NEW! Mobile Web Sites

Look around and you’ll see most everyone is using a smartphone, tablet or other device. And they’re not just browsing and texting It’s an edge you can use to connect with your prospects.

Mobile Web sites are included for free, all our clients need to do is login to their administration area, enable it and update anything they want on the mobile version. Here are more details:

■Update content in one place – When site owners update content on the full desktop version of their site, the Mobile version of their site will update automatically
■Choose which content they want to display on their mobile site simply by flipping “show/hide on Mobile site” toggle
■Enable/disable pages for mobile and set any page you wish as the mobile home page, even their product catalog!
■No need to point mobile users to a dedicated Mobile URL. Nope, our system automatically serves Mobile site to user when server detects browser type = Mobile
■Administrators can update color scheme of Mobile site on the fly
■Add your own logo and/or customize text content of header and footer
■Full desktop version of site widgets are converted to mobile friendly versions
■Choose different navigation menu styles
■Automatically prompt site visitor to drop bookmark to site on their smartphones home screen
■In our ongoing mission to cater to all user types, our new mobile features attempt to make the site look great right out of the box for novices. However, if you are a more advanced user, you can utilize your own CSS, HTML, JavaScript…etc and make the Mobile version of the site as robust as you need it to be!

Video and Online Marketing

Video can have a huge impact upon the success of your website as a lead and revenue generating marketing tool. Video has impact and can capture the prospective visitor when seconds count. It has become essential for big ticket items, services and product demonstrations.

Major companies are currently using video to there advantage and it's only a matter of time before it becomes essential for small to medium size business owners as well. I believe the time has already come, considering the state of our economy.

Any means of cost-effectively converting website visitors into customers is every online marketers goal. An eMarketer 2010 report stated that higher conversion rates were seen where video was incorporated in comparison to websites without video.

What's also very important is the ever increasing use of smart phones to surf the internet for the nearest business providing a sought after product or service. Having the ability to simply view a video from your site via phone is just as important, if not more so, in today's on-the-go society.

Video is becoming an increasingly important trend which online marketers are going to have to consider, much sooner, than later.

MA WebCenters has responded by adding a new video integration tool recently, at no additional cost (as usual) for our member business owners. It uploads and converts video on the fly to mp4 format, which is compatible with video capable smart phones. Once uploaded, you simply drag and drop onto your web page!

Free Screen Sharing Program Works Great!

I downloaded a screen sharing program similar to GotoMeeting from FreeScreenSharing.com and it works great! Use it for business sales presentations, product demos, webinars, etc. I used it to take a business owner on a tour of all the great online marketing tools included in their new MAWebCenter's Online Marketing Solution.

It has instructional text that you copy and paste into an email to invite participants. If you have an email campaign tool, like the one included with our Solution, you just paste it once and even personalize it by including the person's name in the email message. Then send it out to your email campaign list.

You use your phone for the audio portion of the meeting. If you are just sharing with one person (one call number) you can just call them directly and not use the conference call setup.

All in all a very fine tool for the price. Check it out and let me know how it works for you.

FreeScreenSharing.com

Five 10-Minute Tips to Boost Your Website

With our fully-inclusive digital marketing solution, any small or mid-sized business is empowered with user-friendly features to create the kind of professional Web presence that larger companies pay thousands of dollars to build and maintain!

MA WebCenters Business Solution takes your site to the next level with these five presence-enhancing tips that are so quick and convenient to implement using our solution's simple tools, they can be done in about ten minutes or less!

Tell site visitors about yourself.

If you're interested in boosting your credibility, you can do it with ease by adding information to an "About Us" page using our solution. You can add images (put a face with a name!) and offer personal, human information that consumers love to see from businesses (check out my upcoming "Did you know..." for more on that!).

Don't forget about e-mail campaigns!

They're just as important as ever! Any successful Web presence - whether it belongs to a smaller business or a giant corporation - always offers site visitors the opportunity to sign up for e-mail updates. With our solution, building an e-newsletter is a cinch!

Monitor your success.

Our solution enables users to evaluate their digital marketing efforts, analyze what's working and make modifications when necessary. The comprehensive site statistics section is packed with info to keep businesses on the right track!

Add videos!

Using the rich media tools to embed videos on your site will give your overall presence an entirely new dimension. Videos allow site visitors to learn more about products, services and businesses without reading lengthy blocks of text. It's fun, fast and effective!

Feature Testimonials!

This is another method that lends to your credibility. Whether you choose to add an entire page dedicated to customer feedback or add testimonials to every page of your site, the drag-and-drop capabilities of our solution allow you to accomplish this task quickly and effortlessly!

There you have it! It's never been easier with MA WebCenters all-inclusive online business solution. I enjoy teaching these concepts to business owners and it's gratifying to see the successful results they are having. It's so easy with the tools provided and the awesome technical support team that is always ready to help as well.

To your success...

Building Your Online Community

As we discussed in a recent blog post, one pivotal step in the successful social media marketing process is to effectively create a community! This time we're going to explain community-building through the Four I's of Digital Community Creation!

There are numerous variations on the "Four I's" in the field of marketing, but for today's purposes, we feel like these are the most applicable. Check them out!

Invite - Businesses and solo entrepreneurs must promote their social presence and actively encourage their audience to follow them! It's not enough to simply have the accounts; you need to get the word out!

Inform - Once you've attracted your following, keep that growing community informed about upcoming promotions, exclusive discounts, new products and so on!

Involve - As you probably already know, a successful community of followers is founded on participation and involvement! Businesses should invite involvement from their social audience by opening discussions, holding contests, creating polls...think of the possibilities!

Influence - Some marketers use this interchangeably with "impact," but whichever you prefer, the goal is nearly the same: to have a long-lasting and clear community-wide effect. This can be a call to action in the form of making a purchase, of course, but in the social/community-oriented marketplace, it can just as easily be related to a cause that's important to the business or solo entrepreneur. Think beyond your business...it's the best way to foster social network communities!

We now have a whole new Social Media Marketing Team in place to specifically provide expertice and support for our member business owners. For a clearer idea of how our social media marketing platform can benefit your business, check out the video. Then contact us about a free test-drive to experience the difference.

Make The Most Of Email Marketing

There's a rumor making its way around the digital arena alleging that social media has rendered email marketing obsolete. We're here to tell you that's just not true! And that means the email marketing tools we've built into our WebCenter Solution are as indispensible as ever! So today we're reiterating some important email marketing tips that you can use to make the most of your online presence!

Balance Copy and Images
According to Alex Madison and Lisa Harmon at MediaPost's Email Insider, the balance between email text and images depends largely upon the nature of the business.
"While lots of lovely images and minimal copy can boost click-through and engagement for B2C (Business to Consumer) audiences, B2B (Business to Business) subscribers...respond to no-frills creativity that prioritizes copy over imagery."

Our WebCenter clients appreciate how easy it is to use our solution to experiment with text and image content in their email campaigns! They can edit and adapt their messages to suit the specific needs of their business...and they can do it all without paying for additional services!

Find a Form that Fits
Similar to the previous tip, Madison and Harmon say that both B2B and B2C businesses should hold on to their successful email layouts and use them as forms or templates for future use. Along with the obvious convenience, this is beneficial because it allows businesses to keep their messages "consistent and recognizable."

Again, this step is simple with the help of our WebCenter Solution! Not only can you modify and save your winning forms; you can create a look that's tailored to your business, thus enhancing your business' credibility and boosting your customer retention rates!

Don't Lose Track of the WIIFM Factor!
As any experienced salesperson will tell you, potential buyers have one question on their minds: "What's in it for me?!" Successful sales hinge on anticipating that question and answering it effectively! Your business is no different.

That's why you need to understand the value of targeting and customizing your emails. You should be creating messages that are relevant to specific customers' preferences and they should include exclusive discounts that reward your email readers for their continued loyalty!

Strategies For Search Engine Optimization

We'd like to share the advice we've covered here from Anita Campbell's Small Business Trends blog. Campbell compiled a list of expert-recommended SEO tactics for small businesses written by her fellow bloggers. We've plucked a few to share with you.

1. Place credibility above all else.
Matt McGee from the Small Business Search Marketing blog wrote that "Trust is the #1 SEO ranking factor." To that end, he advises readers to earn trust from site visitors by "providing great content," assuring that "search engines will follow suit."
"Establish yourself as an expert - create excellent content that people will want to link to and share."
This should be your highest priority! If you use your Website to build credibility, everything else will fall into place naturally! This ties together nicely with another of Campbell's tips...


2. Use your content to target humans, not search engines.
Marty Lamers at the blog Articulayers suggested that readers write site content with humans in mind rather than attracting the attention of search engine crawlers.
"Create stronger content versus increasing the density of targeted keywords," he wrote. This will make the content more valuable to a wider audience.


3. Keep it local!
Since most consumers are using search engines to find local businesses, you should include as much local-oriented content as possible, according to Vedran Tomic of SEO Rabbit.
"To attract visitors from your local area, include words on your website that your customers use to describe your business (not necessarily the words you use). If you serve a specific geographic area, describe that in detail on your website."


4. Integrate Social Media.
This suggestion was provided to Campbell by Tamar Weinberg at Techipedia. According to Weinberg, the popularity and trust that consumers instill in social media sites like Twitter and Facebook mean that "search engines may rank these pages higher than other destinations on the 'net."

Create profiles on social media sites (e.g., Facebook) and add content to such sites regularly. Fresh content means search engines will visit often!

The secret? It's a no-brainer, and it's so easy with our Web Solution!