Posts by iJoe

There are many reasons why you may consider this. Cost is a top reason why you may develop a Facebook page over a new website. The obvious popularity and functionality makes it an easier choice to go with. If you have an old HTML website and prefer not to pay a webmaster for making updates, a Facebook Page is a great option.

Think of your Facebook Page as a lean version of your website.

Include content relevant to engaging customers and acquiring new ones on your new Facebook Page. Your page should include everything a customer needs to know to be in business with you. As an added bonus your page will be connected to a network of 750 million people with a built-in membership component (Fans/Likes).

You can choose to create a basic Facebook page or a storefront (F-Commerce) where you sell items. Facebook is a proven tool where you can create a community around your business and generate leads for your business. And, get found by people who are searching for your products and services.

A basic Facebook page may include some extra tabs and apps. Click here for basic tips. The tabs may include a restaurant menu, a place for email subscriptions, a tab for weekly promotions/events, and a direct link to your YouTube channel. See example below. Apps could include the following.

Fan of the Week  – This app automatically picks a Fan of the Week based on interaction and posts the message about the new Fan each week.

Booshaka – This application shows a list of all your top Fans by how much they interact with you.

Keep in mind anything you can dream of putting on your website you can put on your Facebook page. Some businesses sell products and use their Facebook page as a storefront. If you are not willing to add ecommerce to your old HTML website, this is a great option. Along with all the benefits of being on Facebook, you can sell directly from here. View basic Facebook page example 1 and/or example 2.

Facebook storefront (F-Commerce) features could include real-time inventory checks, social rewards (Coupons), exclusive-offer technology (Gift Cards) and a social product-launch feature, which creates momentum for new products by offering fans and followers exclusive early access. Shopigniter can assist you with bringing your page to the storefront level. Click here to learn about Shopigniter’s unique Social Promotions Engine and best overall functionality.

Learn how to start showcasing your products on Facebook here. Its as easy as uploading one product at time or a csv file for many products. If your looking for visual inspiration, check out the top 50 Facebook Stores and Facebook Store Solutions here.

Attaining metrics is an important and necessary function used to market your website. A Facebook Page can offer that same function. You have a few options, use Facebook’s built-in tool Insights, Google Analytics or HubSpot.

Once you have the infrastructure built, you need to create a content calendar. It’s as simple as plugging ideas into a weekly calendar and deciding what you will post on what days. Be creative, engaging and consistent.

In Summary, small to medium businesses don’t always have the resources to invest in getting their websites up to date or creating a new one. With a Facebook Page you can create a dynamic online presence that is both relevant and cost efficient.

Start now with these guides by HubSpot: How to use Facebook for Business and How to Master Facebook Marketing in 10 days.

A blogroll is a list of links that may appear in the sidebar of your blog. These links may be favorite sites or professional affiliations. Usually the links in a blogroll have a direct correlation to the industry or business of the blog owner. I have a strict criteria for choosing blogs for the blogroll.

Typically I recommend listing five links in your blogroll. For many businesses this number allows for a good variety. Below are the criteria for settling on blogs in your blogroll.

• Relevance to your brand/company
• Traffic  – see authority or total number of social media fans
• Frequency of Posts – recent?
• Comments – more than ZERO
• Advertisers on the blog?

Relevance is very important. You want to attract readers to your blog that have similar interests. There’s an unwritten rule in the blogosphere that if someone lists you on their blogroll, you should reciprocate and add them. Link building is a high-level search technique to get you found faster online by Google. Not all parties may participate and reciprocate but it’s a great starting point to list another professional and/or relevant blog.

Traffic is an important factor in choosing a blog for your blogroll. If you are trying to build your business you want to align yourself with some high traffic websites. Below are two blog search tools to find blogs within your industry and learn more about their popularity.

• Technorati

Get familiar with Blog Rating System in Technorati

• Google Blogsearch

Google blogsearch is an excellent tool to find like blogs and technorati is a great tool learn more about traffic or as they call it authority. Again, high traffic websites are a best practice to include in your blogroll.

Sometimes we have a hard time finding a rating on technorati. If so, move to the next criteria for choosing a blog. If you find a blog that has a similar industry but there are no new posts for more than month. Move on! You want to choose blogs that have some activity.

Good blog activity may include both posts and comments. Comments are an excellent indication that a blog is active and generating traffic.

And lastly, blogs with advertising is a pretty good indication that they are generating traffic. Look for known brands on the blog site. If you see REI or any well known company, its probably a good choice for your blogroll.

Once your blogroll is created, plan to become an active blogger. Most people believe this is done solely on their blog site but this is not true. It is time to visit the blogs in your blogroll and begin commenting.

Becoming a though leader or participant in other blogs will drive traffic to your blog. As a thougth leader, show off your experise in your field of knowledge. You should devise a schedule to regularly comment in other blogs. Essentially, you should be posting weekly in your blog, other blogs, and in social media accounts.

Blogs are one of the highest level strategies for acquiring organic website traffic. HubSpot software can assist you with integrating all your tools into one dashboard. Obviously, the only thing HubSpot wouldn’t cover is your posts in other blogs. See my blog about Luring traffic to your website.

15 Business Blogging Mistakes & Easy Fixes

Turn your business blog into a success by learning 15 blogging mistakes and easy ways to fix them.

Download the free guide to prevent yourself from making these common mistakes so you can run a more effective blog.

Building a website takes a great deal of time and money mostly spent in design and development. Much of the preparation and strategy can be done offline. In fact many of the IMU teachings guide you in creating a state-of-the-art and searchable website.

Market ready websites is the concept of employing much of the effort offline, thereby saving you a bundle in design and development hours.

Businesses know how important it is to have a user-friendly website that presents a product, their brands and their services well. And, most importantly, getting found online should be a priority. The goal is to have your website appear as the first business in Google search results. Getting found online organically could save you thousands of dollars in pay per click advertising.

Each page is built to get Google’s attention. In fact, the whole website strategy is built around getting found by Google, Yahoo and Bing. iJoe applies the newest information about search algorithms. In addition, all the time tested methods are employed along with the newest algorithm research.

IJoe creates a complete blueprint for the designer/developer to execute. No detail is left out. All the search strategies are built right into the infrastructure of the website before a designer even touches it. Even the best method of including keywords in the name of images (photos) is pre-planned and consistent with optimizing each website page. Watch this IMU video, Developing a Keyword Strategy, to learn more about keyword importance.

“I’ve found iJoe’s website building strategy to be both cost efficient and powerful,” said Kris K. “Our website was built with Google in mind and we didn’t spend a lot of money on design/developement because much of the website was constructed offline.”

To built a market-ready website, there are several best methods that are used to provide the best result. Without a well-defined plan, you could end up hiring professionals to re-work the infrastructure to be search friendly. Most people start with the design of a website rather than search methodology. Learn more about web design blunders here.

This method can be compared to planning to build a house from the ground up. Lots of planning is necessary before decorating a house.

The architect hired for building a house is much like hiring an Inbound Marketing Strategist. Hiring a skilled marketing architect (strategist) is a good first step. iJoe is a seasoned marketer and certified Inbound Marketer by Hubspot. Hiring a designer first may be much like hiring a painter first. Think of your navigation bar much like the rooms of your house. Like your house, you want an enticing floor plan that makes sense and fits well with the entire business strategy.

Inbound marketing is essential to the life of a website and influences the success of it. Designers are delighted to receive a roadmap for a website. They can focus on applying the necessary creativity to completing a masterful work of art. And, designers finds it refreshing to do what they were hired for – execute a well-conceived plan.

Search engine optimization can be likened to the extensive wiring and plumbing of a house, which allows for functions to occur at a rapid and successful rate.

When planning the creation and promotion your website, it is important to consider the audience. This offline process will walk you through creating personas to clearly define the target customer and imbed that research into the website.

A well thought out plan and strategy is the lesson here. Hiring new media and/or Inbound Marketing trained professionals is the place to start. Seek all-encompassing web skills that  include technical, social, marketing and creative disciplines.

In addition, you should find a designer/developer who subscribes to the inbound marketing methodologies. Review this slide show, 25 Must-Haves for a Remarkable Website, as a checklist for your current and/or new website.