Author Archive for Michelle
Online PR News – 12-October-2009 – Broadcasting live via streaming video this Tuesday October 13th, Christine O’Kelly will be a virtual guest speaker for the Jacksonville SEO Meetup Group. The seminar will cover the basics of how to use SEO press releases to achieve search engine rankings and visibility. Organized by online marketing consultant Michelle Chance Sangthong, the Jacksonville SEO Meetup group offers ongoing SEO training in Jacksonville, FL.
While members of the Jacksonville SEO Meetup group will watch the conference via projector, anyone with an internet connection can view the training session live at 7:15 EST via UStream at the following URL: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/christine-o-kelly.
Christine O’Kelly is an SEO copywriter and co-founder of the multimedia press release distribution site Online PR News. The 30-minute presentation will cover the ins and outs of using press releases for search engine optimization. Topics to be covered include choosing newsworthy topics, press release writing basics, press release optimization, and distribution techniques. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session where guests can enter their questions via UStream’s live chat feature.
“It’s a great opportunity for our Jacksonville SEO Meetup to integrate web video broadcast technology and have a virtual speaker at our in person meetup. Our members are very excited to learn more about how press releases can help their business and help with their search engine optimization,”
“Michelle is one of the most creative minds in SEO and social media marketing. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to speak to her group about the power of using press releases as part of an online marketing campaign,” said O’Kelly.
“It’s a great opportunity for our Jacksonville SEO Meetup to integrate web video broadcast technology and have a virtual speaker at our in person meetup. Our members are very excited to learn more about how press releases can help their business and help with their search engine optimization,” said SEO and social media consultant Michelle Chance Sangthong of Red Hawk Strategies.
Jacksonville residents can learn more about the SEO meetup and find times and directions at: http://www.meetup.com/Jacksonville-Search-Engine-Optimization/members/7011036/.
Those who cannot attend the live training session can view a recording of the presentation at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/christine-o-kelly.
About Christine O’Kelly:
Christine O’Kelly is the founder of the SEO copywriting firm SEO Content Solutions and the co-founder of the online press release distribution site Online PR News. Online PR News is ranked among Top SEO’s top 5 press release distribution sites in SEO value.
About Michelle Chance Sangthong:
Michelle Chance Sangthong is a web strategies consultant and social media consultant and public speaker. Michelle is the organizer of the Jacksonville SEO Meetup group, operates multiple top-ranking ecommerce websites, and provides coaching and training to those seeking more internet exposure for their businesses.
If you are even slightly doing any work at all that involves the internet or unicorns, the fellas at LessEverything.com have made it very clear in this video that you should totally be attending Less Conf 2009.
The price is right, and if you’re in Jacksonville already, how can you pass up such an affordable deal? If you’re headed to Jacksonville for Bar Camp, then this should be on your plans. Register for Less Conf
I’m getting my ticket now, while they are still available.
P.S. Hey FTC … this was not an affiliate link. Just sharing the Less Love
Thank you for joining our Cabin at Brand Camp 2010. Here are the slides as promised.
Also, here is a link to a prior post that includes the video about social media that I mentioned .
This morning I was reviewing an email from a colleague, someone that I trust who said, “Thought you might be interested.” She doesn’t send me junk, and always places value on my time, so I looked.
What she shared with me I have embedded below, but really she demonstrates what I work so hard to help my clients figure out in their social media campaigns:
- Be trustworthy
- Be consistent
- Deliver great content
- Keep your promises.
That doesn’t look like a social media campaign promise, does it, it looks like a business promise. AHH, did I just see a light bulb go on for you? Social media is not some game that is played OUTSIDE of the rules of business, it shouldn’t contradict your marketing goals or condescend your clientele. Social Media is a different way to engage that begs of us to be civilized and smart.
Social media is about peer-to-peer trust; it is about reputation; and it is about believability. She had my trust, so I was willing to give my click to her suggestion. I was willing to trust her with 3 seconds on my life, and then with another 4:22 to watch a video on the growth of social media.
She had my attention, because I knew I could trust her. Are you building trust into your marketing? Do you deliver on your promises? Your social media activity should be a positive extension of your brand, of your values and of your corporate promises. It should not be a bunch of “clatter” that constantly talks about how wonderful you are.
Think about what you want to accomplish, and I hope you’ll trust me with 4:22 more of your time to soak in the video below.
When you are preparing pages for your website, sometimes it is easy to overlook things you can’t “see”. It’s obvious if you didn’t include written content on the page, or if the background didn’t look just right, but did you remember to include a title tag?
If you use a web page editor like Dreamweaver or Frontpage, you can’t make the change to the title tag on the design version of the page, you have to add it to the HTML code.
Of the possibly hundreds of factors that affect search engine rankings, the title tag seems to hold a powerful place. The title tag is the one thing that you control, and that your web visitor sees before they ever reach your site. Wondering how they do that? The title tag shows up in the search engine for your web page. In the image below I have taken a screen shot of some of our web pages as they appear in Google. The orange highlight is the FIRST IMPRESSION your visitor sees when they find your website in the search engines.
You want your title tag to use the right keywords for that specific page, and you really should make them as clickable as possible. Even in doing this blog post and screen shots, I can see ways to improve our clicks from the search engine into our website.
Is your title tag written so that people are “itching” to click on it? Does it stand out from the other title tags in the search? Would you click on your own title tag?
Title Tag Mistakes
I often see companies repeat the same title tag (usually their company name) on every page of the website. That doesn’t help your search rankings, typically in a search engine you’re trying to attract customers who DON’T know you, so using your company name every where doesn’t help you rank for the products and services that your potential website visitor is looking for.
Other mistakes are to leave the page untitled or name them Home or About Us. Do you really want to rank for Untitled, Home or About Us?
So how do you create a great title tag that is also SEO friendly?
First, make sure that EVERY page of your website has a unique title tag.
Each web page should be themed around one or two keyword phrases, and the title tag should reflect clearly what the page is about.
Limit the title tag to 65 characters.
Don’t stuff or over use keywords. Example. Plumbing | Plumbing Quote | Plumber Services
Use compelling keywords, along with products or services. Let’s use continue the plumber for an example. Residential Plumber - Call For Free Pluming Estimate or Need Help Repairing A Slab Leak
What about that contact page? That’s where generally recommend using the company name on the Contact page. Contact John & Sons Plumbing, Jacksonville, FL
Think about what it is your customer needs? Is there a way you can include those trigger points in your title tag?
Wondering how you can see what your title tags say? There are several different ways.
When you are on a web page you can take a peek at the top line of your browser window.
In the command bar you can choose View, Page Source or Edit, View Source to the the Title Tag and other meta tags.
And I did save the simplest way for last, In google you can type the command site: in front of your domain name in the search box. For my site, you can see in the first image I typed site:http://www.redhawkstrategies.com
Creating great title tags is the best first step you can take to get better rankings in the search engines.
I had the privilege of being a speaker at the Jacksonville AMA Conference The Keys to Online Marketing today. What a rush to see my name on the boards surrounded by other amazing marketing speakers.
My topic was Incremental Marketing on a Micro Budget … it is a coaching program that I have been doing this year one-on-one with several clients, and they have gotten amazing results. But honestly, the name really bugs me. It is not clever, it is not exciting and frankly, I think it is even a little boring. Today I was squeezing the concepts of my 13 week program into 40 minutes to a group of marketing professionals.
I was in a breakout room scheduled at the same time as Blogging 101 Tactics and Benefits of Mobile Development. And honestly was a bit worried that it might be me and the time keeper chatting. When the opening session broke though, I had a flood of folks enter my training room. They actually had to go and get extra chairs as the room couldn’t hold all the folks that were interested. So round one of testing, at least in this group the title got their attention.
Honestly, I considered even changing the board in the hall to say Kick The Competition, because I thought it was “catchier.”
After my introduction and in my own self serving interests, I had to ask the room … would you have been as interested if this was called Kick The Competition? (which happens to be the domain name that I registered to promote my new group coaching webinar). The verdict was very clear - NOPE - today clarity trumped clever. Wholeheartedly this room of MARKETERS (to be clear) felt more compelled to attend a session called Incremental Marketing on a Micro Budget.
So there it is, a real life split test. Or is it? It’s a tough call. I was split testing them after they had already made the decision to go in the room.
How do you decide if a split test is being split with the right audience?
For me, for this day, my headline won round one of testing. After round one do you continue the testing? If you want to win at marketing you will.
Years ago at the very first Stomper Conference Perry Marshall talked about split testing with your Google Pay Per Click ads. He did a little exercise to show us Ad A then Ad B and would then ask the audience which ad performed better? The internet marketers in the Stomper audience was wrong about 80% of the time. So marketers don’t always get it right, either. Ultimately only the customer decides, and usually they vote with not just their clicks, but their wallets, too.
If you want to be sure, just test.
And if you want to help me test, just reply to this blog post below.
If you were picking a course to help you do more effective marketing, without learning a bunch of new stuff which name do you like better?
A) Incremental Marketing on a Micro Budget
or
B) Kick The Competition? Just respond below and THANKS!
Just wanted to share the slides with you from the JaxAMA.org conference today.
Incremental Marketing On A Micro Budget
View more presentations from michellechance.
Everyone wants a bargain, even me. And we have come to expect “instant gratification” when we are shopping online. One trend that has grown is coupon giving and coupon searching. If you don’t believe me just try typing “coupon <insert store here>” into Google and see the plethora of results.
There seem to be different goals from the retailers offering the coupons. My personal belief is very quid pro quo. On our personalized gifts website we offer an instant coupon code in exchange for an email address, and if the customer subscribes to our gift giver club, we give them a code back by email they can use on their purchase today - usually in moments. The customer gets to save 10% NOW and I have the ability to market to them until they choose to unsubscribe.
I want that sale NOW - not tomorrow. And in some instances our customers are saving $15 - $40 per order and are willing to wait a few minutes for email delivery. It’s worth it. And we hope that we make it worthwhile for them.
National chains that I have dealt with online don’t seem to have the same interest. You can get on their mailing list, but I have yet to see one that offers an instant savings. An example is an Dick’s Sporting Goods online store - they clearly have a place on their home page that says “Sign Up and Save 10% on your next order” well I am not the typical shopper, but often my next order is TODAY. So I signed up, followed the instructions and checked my email. NOTHING. And actually it took 36 hours for me to receive the discount coupon. What if my interest had been an “impulse” buy and not a quest to save on a specific object. The 10% could push a shopper to the “BUY NOW” button. But after 36 hours, I would say the thrill of the kill is gone. Sure I can save 10% now, but I have come to my senses and realize I don’t need one more Yoga Mat - even at 10% off.
Now don’t misunderstand, I am not saying my way is perfect. But when a customer is in the checkout funnel, each step along the way has a point where the customer can just bail. If they get to the coupon code box and go back and check the site for coupon code - I want them to get their code and finish checking out. 90% of something is WAYYY better that 100% of an abandoned shopping cart.
If you have a coupon program or some other offer to accelerate the shopping cart truly think about how you are delivering the savings. Are you trying to get their name, their first purchase, a life long customer. You can’t earn them on the first one if you don’t deliver on your promises, even if its a coupon code.