WSI Comandix Marketing, Inc.

Blog for your customers

You've read many times, here and elsewhere, about the importance of business blogging as a tool to achieve so many of your digital marketing goals.

To list just a few blogging advantages:

• Improves your search engine optimization (SEO) & rankings
• Provides content for Twitter, Facebook - all your social media
• Enhances your online reputation
• Establishes you as an authority in the blog's subject area
• Serves as a catalyst for your product and industry research and knowledge - blogging keeps you in touch

Many people start their blogs by asking themselves "what am I going to write about?" At the start of any blog, the author is full of ideas and has a clear idea of what they want to say. But things usually change quickly, ideas become scarce and the blog suffers, often being abandoned.

While there are many tips and techniques for keeping stoked with blog ideas, one involves slightly changing the blog's focus - from what you would like to write about to what your customers would like to read.

At first, it may not be as easy to know what your customer wants to learn about, so you may have to get in touch with a few people to ask what might be of interest to them.

WAIT A MINUTE - do you see what happened there? All of a sudden your blogging just became a really good reason for you to call your customer and discuss things that are important to them.  Wow, aren't you suddenly their supplier of choice!

We've said it before and will again: blogging may be the single most important element of your web marketing.

WSI's Francois Muscat shares some tips for good blogging and getting your customers' attention in his latest blog post:

http://blog.wsidigitalmarketing.com/index.php/social-2/wsi-franchise-use-a-business-blog-to-get-the-attention-of-your-clients/

Is it time to retire your paper business card?

Trees everywhere may be breathing a collective sigh of relief as digital and mobile technologies continue to reduce our dependence on paper marketing materials.

Most companies first used their web site as an online "brochure". Ebills and online banking have probably saved a rainforest or two. And social media allows companies to have on-to-one customer interactions without printing direct-mail pieces.

But the business card has stubbornly held onto its position as the top means by which we introduce ourselves face-to-face, and exchange vital contact information, with our customers.

But are the business cards' days numbered?

With some new and existing mobile apps, digital marketing appears poised to offer a valid and practical option to the traditional business card.

Based on digital technology, your new "online" business card will probably integrate well and complement your search engine marketing, including:

• SEO
• location marketing
• mobile marketing
• web presence
• web content
• branding

... you get the idea.

 That said, you shouldn't ditch your paper business card just yet.

WSI's Maribel Guiste offers a comprehensive rundown of some of the digital options for the business card, all of them involving mobile apps, in her latest blog post:
 http://blog.wsidigitalmarketing.com/index.php/mobile/wsi-franchise-marketing-yourself-digitally-time-to-retire-the-paper-business-card/

The secret to getting more people to read your web content? Headlines!

While more and more businesses realize the benefits of developing and integrating lots of web content into their digital marketing, the next step is to increase the chances of that content actually being seen by potential customers.

The traditional challenge for all marketing is to capture the attention of potential customers. On the web, in social media, blogs, etc., the challenge is exponentially greater as readers give your message mere fractions of seconds to prove its suitability. 

That content is commonly understood to be vital to online marketing also compounds the challenge as your message must compete with untold numbers of other similar messages in an increasingly crowded and noisy marketplace.

So what's a content marketer to do? Of course, quality web content, blogging and images are necessary, but to make sure it all gets discovered by your target markets, you need to start at the "top" - your headlines. 

Headlines are often the only thing you have to capture your audience's attention. You could create the most brilliant content in history, but it will all be for naught if your headline doesn't grab the reader.

In her latest post, WSI's Maribel Guiste lists some valuable pointers for creating headlines that get your web marketing content noticed:

http://blog.wsidigitalmarketing.com/index.php/site/wsi-franchise-how-to-craft-a-click-worthy-headline/
 

How to get more traffic to your blog

You have a blog. You've taken the time to research it, create a focus and develop a plan.

You have maintained a steady flow of good quality posts full of valuable content that you promote on your web site, social media and through email.

You get a number of regular readers, a few new ones for each post and often there's a comment or two.

Everything you're doing seems right.

So why aren't you Seth Godin? (If you are, please let everyone know you were here!)

Perhaps the single most powerful tool for digital marketing, blogging can be used to achieve many of your web marketing goals:

• Search Engine Optimization: There's nothing like lots of good quality, keyword-focused content to boost your SEO
• Online Reputation & Branding - Your blog is the key to becoming an authority in your business sector or area of interest
• A Better Bottom Line - Your blog can be a magnet for customers

The value of blogging is proved by the sheer number of relatively good blogs that exist. But that's a problem for every blogger: how do you get noticed and take advantage of everything blogging has to offer when the blog world is crowded with fairly decent competition?

In his most recent post, WSI's Francois Muscat outlines a number of ways to increase the web traffic - and results - that your blog receives.

http://blog.wsidigitalmarketing.com/index.php/search-2/how-to-get-visitor-traffic-with-your-blog/

Tips for hosting a Google+ hangout

What do the U.S. President, The Black Eyed Peas, the Dalai Lama and many of your friends and colleagues have in common? ...  other than Twitter  ... they've all held succesful Google+ Hangouts.

A Google+ Hangout can work within your social media marketing plan in many ways, from being a creative way to get your message out to engaing your customers and conducting market research.

But a Hangout can work for your overall digital marketing plan too:

• Integrate all your web sites, blogging and other properties into the message and conversation
• Search Engine Optimiazation - content from your hangout can be used to boost your SEO
• Online Reputation & Branding - Just by using and mastering popular new tools, you show that your business is current, adaptive and ready to take advatage of whatever tools are available to help their customers.

WSI's Maribel Guiste has posted some very helpful tips for holding your Google hangout:

http://blog.wsidigitalmarketing.com/index.php/search-2/tips-for-holding-your-own-google-hangout/