Articles in The 'MoreVisibility' Tag

Ladies and Gentleman, Start Your Blogging

by Gerard Tollefsen

Here at MoreVisibility, I like to think we have a robust strategy in place for our corporate blogs.  Everyone in the company participates, writing one to two articles per month on a variety of industry related news, topics, and anything else we would like to share with our site visitors and the World Wide Web.  The last part of that sentence is important…our blogs are hosted on our site, but have the opportunity to get indexed by the search engines.  So while our blogs can be accessed by anyone visiting our site, we also can reach a wider audience when one of our blogs is indexed by the search engines.  In addition, writing the blog post is fairly easy to do – we all have tight deadlines and important projects to complete, but you can always find 30 minutes to write a blog, and that’s about as long as you need to write a good blog article.

There are many excellent reasons to start blogging.  In my opinion, there are two that stand out above all others as to why every company should be blogging, regardless of the product, service, or company size.  First, it is probably the easiest way to add content to your site.  For many businesses, there are multiple steps to adding a new page to their site, some of which involve a developer or web designer who may or may not be a full time employee of the company.  It is not uncommon to hear that it takes a week or longer to get a new page active on a website even after all the content for the page has been finalized.  If you have WordPress installed on your site, for example, you can write and post blogs immediately.  Each blog post will have its own unique url, thus creating new content (and new pages) for your site is a breeze!

Secondly, the search engine optimization (SEO) benefits of consistent blogging cannot be understated, especially if you set up the blog the proper way as part of your main domain:  https://www.morevisibility.com/socialmediablog/.  Creating fresh, relevant, and keyword rich content on a consistent basis is an excellent way to improve your SEO results.  The very nature of blogging is to create fresh and relevant content related to your business.  Optimize your blog articles with keyword rich content and you are employing a solid SEO strategy simply by blogging about your business.

This all sounds very simple, and for the most part it is.  There is some technical work involved in getting the blog started, but once you do…put the pedal to the metal and start blogging as much possible.  You will find it is a simple way to add content to your site and boost your SEO strategy at the same time.

Clearing the Clutter

by Tiffany Weimar

The information age is arguably the most robust yet mind provoking period in time.  While it has lead to an enormous amount of technological advancements, it has also forced many of us to spend valuable time deciphering between what is useless information (and ignore it) and information that will add value to our personal and professional lives.  We are, and continue to live in, a period of information overload!

As marketers, the challenges continue to increase as a result.  As technology advances, we need to be mindful of how best to advertise through new portals and simultaneously pay special attention to the content [and amount of info] that is being delivered.  From e-newsletters, promotions, to business updates, marketers must add value to all distribution efforts in order to create and retain a credible, loyal customer and prospect base.

To better understand how to optimize our marketing efforts, it is important to understand the trends affiliated with the times, especially in the evolving interactive marketing industry.  One of the biggest movements influencing content creation and distribution revolves around mobile devices.

…Why? Mobile is about to explode!

How many times have you opened a newsletter on your mobile device only to realize that you weren’t able to view the images/content correctly?  Many of these users will automatically delete the email from their phone, knowing that they won’t visit their desktop later in the day to view the message.        

Understanding marketing on mobile devices is critical for a few reasons.  Firstly, the increase in popularity of mobile usage is leading to an increase in mobile email and mobile website users.  As a result, email design will start to be more heavily influenced by mobile devices (iPhones, Android-powered smartphones, and iPads). Emails (their content and images) must now be transferrable to the small screen. 

According to Email Insider, the distinction between emails and mobile emails is disappearing. Email design will be impacted greatly, as will the amount of content provided.  When creating email designs, optimize how it appears on small screens by keeping the following in mind:

• Email widths need to narrow (width about 600 pixels)
• Font sizes need to increase so they’re more legible on small screens.
• The space between links and the size of buttons need to increase to allow large fingers to hit links accurately. That will also mean navigation bars with fewer links in them.

Another priority for the New Year should be creating a mobile version of your website.  Not only does the amount of content need to change on your website, but the types of information you provide needs to as well. On-the-go users typically aren’t shopping or making purchases from their mobile devices, rather are looking for business locations, phone numbers, and/or hours of operation.  Make your mobile website user-friendly and concise by including only the most relevant and necessary information/services.  The good news is, mobile website design doesn’t require a significant investment of time or money, and so it is economically feasible for even the smallest of businesses.

Embrace the trends!

Business leaders must continue to amend our delivery methods and content to adjust to the advancement in technology.  By doing so, the user experience will enhance and ultimately increase interest in the content being delivered.

Twitter Update

by Michael Buczek

In recent weeks, Twitter has announced that it will be updating its look and feel.   Many of us who use Twitter on a daily basis are excited for these new changes.   For those of you who haven’t heard that Twitter is updating, here is a run down of some of the items that it will be changing:

Pictures and Movies in the interface — In the past when someone Tweeted a picture or video by way of Twitpic or Twitvid, one would click the link in the Tweet, and it would take them off page and open a new tab or browser to view the photo or video.   With this update, these photos and videos can now be featured in the right rail of the interface by clicking in the tweet area, but not on the Tweet.   If you click on the link that is contained within the Tweet, you will still be taken offsite.

Twitter Profile Information — Currently, if you were to click on a username (@morevisibility) in your twitter stream, you will be taken to their Twitter profile page where you can see additional information and their most current Tweets.   With this new update, a click on the username will display a mini profile in the right rail.   From here you can then go a step further to read more about them or see related content.

Endless Stream — When using Twitter presently, you must scroll to the bottom of the screen and then click a button to view more past tweets.   With Twitters’ new rollout, you will not need to click buttons to receive older content.   As you scroll, content will update automatically and you will be able to see all the past information.

Overall, I think these changes will be great for Twitter, as it will keep users viewing one page more often and it will be easier to see related content as you browse through all of your Tweets.   Twitter has stated that this rollout will be happening over the next few weeks.   As you see this rollout happening, let us know what you think!