Company members, business associates, and customers can register and log in to their personal accounts. With these personal interactions, discussions can be held and can encourage active participation in the group or company.

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Online Marketing Via Social Media Optimization

Many companies have been relying on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as an effective online marketing technique. Corporations write unique content that will help boost their reputation on the Internet through websites like Google or Yahoo!. Now, with more people using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, companies are beginning to expand their marketing campaigns into these websites through Social Media Optimization (SMO). 

 SMO is defined as a branch of SEO, focusing on sharing information about one’s products, services, or organization in general through social media. When consumers follow a company’s official Twitter account or when they comment and like a company’s posts on Facebook, the business organization will be able to establish a good reputation through SMO. Unique content is also focused in this type of optimization, focusing on blog posts that can relate to potential clients and can be linked and shared for easy access. SMO is a very important component of SEO since content sharing builds up credibility for search engines to notice and rank websites higher, making them appear on top of search engine results pages (SERPs). Companies that utilize both SEO and SMO for their marketing campaigns are sure to have distinct advantages in online marketing. 

The Internet has become a primary source of information in this digital age. People use websites as references and social media for sharing. By using these two major elements of the World Wide Web, companies will have more opportunities to market their products and build up their credibility.

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Loco for Local: The Benefits of Local Business Marketing Strategies

Marketing a product or service is a difficult task since it requires intimate knowledge of consumers and what motivates them. It becomes even more complicated when marketing is brought online. The rules play much more differently in Web marketing, as opposed to regular advertising.

Businesses, particularly budding entrepreneurs, will want to focus their Web marketing efforts online. There are several benefits in applying online local business marketing strategies, and proprietors should carefully consider each and every one of them. The following are a few of these advantages:

Increased visibility

It can be hard to appeal to even a local consumer base, yet with the right local Internet marketing campaign, businesses can improve their visibility within a community. Web users attempting to search for related products or services in a specific area will easily find businesses whose websites have been optimized for that locale.

Maintain competition with larger businesses

Through websites optimized for local markets, small businesses can compete directly with larger corporations on equal footing. Localized searches are likely to prioritize local retailers rather than multinational entities. It also helps that consumers tend to favor local products and services over chain stores and such.

Local marketing might sound like grasping for low-hanging fruit to larger businesses. Yet for small entrepreneurs based in a single area, a powerful localized marketing plan is perfect for securing nearby customers who want to find the most convenient retailer. To do this, small businesses should coordinate with a skilled Web marketer to create a strong online presence.

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Make Your Business Soar with Effective Social Media Marketing Services

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have catapulted their way to the top of the public communications pyramid in the past decade, and they have never looked back since. With hundreds of millions of users, it’s no wonder why they’re essentially a mecca to marketing companies worldwide.

We at Aligned Right Media recognize the need for your business to be heard and seen all throughout your target market. That is why as part of our efforts to extend our excellent social media marketing services to you, we are offering a promo of ZERO setup fee for all new social media campaigns aligned with our company.

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When to Use Branded Keywords for Your PPC Campaign

A company’s brand name comprises many things. Aside from the people that make up the company, it can also include the clients or customers it serves, the company’s mission/vision, its message, etc. When a brand wants to effectively market itself, it will need to determine which marketing channels to focus on and when. 

Regarding pay per click marketing, how aggressive do you need to be to get your brand’s name out there? Should you allot a huge portion of your PPC budget on branded terms? The answer is: It depends. 

Granted, people will probably find your brand in organic results, and it’s certainly important to note that branded PPC tends to be fairly inexpensive (they can be as inexpensive as a few pennies), but ask yourself this: Do your competitors bid on YOUR branded terms? If they do, then you should be doing the same. 

 Even if potential customers can find your company in organic searches using search engine results pages (SERPs), if a competitor uses your branded terms, they could reach these customers first and eventually steal away your click – and target market. 

The more SERP real estate you can take up, the better. Even more impressive is if you can line up your message across organic listings and SERPs so that your message gets to your customers twice in and around the same place.

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What Online Reputation Management Can Do For You

It is important to establish your business on all available online platforms to generate a strong online presence. While this helps increase your online reputation, managing all the platforms you are utilizing can be a time-consuming task. Therefore, investing in online reputation management services will provide you with a solid reputation while you focus on other important aspects of your business. 

Online reputation management companies do more than just build your brand and deal with bad feedback. It is a complex process that needs constant monitoring. Checks on your brand name will be done regularly and results will be reviewed carefully. This allows online reputation consultants to find negative content immediately and nip unfavorable issues or content in the bud before it escalates. 

 If an unfavorable content does manage to find its way into a platform you control, it can easily be removed so as not to rank on search sites. An online management consultant also employs several techniques such as publishing high-quality content to push bad reviews out of page one of search engine results. Social media and blogs are also utilized not only to strengthen engagement with online users but also to rank for your brand name. 

Never underestimate what a few unfavorable reviews can do to your online reputation. Keep in mind that online reputation management services from established companies can effectively protect your brand and image.

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