iAdministrative Online Marketing & Advertising Blog

Why Should My Small Business Publish a Blog?

2011-08-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

Publishing a blog is a great way to market your small business on the internet. Millions of people search for information daily on the internet, researching products, services, even looking for the latest in style and in fashion. By simply sharing information about your products and services, you can be providing the content that internet users find to make decisions.

You can feed parts of your blog into your website, offering fresh content that changes periodically when you do a new blog. You can set up your blog to only post certain articles to certain areas, making for a free or inexpensive content management system. Plus, a little fresh content here and there on your website can really keep it from feeling stagnant, giving internet users a reason to come back, check out your website, and recommend it to a friend.

By adding social elements to your blog posts, you are making your content easier to be shared and recommended from one internet user to the next. Social buttons like the Facebook Like Button and the Twitter Tweet Button are today's word of mouth advertising - with one click, all of their friends will see your information!

In addition to social recommendations, all blog posts can be subscribed to by internet users' own feed readers. If a reader thinks you post useful or interesting information, they may subscribe to your blog so they can receive all of your posts without even visiting your site! Users also have the ability to receive your blog posts in their email inbox to read at their own convenience.

As if the reasons above are not good enough, consider this: every blog entry you make creates a new page of relevant content linking to your website. The more links pointing back to your website, the higher your page ranking will be in search engines. Additionally, blog posts themselves are likely to perform really well in search engines.

If you do not currently have a blog and are interested in getting one up and running, call iAdministrative Internet Marketing & Website Development today at 239-601-3985. We can help you get started and even work with you to generate fresh content that is relevant to your small business website to help increase search engine rankings and internet visibility. Blog management is a part of our internet marketing management, but we will be glad to quote you a price for blog management only.

3 Things Your Website Email Form Must Do

2011-08-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

1. Collect All Useful Information

If your user is going to take the time to write you a message on your website, you might as well take advantage of the situation and get all the information that you are going to need from them right then and there.

You should ask for all contact information for all the ways you contact your clients, which may include email address, phone number, physical address (if you mail or visit your clients at a particular location), even social venue address or profile names for Facebook, Twitter, et cetera.

You can have your user enter any information, or ask them any questions, so think about the information that you will need to get from the user that will make for the customer service process as easy as possible. The more you know, the better you can serve!

2. Block Spam Messages

Nothing is more annoying than SPAM, especially when it is coming from your website. Unprotected email forms can also be used to run scripts on your server that can cause damage to your, jeopardize sensitive information, and send more SPAM emails from your server with your domain name attached to it.

Simple steps can be taken to prevent SPAM, including the installation of a reputable reCaptcha form. There is no reason that your website email form should be unprotected!

3. Email the User a Confirmation

When the user submits the contact form, you and the client should receive an email. Sending the client an email assures them that the script works and that a copy of their message has been received by your office. The confirmation should include an estimation of how long it will take your business to contact the customer regarding the message.

In addition to a confirmation, the email can invite the customer to view and join your other web pages like Facebook and Twitter, as well as subscribe to your blog.

Does your email form need some help?

If your email form is not working as hard as it should, iAdministrative Internet Marketing & Website Development can help! Get an email form and submit landing page installed on your website for only $35.00. For more information, call 239-601-3985 today.

Using Twitter Search to Find Local Leads and Potential Customers

2011-07-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

Twitter is an amazingly powerful social networking tool that can keep small business owners connected to customers, associates, employees, and more - and everybody knows this already. However, what many small business owners fail to realize about Twitter is that it can be used to find real people seeking business products and services in real time in your neighborhood and service areas by using the search feature.

Try searching for a few of your company's keywords and keyword phrases in Twitter and you will instantly realize that somebody somewhere is talking about something in your field. If you are a tailor, you may find that someone just tweeted, "Does anyone know where I can find a good tailor?" and of course you know the answer!
In order to fully take advantage of Twitter search and to target people in a specific area, you will need to click the link that says advanced search and you will come to a page that looks like this:

Using the parameters available, you can find real people expressing ideas about topics relevant to your business or looking for products and services that your business can provide. This allows you to introduce yourself with a tweet containing the user name (your tweet should contain @theirusername) without having to follow them or having them follow you. This opens the door for a new follow, a new lead, a new sale, and a new referral.

By logging on to Twitter a few times a week and conducting through searches, you are able to monitor what your service area is saying about the topics that are important to your small business and you are able to seize many opportunities to make new relationships that you would never have obtained otherwise.

Talk to an internet marketing specialist today to learn more about the power of Twitter in your internet marketing plan and how your business can seriously benefit from effective Twittering.

Is Your Website & Internet Marketing Plan Working?

2011-06-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

When asked, "Is your website and internet marketing plan working for you?" many small business owners do not even know the answer! When it comes to internet marketing and website development, most small business owners are simply at the mercy of a website designer or office staffer who oversees all aspects of the internet marketing plan.

More often than not, business owners get stuck with a stagnant website and an almost inactive marketing plan that fails to drive the satisfactory results that should be produced. Simply having a website, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account will not cut it! An effective marketing plan takes time, planning, and dedication - often to the extent that small business owners cannot afford in terms of overhead.

Outsourcing internet marketing is of course a great idea, unfortunately most internet marketing services do very little to oversee and manage an internet marketing plan that is truly successful for each of their clients. Whether you currently have office employees handling your internet marketing or are outsourcing the duties, take them time to reflect and seriously ask yourself, "Is my website and internet marketing plan working?"

Take some time to search for your company keywords, products, or services and see how easy (or difficult) it is to find your website or web pages on search engines like Google, without typing your company name or URL.

Try it now and take note of the fact that roughly 50% of users do not even go to the second page of search engine results! If you are listed on page three or beyond, you can forget being found by most users!

If you feel like you are not getting enough leads or sales out of your website, especially if you cannot find your website on popular search engines, call iAdministrative today at 239-601-3985 for a FREE phone consultation and other FREE information that could lead you to a better, more effective, more lucrative internet marketing and paid advertising management plan.

FREE (SEO) Search Engine Optimization Ranking Checker - Just Enter Your Domain

2011-06-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

We came across a great, free tool that allows you to simply enter your website domain URL and it quickly generates a report of your (SEO) search engine optimization ranking using data from various website.

It is a very neat tool and we recommend you take a look at your website and see where you stand!

Check your (SEO) Search Engine Optimization Ranking

Spanish Website Development, Internet Marketing, & Advertising

2011-05-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Expand the distribution of your products and services to the Spanish speaking populations of your community with our bilingual and Spanish language internet marketing and advertising services. We have successfully managed dual language and Spanish only internet advertising campaigns and established a solid Spanish speaking clientele for some of our clients.

If you are a small business owner or manager trying to decide if Spanish language marketing and advertising is the right decision for your products or services, an internet marketing specialist can work with you to obtain population and demographic reports in your area and help you correctly make the assessment.

We generate the right keywords and keyword phrases in Spanish that are equivalent to your English keywords and searched for the most in major search engines to create successful advertising campaigns, which we monitor the performance of diligently.

We can provide all of the same reports as we would in English, and offer translations of keywords and keyword phrases that we use (for clients who do not speak Spanish).

As with English speaking users, the more information that is available to your Spanish speaking user, the more comfortable they will be with contacting you or buying your products. We can provide a few pages of Spanish information for your Spanish speaking clients, re-create your website in a Spanish version, or create a new website entirely in Spanish.

(SEO) Search Engine Optimization & Organic Page Ranking

2011-05-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

Today, most companies and local merchants have developed an online presence that attributes to new growth, sales, and referrals. However, an informative website that effectively outlines your products and services is not enough to generate new business on its own. In order for your internet marketing to be effective, your content has to be quickly and easily found in the places internet users look for their information, like popular search engines Google, Bing, and Yahoo!.

Search engines periodically scan the internet and catalog the websites and web pages that they find. When the user enters a keyword or key phrase into the search box, the search engine may consider a number of factors to organize and display the search results, including:

keyword or key phrase density
amount of traffic the website or web page generates
number of links pointing to the website or web page from other sources
number of links pointing to websites or web pages with similar content
date of publication
frequency of updates and new information distribution

These results - excluding advertisements, paid placements, or any other sponsored or featured results - are called organic as they are naturally rendered and ordered by the search engine. Working with the content of your web pages to have them appear high in search results is called search engine optimization, or SEO.

The most effective way to increase the organic page ranking of a web page is to work with keywords, keyword phrases, and keyword density. It is important to develop or restructure content to be keyword rich and to write HTML codes that grant access to search engines and provide them with metadata such as the keywords, page description, and other useful information for efficient ranking.

Another highly effective way to increase an organic page ranking is to have relative links pointing to your website or web page from other sources. An inbound link from a website with a very high page ranking that has content found to be relative by the search engine may influence the organic ranking.

Working with an internet marketing specialist to optimize your search engine results is highly recommended! With the experience of promoting several companies online - some that may be similar to your business - they already have an idea of what is effective and what is ineffective. With experience, the proper tools, and inside access to the sources you need, your internet marketing specialist will be able to help you develop or improve your online visibility and achieve your goals of search engine optimization.

Read "(SEO) Search Engine Optimization & Organic Page Ranking" on the iAdministrative website.

Our blog is moving...

2010-08-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

Our blog is merging (but will continue to be separate) from our owner's blog.

To continue receiving news and updates from iAdministrative, including resourceful articles for small business, online marketing, and website development, follow the link below.

Subscribe to iAdministrative Online Marketing & Website Blogging

"Like" iAdministrative on Facebook for your chance to win a $100 VISA Gift Card!

2010-06-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

iAdministrative Online Marketing & Website Services is giving away a $100 VISA Gift Card to one lucky fan!

All you have to do to enter is "like" our Facebook page before midnight, October 14, 2010. The winner will be announced on Friday, October 15, 2010 on our blog.

The winner will also receive notification via Facebook that they have won and will have 10 business day to submit their mailing address to claim the $100 VISA Gift Card, else another winner will be chosen.

Website for Modello Maid Services in Atlanta, GA

2010-06-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

iAdministrative was contracted by Modello Maid Services to design the company's website and establish an online presence.

Click here to visit the Modello Maid Services Website.

Subscribe to the Modello Maid Services Blog

Website Design Services by iAdministrative

iAdministrative offers a wide range of website services, including new website design, search engine optimization (SEO), updating and webmasters, and much more.

Click here to learn more on how iAdministrative can help your business website needs.

iAdministrative creates website for Shop Handmade Jewelry

2010-01-31T05:29:00.000-08:00

We have developed a new website for our client, Shop Handmade Jewelry.

Shop Handmade Jewelry is an online retail store headquartered in Atlanta, GA. They have a large variety of handmade jewelry to choose from, hand selected from various artists.

Is your website’s email form working hard enough?

2009-09-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

How hard is your website’s email form working for you? Your website in general, especially communication devices such as email forms, should be designed to make your life easier. This blog gives some ideas of what your email form should be able to do for you so that you can be sure your email forms are working hard for you.

Security and form validation

Email forms, although a powerful way to communicate, can present serious security threats to your website and any non-public information contained in your directories and databases. Malicious users are able to manipulate your website by inserting programming scripts into the input fields of a form that are later executed on the landing page.

At this point, they are able to alter the appearance of your website, place spamming links, redirect visitors to an entirely different website, and more. Form validation prevents code execution by disallowing unnecessary characters in inappropriate input fields. For example, characters such as <, /, and >, should never appear in a user’s name. If the input field does not accept these characters, code cannot be executed.

Form validation generally ensures that you receive all of the information that you are requesting and verifies that the information was entered with the correct format. A date looks like a date, an address looks like an address, etc. Users who do not enter information correctly can be directed to the area or areas with problems to correct the problem before continuing.

Submission

After your customer submits the form, take the information that they provided you and personalize the landing page.

Thank you Angela Brown, we have received your service request at 1234 Happy Street. A technician will contact you shortly!

Reassure the customer that the order is being processed by emailing him or her a copy of the transaction details for record keeping. You can use the email to thank them for their inquiry, specify who will be contacting them and when, provide any additional information, etc.

You could email a technician a service request with as little or as much of the information in the submitted form as needed or you can have it publish a blog of a client testimonial by email. With the power of PHP, there are many ways to make website forms easier and more efficient for you and your client.

Visit us online at www.iadministrative.com.

Increase your Google page rank

2009-09-12T05:26:00.000-07:00

There are different ways for search engines to process your website or web page and determine it’s potential relevance to a user’s search. In this blog we will take a closer look at the ways Google evaluates your page and assigns a page rank.

Searching with Google

When a user initiates a search, Google compares the search keyword or phrase and compares it to all of the websites that it has already indexed. Google continuously searches for new websites and updates, however if your website or webpage is not indexed, it cannot be displayed in a Google search result.

If you are not sure if your website or webpage has been indexed, go to Google and search for your url (www.mysite.com). If your website has been indexed, it will appear in the search results. If not, you will need to submit your website to Google.

Click here to learn more about submitting your website to Google.

When Google compares the indexed pages on file to the user’s search, it evaluates all of the websites it was able to find with matching terminology. The content of those websites are individually assigned a numeric relevancy based on the search term.

Each website is also prioritized in importance based on the number of links pointing to it from other websites. Google does not only look at the number if links, but evaluates the importance of each link by evaluating the website the link came from. If the content of the linked website is similar, it will have a higher rank associated to it.

Optimizing your website and web pages for higher Google page rank

Be sure that the content you are providing is genuine and well organized. Keep your web pages limited to one topic and make sure that other page elements are not overpowering your main content. By offering small pagers with one topic, the topic of that page will rank higher than if the content of four pages were combined.

Be sure that each page contains identifying information in your source code to help Google crawlers browse and index your site. Each page should have META and title tags in the header part of your HTML with a description and keywords that should look something like this:

Click here if unable to see the code text below...

<HTML>

<HEAD>
<META type=“keywords” content=“music, interview, John Mayer”>
<META type=“description” content=“Exclusive interview with John Mayer”>
<TITLE>John Mayer Interview</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY></BODY>

</HTML>

Make sure each page in your directories is accessible. Pages that are not linked to (maybe an older version of a webpage or an old advertising section that you took links down to) can negatively impact your website’s page ranking. You should also provide a site map page to your visitors and create a Google site index file.

Click here to learn more about creating a Google site index file.

Increasing your importance for higher Google page rank

To increase your importance and page rank (and gain traffic), you need to have your website listed by other websites with similar information. The more relevant incoming links you have, the higher your page rank will be.

It is important to note that Google does recognized the differences between genuine, content rich websites and spamming sites - avoid being listed in link farms and other pages that Google might consider spam or your page rank can be decreased or worse, your website could become banned from the Google network (not something you want to happen).

Search for websites like yours and contact the webmaster or appropriate person responsible and propose a link exchange or negotiate a deal to be listed by them. Linking to other sites is considered advertising, but the right website may be a good investment for the website.

A great way to gain a higher page rank is to provide more content. Writing a blog relating to your website’s field or interests is a great way to create a large number of return links through syndication, you can provide resourceful information to users, and you can boost your traffic as well.iAdministrative offers affordable services to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Visit us online today!

Spanish Language Marketing

2009-09-04T05:22:00.000-07:00

Spanish language marketing could be an important aspect of your marketing campaigning, especially if you already provide services or products to latino clientel. You will find that Spanish and bilingual marketing material, invoices / statements, and other communications will increase Latino interactivity with your business and make them more likely to recommend you to other Spanish speaking customers, increasing sales and revenue.

Offering Spanish language customer support is also very important. Your Spanish speaking clients need to know that if they have any problem with their product of services that they will be able to contact you and work out the problem with as little ease as possible. Fearing that they might not be able to communicate clearly with your business may prevent a sale.

At iAdministrative, we offer a wide variety of English and Spanish marketing support. We can help with

Campaign Development
Advertisement & Graphic Design
Online Advertising Management
Bilingual Customer Service & Answering Centers
Website Development & Design
And More...

We can assist with as much or as little of your marketing campaign as needed!

If you would like to get more information on English or Spanish language marketing, visit us online at www.iadministrative.com.

Make contacting you easy for your customers

2009-09-01T05:12:00.000-07:00

Getting customers to your website can be tricky, but just getting them there is not good enough! Once you have a customer at your website, you need them to follow through with you by contacting you! The easier you make it to contact you, the more likely you are to make contact.

Be sure that your website includes an email form that users can quickly compose a message in and submit to you. Displaying your company's email address is always a good idea, however it is more convenient for your customers to send the message then.

You can receive the email form results in your email, and even send the customer a copy. Form processing can also generate a thank you or follow-up email to your client automatically and/or issue a work request!

There are other ways to make contacting you easier for your client. In general, you should operate an easy to navigate website with all of your pertinent information visible or easy to access.

You can also send an email to info@iadministrative.com or visit online at www.iadministrative.com.

Email Marketing & Newsletters

2009-08-26T05:06:00.000-07:00

Email marketing and newsletters are powerful resources for small business owners. You can easily reach out to your customers with email and newsletters, informing them of news, special events, promotions, and more.

With even once a month newsletter and email marketing campaign, you can offer your customers advice and tips, share relevant articles and blogs with them, give them special discounts and offers, and so much more. Since many web surfers will pass good deals from trusted merchants on to friends, each newsletter potentially allows you to increase your customer base and get repeat business!

If you already have a blog or produce other company literature, you already have a start to an interesting, readable newsletter! Starting a monthy special for your newsletter receivers is recommended to increase the potential for immediate site visits upon opening the email!

There are many resources for creating your own newsletters and distributing, however the process can be very time consuming and without the right tools, the task can easily become frustrating...

We offer custom email newsletter design and managment services starting at just $39 dollars a month! For more information on email newsletter services and more, visit us online at www.iadministrative.com.

Improve customer retention and customer service with exit surveys

2009-08-24T05:01:00.000-07:00

It is always exciting to listen to a customer tell you how pleased they are with your services. However, it is often more constructive to get some feedback from the customers that you do not hear anything from (and usually, the ones you lose...).

Some customers who are not satisfied with your services, but did not necessarily have a problem, will not tell you or repeat their business with you. A lot of the times if you knew what your customer was disappointed or unsatisfied with, you would more than likely be able to offer some kind of agreeable alternative - whereas you are not as likely to save the (potential) client relationship if you are unaware.

Since learning how your customers feel about your services is key to improving your customer service and customer retention, you need to know what those customers (and everyone else) are thinking. How do you do that?

You can create an exit survey. Think of a few good questions that you would like each of your clients to answer. What feedback do you think would be constructive in improving your overall service? Are you concerned with your pricing or a new replacement for a popular discontinued item? Whatever answers you feel will help your business grow, ask!

Try to keep the survey short and sweet - around 3 to 6 questions would be ideal. Depending on the type of business you do and the way you interact with your customers, you can have the survey completed in a number of ways:

have customers complete the survey at your place of business
have customers complete the survey on your website
mail the survey to the client with or as a follow-up
call the client and ask in person with or as a follow-up

There are many ways to touch basis with your clients and iAdministrative can help you with as much or as little of the process as you need. We can design all of the marketing material and we can even automate the process for you by calling your client or mailing a card.

iAdministrative offers many administrative solutions and resources to small businesses. If you have a project or tasks that you need assistance with, contact us today! We can arrange custom service packages for as few or as many hours as you need!

iAdministrative to publish blog

2009-08-11T04:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the iAdministrative Online Marketing & Advertising blog!

iAdministrative is an incredible resource for small business owners. We offer cost effective alternatives to hiring new staff with our many online marketing services, including:

Website Design & Development
Website Updates & Maintenance
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Online Marketing & Presence Development
Couple, Blog, & Newsletter Management
And Much More!

Visit us online to see how iAdministrative can help your company today!