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Does URL Shorteners Pass PageRank?

February 6, 2010 By Ben Janke 3 Comments
Image representing bit.ly as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

With all of this social marketing and how it is taking off, you might have asked yourself if URL shorteners like bit.ly and tiny.url help with SEO efforts.   Afterall, part of social marketing is building backlinks to your website.  These URL shorteners do a 301 redirect which tells the search engines that the link has permanently moved locations.

Watch this video with Google’s Matt Cutts to get some more information about these urls and how they effect your SEO.

I just hope these companies are around to keep my links active 5 years from now.

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Does URL Shorteners Pass PageRank?
Filed Under: Social Marketing Tagged With: Add new tag, backlink, bit.ly, promotion, Search Engine Optimization, URL shortening, Web Design and Development

You Can Let Your Business Stand out Online with Custom Website Design

August 4, 2009 By Ben Janke Leave a Comment

You’ve had that old website for far too long and it’s high time for a professional website design that is intelligently designed with your company’s future goals in mind.  The value of a professional, results-driven, customized website cannot be overemphasized, and must never be neglected in your marketing plans.

Today’s professional website design and internet professionals know far more than they did 10 years ago about how to create web sites that target the right potential customers, how to grab their attention with an effective message, and how to turn them into buyers who come back to buy from you again and again. At Effect, our SEO consultants and custom web development experts also use innovative tracking tools that allow us to undeniably prove to you the immense value ofour professional Website Consulting services. If only your radio, television, print, and other marketing projects could say that.

SEO provides a higher return on investment than any other line item in your current marketing budget. Guaranteed. If this were not true, our consultants would be working in another field. At Effect Web Media, we are daily and passionately driven to achieve the results our customers demand. In order to measure the success of our professional website design projects, we have developed award-winning, fully-customized tracking tools that show, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we will deliver what others only promise, over and over.

That’s why clients stick around, instead of trying “another something different”, time and time again, and never getting proof of the results they set out to achieve in the first place. Even if your business is not involved in online selling, it’s important to note that online search engines have become the “Yellow Pages” of today. When people are out looking for a specific product or service, more than half will first go online to scope things out. You simply don’t have any more time and money to waste. You may not appreciate this until you’ve tried our services to see for yourself how quickly and affordably the right, professional SEO Company can improve your company’s bottom line.

As we value your time and budget, we work carefully and skilfully to maximize the effectiveness of every single aspect of your website – from how it looks, to how it operates, to how it reports continuous, positive results back to you. Simply put, if your business can’t be found on page one of search engines such as Google and Yahoo, you are as good as invisible to customers searching online for a company like yours. Winning the competition for new and repeat business is far more sophisticated a process than even the savviest marketers today are fully informed about. Because the working world of the affordable SEO services changes daily, we make it our core business to stay ahead of the pack as we pass on our expertise, skill, knowledge and results to our loyal customers.

 

Anyone may be successful locating related articles using ABCNews.com or in Bing.       

Filed Under: BenJanke.com Contributors Tagged With: marketing, promotion, seo, website design, website development

Smart Person’s Marketing

July 26, 2009 By Ben Janke Leave a Comment

It is a sunny morning and you are sitting in your office. With a cup of hot coffee by your side and memories of your last holiday still fresh in your mind, even if you say so yourself, today at least, life is sweet.

As you take a sip of your early morning double cappuccino a rush of cool air blows through the room and you catch a movement from the corner of your eye. You blink to find an impeccably dressed stranger now sitting in the chair opposite. Surprised, you bet; you didn’t hear anyone knock and just as you are about to say something he begins in a calm and measured voice.

‘Here is the deal’

‘In every city of the world I am going to advertise your product on billboards at the busiest junctions.’

‘I will be able to tell you how many people see the advertisement, their nationality, age and gender.’

‘I will tell you what they think of your product and in many cases I will give you their contact details. While they are looking at the billboard I will allow them to view your website and even make a purchase if they feel the urge.’

‘I will have all this ready in two days and it will cost you less than a small advertisement in your typical trade journal.’

He stops for just a second. ‘Interested?’

Okay you might be forgiven thinking that such an offer was too good to be true, you might think that you are going to wake up from a dream or maybe it really is time to get a lock on that office door.

But let us just take time to reflect. If you are still reading this well I am that man who has come from nowhere and offered you a deal.

The advertising site is on the Internet and the billboard I’m offering is the much underrated online survey.

Stop for a second and start to associate an online survey not with ‘market research’ but with ‘marketing’. Not any type of marketing but ‘Marketing’ with a capital ‘M’ and in flashing neon lights. Marketing that is quick, effective, direct and low cost.

Publish an online survey and advertise it on a website, or via email, and like a billboard by the side of a major road junction, your message will appear in front of people. The number of people that see a billboard can only be estimated where as the number of people that start a survey is a verifiable number.

By asking demographic questions such as age, gender and nationality you can collate important information that will allow you to measure the effectiveness of your promotion and ensure that you are interacting with your target market on a one-on-one level.

Unlike billboards where the message is often subliminal, or maybe just trying to achieve brand awareness, with online surveys you have the opportunity to connect with the public to find out what they really think about your product, how it relates to them, how it is perceived.

Using an online survey website it takes only minutes and hours to create a survey and using the power of the Internet an online survey can reach hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.

Even if you throw in a prize as an incentive for people to complete the survey, maybe invest in some Pay Per Click advertising to capture a wider, or more focused, audience you are still talking low cost effective marketing.

‘Okay then, tell me. Is it a deal?’

Filed Under: BenJanke.com Contributors Tagged With: advertising, customer, customer communications, customer relationship, customer services, educating, feedback, marketing, Online surveys, promotion

Ten Reasons Why Online Surveys are the Future of Marketing

July 26, 2009 By Ben Janke Leave a Comment

Your customers are tough cookies. They’re extremely media aware and increasingly cynical – it’s a clever marketeer who can get through to them. Online surveys modernizes the traditional format and offer a unique way of interaction – all the benefits of the Internet without the programming. Here are ten reasons why they may be the silver bullet marketeers’ need, complete with examples supplied by Martin Day, managing director of Survey Galaxy – one of a new breed of websites making online surveys quicker and cheaper

1. It’s cheap and cheerful
Select the right survey website and creating surveys can be free of any charge and the cost to publish very reasonable.
Information harvested from surveys can be reused and repackaged in other marketing and PR for use in press outlets making it a very efficient form of information gathering.

2. It’s easy peasy
Anyone can create and design an online survey. Using an online survey website only basic browser skills is required to create professional looking surveys that when published ate simple to comcomplete.

3. Canvas the world
Promoting an online survey can be via email (with a link enclosed), through a link from a website or as a referenced by other forms of advertising. Anyone who has the link can be connected instantly to the survey, at a time that’s convenient to them, 24×7.

4. We have all got an opinion – and we like to give it
Customers do not associate surveys as spam and most welcome the opportunity to make their voice heard and a chance to have an impact on a brand. They can be particularly good for broaching sensitive subjects with concerned employees; a survey asking a workforce on their opinion of change allows the key issues to be raised in a positive manner and encourages employee participation. Deliver a message to individuals and then have the feedback collated in a manageable form.

5. Get inside your respondent’s head
With traditional advertising you can lead a customer to an advertisement but you can’t make them think. Surveys have the advantage of engaging each respondent, who thinks about the question before giving their response.

6. Building relationships
It needn’t all end once a survey has been completed – while you have their attention you can ask if they want to sign up for more information or a regular newsletter – making the most of the window when you have their interest.

7. If you like this, you’ll love…
One of the most important benefits of a survey is the ability to make inspired or useful connections instantly to other areas. By embedding links within the survey you are able to reinforce the marketing message.

8. Subtle marketing
Surveys can associate a product with a number of positive attributes. By listing a product’s features and then asking the respondent to score on how important they are, regardless of their response, the product will be associated with the feature.

9. It’s not just about selling
A survey is an effective, easy and quick method to promote and gain acceptance for a difficult proposal; for example a public body trying to gain acceptance and support for a particular scheme.
Take the example of a city trying to gain support from the general public for their bid to host a future Olympic Games. With a survey you have the opportunity to explain each benefit putting the respondent in a much better frame of mind to appreciate an argument and be more positive in their response. Promoting the cause is just the start as you can then use the feedback you receive to fine tune the overall marketing strategy.

10. Fresh topics engage interest
Think laterally and a lively and imaginative approach to surveys can provide a ‘hook’ to engage respondents. The survey subject can be targeted at a particular group on a subject close to theirs hearts. A survey’s marketing message can take the form of a simple brand awareness message by stating that the survey is being sponsored by brand name, or by finding a link from the subject matter to the product – something that is surprisingly easy and highly effective.

Attract traffic by providing a Public Survey section as many people who enjoy completing crosswords and doing word puzzles enjoy completing surveys. Having a public survey notice board as part of a website is a cost effective and automated method that will help increase traffic and establish a loyal and returning following. No need for moderators as unlike discussion boards there is no opportunity for people to disrupt the site by inappropriate remarks as the survey results can be displayed in summary form.

The majority of customers do not view surveys as spam and will welcome the opportunity to voice their opinion and have the chance to make an impact on a brand.

Many of the techniques and a few more are contained in the following Sample Marketing Survey.

Filed Under: BenJanke.com Contributors Tagged With: advertising, market research, marketing, Online surveys, promotion