Why Is Your Web Content So Critical?
You Need Compelling Content To Influence Buying Behaviors In Your Online Visitors, Today
You Need Content Optimized (SEO) To Ensure Future Visitors & Business, For Tomorrow
Continual, fresh content is the life-blood of your web presence, your social networks, and your email marketing campaigns!
If you aren’t happy with the quality of your new web content or how often it gets updated, you’re not alone.
We understand why you might have neglected your own content and distribution programs.
You may not have staff with necessary research or writing skills, technical expertise, the time or desire to maintain the program, or don’t have the time to do it yourself. This seems to especially true in many small and mid-sized businesses. Or maybe you’ve misjudged the cost, assuming (incorrectly) it must be expensive. It isn’t. And that’s where we come in.
Blogging
We can write your company’s professional blog, giving you the opportunity to communicate directly with your customers while building your SEO. Your blog can establish you as the trusted resource in your industry, give customers the chance to provide vital feedback, and help spread the word about your company and brands.
Social Media
Social networks represent a fundamental shift in how our society communicates. If you aren’t sharing via social media, you’re falling behind the competition. We can help you setup, grow and actively manage a company Facebook fan page, Twitter or LinkedIn account, and broadcast to other niche social networks and bookmarking services.
Email Newsletters
Or perhaps you have an effective email database, and would like a 100% custom-designed and written e-newsletter. We manage the distribution and your email lists, and provide detailed reporting every month.
Website Copy
Need a new website created, or rewritten? We can develop a site map for a new or existing website, and write all of the web copy you may need – keyword-rich content, designed for the the maximum number of visitor conversions, and also for the highest search engine (SEO) value.
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Great E-Newsletter Design
Aug 30th
As you have read here before, email is far from dead…and will probably remain the preferred method of business communication for the foreseeable future. So using your email database/list to the fullest and sending a company newsletter still makes lots of marketing sense too. But how to get people to pay attention? Well, beautiful design is a good start.
Here at HTA, we’re pretty proud of the graphic layout and design of the e-newsletters we’ve created for clients. But that doesn’t mean we can’t share some other fresh, new designs with you at the same time.
Check out this group of email newsletters that have great artistic design and function, too. Maybe they will give you some ideas for your own marketing communication.
Keep it Fresh!
Aug 23rd
There are a number of important reasons why you should be keeping the content on your website fresh. The most simple, and critical, reason is to keep your current and future visitors engaged and interested in what you have to say. Stale content, such as promoting a sale or talking about an event that took place 6 months ago, has the potential to really “turn off” visitors to your website.
Another important reason for updated content that I reference a lot with clients is the SEO value that it can provide. Simply put, search engines really like to “see” fresh, new content (text, graphics, charts, video, downloads, etc.) on a website.
They figure that if someone is taking the time to continually add new stuff to the website, some of it is probably fairly relevant information or data, and probably deserves to be ranked higher than a site which is rarely or never updated.
Providing updated content can also support good customer service within your organization, be necessary for regulatory or legal reasons, or help you maintain company/brand reputation, among others. Bottom line, you need to keep your website fresh! And if you don’t have the time, energy or skill to maintain a regular blog or create updates for your webpages, find someone who can help. Even a relatively small investment can pay big dividends down the road.
(Need some ideas for what to write about? Here’s an older post on how to “re-purpose” old marketing materials…)
Personalized Ads on Facebook
Aug 16th
Many have discovered the value in Facebook advertising. The costs are lower than many other web options; you can target very specific sets of people; and you can advertise a Facebook page or your website. But once you’ve created your FB advert, here’s a little-known tip that can supercharge your ad.
Imagine watching your favorite TV show. The commercials come on, but instead of fast-forwarding through them (as most do these days), you notice a picture of YOUR friend in the lower corner of the screen, pointing to the business in the commercial saying, “Hey, I like these guys. Check them out!”
Pretty cool, huh? The Facebook ‘Friends of Connections’ ad targeting does just this, allowing your fans to be featured in your ads.
Here’s how to find this option: When you set up your ad, look under the “Targeting” section and you’ll see an option to display more detail. There you will see the option of “Target users whose friends are connected to”, and select the group that you would like.
The Continued Value of Email
Aug 9th
Social networks are no doubt the “sexy” topic of the day for most marketing and promotional people, or just citizens in general. The rush to social media marketing has left some to question the continued value of email communication. What is the current value of sending an email newsletter, for example?
A few facts to consider before declaring the end of email:
First, email is still ubiquitous; almost 100% of Internet users have an email address and check it with some regularity. As mentioned in previous blog posts, this may change at some point in the future, as younger folks switch to other methods of communication, but for the foreseeable future email remains king, especially with business users.
Second, not only is email here to stay, but it’s still the preferred way to distribute information. When sharing a link with a colleague, friend or family member, most people (78%) still report that email is the primary way they would do so.
Social networks are gaining in importance for sure, and may one day overtake email – just as email has largely replaced “snail mail”, or even phone conversations. (The pros and cons of these facts are certainly up for debate, however!)
And finally, email is cheap. Depending on the size of your list, distributing an e-newsletter can cost pennies per recipient. And you control the message and formatting of the communication 100%.
Why Companies Fail With Social Media
Aug 2nd
Social media marketing is difficult for most organizations, and it’s not all that hard to figure out why. They start strong, but after some time lose interest or get frustrated with their results. In general, they view social networking as an event – not a process.
The Super Bowl is an event. Setting up a trade show booth or attending a sales conference is an event, or having sales promotion. These have a distinct beginning and end.
On the other hand, dating is a process; losing weight is a process (if done correctly!); building a brand is definitely a process. And once success has been achieved, it must be maintained.
Events are a lot easier to manage, to budget and pay for, and get excited about. (Think of the excitement generated by the Super Bowl, for example) They can be placed on a calendar.
But this isn’t what creating an online community or following is all about. Often social media doesn’t have an immediate, or easily identified, ROI number that you can assign to it, as you can with most events.
A process builds results for the long haul. Go into your social marketing and communications with this in mind, and you are far more likely to be successful.
