Increase Your Rankings Using Social Media

February 8, 2010 10:35 by dmacdonald

In today’s plethora of blogs, tweets and slideshare, how can you increase search engine rankings for your own organization? Simply by using social networks to help elevate your brand presence.

For example, I read and routinely respond to industry blogs that have a similar audience as MacDonald Consulting. 

Of particular interest is a blog response to an associate I’ve done work with:









Like
wise, I take every opportunity I can to respond to questions on LinkedIn - hallmarking my industry breadth while helping fellow colleagues to be successful:   





Lastly, I’m asked permission to use my blog as an example in this scenario:
 
  





This interaction has garnered MacDonald Consulting high rankings in Google search results while aiding in expanding my own social network.

Take some time each week to answer blogs, syndicate your own blog content and answer LinkedIn questions. See what happens. You’ll be amazed how quickly your own personal rankings now appear on first page results.

Best

Denice MacDonald


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Get Noticed: Your Twitter Image

February 3, 2010 10:49 by dmacdonald

As Twitter continues to dominate the Internet, we can naturally conclude that users are adding more and more followers each day. How will you stand out as a differentiated brand amidst all the noise and thousands of other tweets?

1. Elevate Your Brand Name

Smart brands use Twitter in meaningful ways, and most of them use their brand name as a way to make sure customers can find and recognize them. See how these top brands are elevating their presence through creative use of their unique 'twitter' value proposition.

Resource: 40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them 

2. Custom Twitter Backgrounds

Most Twitter follows scan their tweets quickly to find what is of interest to them. In order to standout, you can begin to use images or custom backgrounds to get noticed.

Customer Backgrounds: TwitterImage 

3. Build Your Twitter Brand with Memes

Hash tags are ways to denote an important tag word used in a Twitter update. The purpose in doing so is to build a community around a given tag word, which encourages more activity around a topic of interest. Search engines and dedicated Twitter memes can pick up on these hash-tagged keywords and provide a streamlined, niche set of Twitter updates relevant to that topic of interest. It can also help you build your brand.

Global Tags for Twitter (Updated Daily): Twemes 

Great Resource:

50 Useful Twitter Tools for Writers and Researchers 

Related Posts:

Twitter Can Be a Real Tweet

Can't Get Enough of Twitter: It's Become Universal!

Best

Denice MacDonald


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Social Video

January 31, 2010 09:58 by dmacdonald

The application of social video - often referred to as using the strategy of video as the central piece for social interaction and storytelling online - is beginning to grow rapidly.  

Take for example Samsung's HD Camera Phone Trick. That YouTube clip was created and produced for Samsung Mobile by London's Viral Factory. Its traffic and engagement patterns were tracked and analyzed by Visible Measures – with unprecedented results.  

The social video piece was specifically designed for social interaction – prompting the consumer to take the challenge and solve the puzzle. The formula was a simple one (you’ll need to view to see why). To be perfectly honest – I was drawn in and wanted to take the challenge!       

 

What does this engaging video tell us? 

  1. Modern brand building with social video is a necessary part of the marketing mix
  2. Due to its authenticity, engagement with video is beginning to rank higher and more desirable in comparison to TV viewing or radio broadcast
  3. Bottom-line, people like to watch video, share it and get involved with it making it a natural word of mouth strategy

Obviously, everyone who uses social video as part of their marketing mix is curious about direct measurement – meaning, does it really work and feed the bottom-line?

As social video become more active, click thru activity as well as viewing and registration are good indicators of brand lift, interaction and sharing offering much better results than highly charged broadcast metrics. Based on the Samsung example – how could argue with its success?  

BTW – there’s a follow-on video that reveals the puzzle. Here’s the answer. 

Best

Denice MacDonald


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Is Your Brand Reputation at Stake?

January 24, 2010 09:15 by dmacdonald

You've spent a lot of time building up your reputation and image both online and off, so it's important to make sure that someone or something has not jeopardized your brand.

One of the simplest and easiest ways to track your reputation is to use Google Alerts. With this free service, you can search either all of Google's properties, or you can specify that only News, Blogs, Web, Video, or Groups is searched. You can then configure the Alerts results to be emailed to you either as it happens, once a day, or once a week. There is also a page where you can edit the alerts once they are created or delete them when they are no longer in use. 

If making a good name for yourself online is a priority, it's time to take a proactive approach to getting your name out there the way you want.  

BUSINESS SOCIAL NETWORKS – Complete your profile in its entirety and connect with key professionals in your network.

BLOGS – Consider a business blog and one that you contribute to – showing you are a thought leader will aid in elevating you or your products in your industry. Likewise, use blogs to amend or respond to bad hype.

WEB 2.0 PR – Get news interviews, podcasts, webinars with clients 'live' online. Third party testimonials by key constituents regarding your products and services will go a long way in building brand reputation.

LINKING – If you have a web site, consider carefully where and how inbound and outbound links are connected – bad links will reflect poorly on your brand.

SUB-DOMAINS - Add a sub-domain for careers, corporate and/or product info for little or no cost.  Not only will sub-domains elevate your search results but add depth to your reputation.

PPC/ONLINE ADVERTISING – This can only help protect your brand and will help influence visitors to see who is the real website that should be visited.

SEARCH - Take control of the visible results of any search related to your brand. By taking a coordinated approach to search engine optimization, you take greater control of the other nine slots.  

FREE TMONITORING OOLS:

Similarly to Google Alerts, Yahoo! Pipes is also a good tool for aggregating and combining feeds into one central repository.

Using Twitter search you can locate any instances of your name and decide whether you want to tweet back or ignore them. 

If you have a blog, then you have to be on Technorati. Technorati tracks “blog reactions,” or blogs that link to yours. Search for your brand on Technorati, and subscribe to RSS alerts so that when someone blogs about you, you find out.

Yacktrack lets you search for comments on your content from various sources, such as Blogger, Digg, FriendFeed, Stumbleupon, and Wordpress blogs.

Best,

Denice MacDonald


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Take the 2010 Social Media Survey

January 20, 2010 11:28 by dmacdonald

Website Magazine's March, 2010 cover story is about social media for business. And, as an educated audience of Web professionals in the industry, they want your input!

Please take just a couple of minutes to take their 2010 Social Media Initiatives survey. They want to know how social media is affecting your business, and what some of your objectives might be in 2010.

The survey is very brief, and they will share responses (anonymously, in aggregate) with all of their readers in the upcoming issue of Website Magazine. 

Take the survey now.  

Why should you care?

Social Media is getting quite a bit of hype – but is anyone truly doing it correctly?  With a lot of chatter and just plain noise – web strategist may need to get back to the basics: who is the intended audience and is the organization creating the right conversation that invokes engagement and sharing? I’ll be anxious to share the results of what others are doing in 2010.

More About Website Magazine (Denice's favorite web resource)

Website Magazine is the one magazine to focus exclusively on the business of running a website: tips for successful websites, solutions for enhancing website traffic, the latest Internet industry trends and statistics, as well as news analysis on the Internet industry.

Subscriptions (complimentary and professional/print and online)

Advertise (lots of opportunities and great pricing)

Best

Denice MacDonald


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2010 Top Web Technology to Watch: Social CRM

January 14, 2010 10:54 by dmacdonald

As always in January, we start to see a plethora of web predictions for the year. This year is not any different with the marked transition of mobile video, Android technology and geo mapping. In my estimation, the top technology to watch will be Social CRM.

 

We’ve seen the rise of Twitter and Facebook as social communication tools. This year, those modes of real-time communication will find their way deeper into the enterprise. Salesforce.com is set to launch Chatter, its real-time stream of enterprise data which interfaces with Twitter and Facebook and turn them into business tools. Startups like Yammer and Bantam Live are also making business more social.

 

As recently as last March, Jeremiah Owyang was blogging on The Future of Twitter: Social CRM. In that blog, Jeremiah inferred the various directions Twitter could go: create their own brand management system that they can resell to the world’s companies to monitor, alert, track, prioritize, triage, assign, follow-up, and report on the interactions with brands.

 

However, there is still one huge quandary – can CRM be ‘automated’ – that is, respond fast enough (daily, by the hour, by the minute) while still providing a personal touch to help and assist customers, continue to build relations and trust?

 

Again, Jeremiah Owyang presents and interesting blog on Matrix: The Four Social Support Strategies wherein he discusses the various ways in which to interact with customers – specifically the fourth strategy (automated social support) – companies will have the ability to quickly scale by responding to customers faster, and more accurately, using automated responses.

 

Bottom-line – whatever your social media strategies are for 2010, you’ll need to watch closely the rapidly changing landscape of Social CRM.

 

Best

Denice MacDonald

 

Sources:

10 Technologies That Will Rock 2010 by Erick Schonfeld, January, 2010

The Future of Twitter: Social CRM by Jeremiah Owyang, March, 2009

Matrix: The Four Social Support Strategies by Jeremiah Owyang, November, 2009


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Mobile Technology: Understanding the Android Phenomena

January 6, 2010 09:29 by dmacdonald

With the latest entre of Google’s Nexus One and Droid by Motorola, there’s been a lot of buzz around the next generation of smartphones powered by Android technology herein referred to as superphones. 

Open Source Operating System and Software Platform - Why the hoopla? The Android was developed with one simple idea: Open up mobile devices to enable greater innovation that will benefit users everywhere – through open source collaboration. 

Technical Attributes - Android is a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel. It was initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, and lately by the Open Handset Alliance.  It allows developers to write managed code in the Java language, controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries

Market Share Predictions - In the Fall of 2009, Gartner Inc. predicted that by 2012, Android would become the world's second most popular smartphone platform, behind only the Symbian OS which powers Nokia phones. Also predicted: BlackBerry will fall from 2nd to 5th place, iPhone would remain in 3rd place, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile would remain in 4th place1

View this YouTube video to get a full grasp of Android capabilities.

Best

Denice MacDonald

[1Source: Android to grab No. 2 spot by 2012, says Gartner from ComputerWorld October, 2009]


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Google Analytics: Annotations

December 27, 2009 08:08 by dmacdonald

Google has a new feature that allows users the ability to leave annotations or notes within in analytics charts, helping to explain sudden spikes or drops in traffic.

Annotations allow analytic users to leave shared or private notes right on the over-time graph in an effort to let users bring intelligence to data.

The Annocation's feature will be available in January of 2010.

To learn more about this powerful new feature before it's official launch, access this YouTube video.

More about "Annotations":

From Google Blog: Holiday Bonus - More Great Features 

From TechCrunch: Google Analytics Gets An Upgrade With Annotations, New API And More

Best,

Denice MacDonald


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Web Audience Analysis: What You Need To Know

December 24, 2009 07:20 by dmacdonald

As web sites become more sophisticated, so does the need to concentrate on targeted audiences. I’m amazed that most organizations cannot clearly state who their target audience is. In fact, they typically reply with a long list of diverse people. When probed about which are the most important or relevant, they typically say that they all are.

The reality is that if you build a web site for everyone, you will attract no one. It is critical that you concentrate on your target audience and design and create content that will resonate with them. Does this mean that you ignore everyone else? Absolutely not. If built correctly, the web site will cater to a clearly defined audience while appealing to the masses.

A good way to get a handle on your target audience is to create two or three personas that describe the main user segments to your web site. A persona is a brief fictional biography that captures the essence of the individual you are targeting.

When creating personas, it’s always best to talk to actual customers or prospects. If you can’t do that, try talking with secondary sources — people who know the actual customers well.  

Developing personas usually starts with collecting some demographic data, such as age, education, and job title. But the goal is to collect the qualities of the intended user such as information on their web habits, behaviors and needs.

The result of this analysis will be the information you will need to attract, engage and convert visitors. 

Sources

User Personas & Wireframes: The First Ten Seconds — by Charles B. Kreitzberg, Ph.D. of Website Magazine

Making Your Web Site More Appealing: Start With Audience Analysis — by Bob Savar of World Wide Web Communications

Importance of Web Site Audience Analysis  — by Gene DeFazzio of Buzzle.com

Vendor Recommendations

Need a good Information Architect?  Check out these exceptional User Experience and IA providers:

Deb Reiser

Brian Molstad - Molstad Consulting

Best

Denice MacDonald


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Social Media in 2010

December 20, 2009 10:36 by dmacdonald

According to several leading experts, social media is a number one priority in 2010. Social media will be used by organizations to lift their brand, stay connected to customers while using networks to grow their lead-gen pipelines. To learn how your organization can capitalize on what others are doing, check out these ‘top’ resources, articles and blogs from leading subject matter experts.   

Social media on marketers' menu for 2010 by Helen Leggatt, Biz Report   

"It looks like social media is on the menu for most marketers next year. A survey of almost 2,000 MediaPost subscribers found that over half plan to have "a presence on social networks" as part of their marketing mix in 2010..."  

10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010 by Ravit Lichtenberg from Ustrategy.com

"It is impossible to separate social media from the online world. Facebook reached 350 million users last month -- 70% of whom are outside the US -- and it accounts for 25% of the Web's traffic, according to Pew nearly one in five people on the web use Twitter or some other service to check status messages, and 94% of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools. The social media conversation is no longer considered a Web 2.0 fad -- it is taking place in homes, small businesses and corporate boardrooms, and extending its reach into the nonprofit, education and health sectors. From feeling excitement, novelty, bewilderment, and overwhelmed, a growing number of people now speak of social media as simply another channel or tactic..."

Why You Need A Social Media Policy in 2010 by Vanessa DiMauro, Customer Think   

"Policies are dull. No one wants to create them, no one likes to read them and certainly, few desire the job of enforcing them.  But they can play an important role in outlining the rules of engagement around a particular set of online behaviors and have a strong role to play in the face of new situations where the there are no standards.  This is especially true with the wild west world of social media in business..."  

Six Social Media Trends for 2010 by David Armano, Harvard Business Review   

"In 2009, we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year..."

Best to my network this holiday season!   

Denice MacDonald 


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What Makes a Great Corporate Blog?

December 13, 2009 09:24 by dmacdonald

Anyone who has a vested interest in a corporate or personal blog knows it takes time and effort to produce a great blog. I personally belong to a dozen blogs and try to read them each day. From a personal standpoint, I can tell you what keeps me clicking back and what I look for in other blogs.

Here are my 'must-haves' for a successful blog.

Blogger shows enthusiasm for his/her blog. If it's written to fill space, I can tell. I’m only interested in blogs that surprise, delight, amuse and inform.

The blog is well written. I read certain blogs because I not only enjoy reading them, but I’m truly getting information that is important to me – in a style of writing that is more conversational and with the bloggers point of view (good or bad) in mind.

The blog has links to other blogs, newsfeeds or other relevant information. I want to know that this blog is going to get me the next relevant click of information. I love resources, links back to other blogs and creditable information so that I can understand the bloggers opinion or slant.

The blog is updated regularly. There’s nothing worse than finding a great blog only to find out that the blogger blogs on a sporadic basis. I want a blog to be committed to me, the reader, by providing ongoing, updated content – especially if I have subscribed to their feeds.

The blog embraces comments and feedback. I welcome an opportunity to comment on content and provide my opinion on topics. More sophisticated blogs allows sign in and the ability to post comments making the blog very interactive and viral in nature.

The blog is properly tagged and categorized. Make it easy for me to move around your blog, clicking on other categories or relevant tags.

More Great Bloggers:

The Rules Behind Creating a Great Blog by Tom Hung, ProBlogger

27 Tips for Building a Kick-ass Blog by Ahmed Bilal

What Makes a Great Company Blog by Mack Collier

Best

Denice MacDonald


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Square: Mobile Pay Device

December 9, 2009 10:32 by dmacdonald

Twitter creator Jack Dorsey recently gave the first public demonstration of his hotly-anticipated latest venture “Square” – a device that allows its users to make credit card payments through their cell phones.

Square is a card reader about one inch in length that attaches to the headphone socket of most cell phones. 

The device contains a magnetic strip reader that allows a user to swipe a card, which will then coordinate online with card issuers and banks through a mobile application on the user’s cell phone. 

Basically, the Square works very similarly to card swipers that you see in most retail stores.

The device is scheduled to be available for iPods and iPhones in March 2010. 

View the latest "Square" YouTube video from TechCrunch    

Sources: 

After Twitter, Comes Square - By Richard Neil Ilagan, The News Chronicle

Creator Reveals Square Mobile-pay Device - By Barry Neild, CNN

Best

Denice MacDonald


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On-demand Music Service: Grooveshark!

December 6, 2009 10:05 by dmacdonald

Grooveshark is the most inclusive and fully-featured on-demand music service on the Web. With an unmatched catalog of music, millions of users flock to the site to listen to their favorite artists as well as discover music and share tracks with friends.

Listening to any song instantly, creating playlists to return to later, or simply accessing a quick favorite song are the fundamentals of Grooveshark's offering.

How are they capturing marketshare?

Grooveshark delivers the world's music to the world more easily than any other site online and receives its support from advertising as well as a premium VIP subscription service. In fact, visitors and subscribers can opt out of advertising for $3 per month. 

Also, the much anticipated Grooveshark Mobile applications will further monetize the service and Grooveshark's unique and innovative platform for breaking artists keeps it one step ahead in being a competitive, sustainable and profitable business.

Bottomline, these guys are awesome and you need to check them out! 

Features – see how unique and differentiated Grooveshark is relative to other music on-demand sites 

Free Stuff – all types of wallpaper from Abstract to Shark wallpaper free for download

Join Now – fast, easy and worth it!

Best,

Denice MacDonald 

[Source info and company background taken directly from Grooveshark]  


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Gaining Popularity: Software as a Service

December 2, 2009 18:31 by dmacdonald

Many of my clients these days are wondering how they are going to scale their businesses in 2010 in order to stay competitive. With the emergence of Software as a service (or SaaS), they can now reap the benefits of applications that were once far too difficult to develop, host or purchase. 

SaaS Defined: 

Software as a service (or SaaS) is a way of delivering applications over the Internet—as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet, freeing yourself from complex software and hardware management. 

SaaS applications are sometimes called Web-based software, on-demand software, or hosted software [see YouTube video below for more learning].

Whatever the case, SaaS applications run on a SaaS provider’s servers. The provider manages access to the application, including security, availability, and performance. Moreover, the application can be used across your organization via multiple licenses or subscriptions. 

Common Uses: 

The most common use of SaaS is with CRM applications like Salesforce, social networks such as Ning or even e-mail applications such as Constant Contact. In any event, you'd be crazy not to check out an SaaS model as an option within your technology mix. 

Learn More: 

To learn more about SaaS - check out this great YouTube Video.

 

Best,

Denice MacDonald


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Some of the Best: Review Sites

November 29, 2009 10:52 by dmacdonald

According to Wikipedia, a review site is a web site on which reviews can be posted about people, businesses, products, or services. These sites may use Web 2.0 techniques to gather reviews from site users or may employ professional writers to author reviews on the topic of concern for the site.

Just for fun, I have compiled a list of review sites for your use and review. Not only can you use these sites personally, but there certainly is a plethora of learning and insight relative to functionality and user interaction. This learning can be translated to both business and consumer web sites. In particular is the wide use of mobile technology.

MOVIES:   Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh or rotten, this site sums up what all of the critics are saying about most every movie and DVD. From ratings to polling’s, you can insure that this site offers ‘transparent’ critiques. 

RESTAURANTS:     Yelp!

Yelp is the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what’s great – and not so great – in your area. the site includes restaurants, shopping, nightlife and more. By setting up a profile, the site will automatically serve up content that is important to the user - including mobile alerts and content. 

SHOPPING:     RedPearl

RedPearl provides ratings, rankings, and reviews for thousands of web sites including the top sites in over 100 shopping categories. The site is extensive and includes ratings for anything from baby to garden supplies to travel gear. There is definitely something for everyone at this site.

FAMILY FOCUS:     Pluggedin Online

Plugged In is a Focus on the Family publication designed to help equip parents with the essential tools that will enable them to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which they live. Site includes reviews and ratings on TV, DVD, Music and Movies available online and by mobile alerts. 

MUSIC:     MSN Music

MSN Music includes concerts in your area, latest music releases and access to ratings on all types of music genre. The site also includes timely music news, a dedicated blog and mobile downoads. 

Enjoy!

Denice MacDonald


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Corporate Gifting during the Holidays

November 22, 2009 07:32 by dmacdonald

Gifting during the holidays is always a conundrum for businesses - who should we gift, what should it be and how much should it cost? Businesses are fearful of gifts that look too self-promoting and others are concerned about it being too personal. Here are a few tips that may help you decide what is appropriate for your business. 

Non-profits need gifting 

A recent examination of charitable giving during recession years in America shows that a slowing economy definitely affects donations to non-profit organizations. This is the perfect year to make donations on behalf of your clients AND employees. Making donations to charities will be a win-win for all types of clients - at all levels. Use either a very simple postcard to communicate the gifting or manage the gifting online. Follow-up in January with the results of your giving - a great way to reconnect post holiday.  

Limited budget 

Nearly everyone loves receiving edible gifts and they work nicely for individuals and groups. Give food gifts such as chocolate or fruit baskets, special cookies, and even wines. Most products might have a limited shelf life and need to be distributed quickly - so use your sales staff to make a face-to-face - no sales talk, just holiday well wishes. 

Getting creative 

Consider partnering with a major retailer on gift giving. Starbucks, for example, will work with corporate companies on designing a custom gift card. This way the gift AND card are combined (most holiday cards with company imprint can run up to $5 a piece).

Likewise, if you have out of town customers, consider a gift certificate from Dale and Thomas Popcorn - they also do customization. 

Resources: Corporate gifting etiquette   

What Happens to Giving During a Recession?                            

The Giving Institute and Giving USA Corporate Gift Giving Tips: Corporate Customer Gift & Business Gifts

Non-profits

Global Giving  

Recommended food gift sites

Figi's

Starbucks

Dale and Thomas Popcorn 

Exclusive, high-end gift giving

Simon Pearce

Best,

Denice MacDonald

[Image Credit: http://thefabulousgiver.com/]


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Tis The Season to be Jolly - Online That Is!

November 18, 2009 07:39 by dmacdonald

Online holiday retail sales will grow 8% this year to $44.7 billion, predicts Forrester Research Inc. That would represent a continued shift of shopping to the web, as the National Retail Federation has forecast total retail sales will decline 1% this holiday season.

So, before you go online to shop, check out these great 'coupon' websites that provide discounts and promo codes for top retailers like Old Navy, Target, Kohls and as well as computer giants such as Dell.   

RetailMeNot: Coupon Codes [Above]

FatWallet: Online Coupons 

DealCatcher: Free Online Coupons

MyCoupons.com: Grocery Coupons and Online Coupons

Deal of Day: Coupon Codes

The Bargainist: Coupons & Coupon Codes

Dealnews: Online Coupons 

Now - get out there and start shopping!

Best,

Denice MacDonald 


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Using Niche Social Sites to Market to Targeted Audiences

November 15, 2009 05:54 by dmacdonald

We all have seen the surge in the use of social networks like Facebook and MySpace allowing us to connect in unprecedented ways. The acceptance of social networks has allowed niche networks to flourish - offering topics and resources to specific targeted markets. 

Marketing through social sites 

While these sites' traffic may pale in comparison to the big networks, there's a good opportunity to connect and market to a dedicated audience who might be more open to learning a little more about your product, services or offerings. If you provide real value to members, they will be much more willing to engage your brand. 

Finding that 'niche' social network 

Try spending a some time investigating your industry - chances are there's a network out there where you can promote and/or brand your business to a specific target audience. Begin with associations or affiliations that are tied to your industry segment. Then, research specific topics or issues that resonate with your customers. Yes, your competitors will be right alongside you, but consumers will be there too. And they will be looking for an expert in the field.  

Lastly, if you can’t find a specialized community for your industry, you could always create one.   

Get started: Learning from the best 

How to Identify & Target the Right Niche Social Media Sites  by Chris Winfield

Fastest Growing Niche Social Media Sites and Networks by Jessica Merritt

Nine Ways to Build Your Own Social Network by Mark Hendrickson

Best,

Denice MacDonald


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Google Wave: Real-time Communication Platform

November 12, 2009 09:36 by dmacdonald

My colleague James Davidson just forwarded a Google Wave invite to me – what an amazing application.   

Google Wave, accessible through Google Browser Chrome, is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. 

To make sense of it all, Mashable has compiled a complete user guide offering key information, definitions, and links related to the launch of Google Wave.  

This in-depth guide provides an overview of Google Wave, discusses the terminology associated with it, details information on Google Wave applications and goes over ways to keep you informed. Get it here: Google Wave – A Complete Guide by Mashable  

YouTube also has several abridged videos on how Google Wave works along with key attributes. 

Google Wave is closed to the public and available only to developers. Google plans on opening the service to the public at some point later in 2009. If you are interested in getting on the list for an invite, you will need to go here and sign up

Best

Denice MacDonald                                                                         View YouTube Video


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Changing Demands of Content Management Systems

November 8, 2009 17:47 by dmacdonald

According to AMR Research -- web content management isn’t just about building and managing a web site anymore. It’s about engaging customers and collaborating more efficiently with partners.

To prove this point, AMR Research recently released a white paper: “Evolved Web Strategies, Part 1: The Web as a Vital Artery for Strategy and Growth”.

The piece, written by Jim Murphy of AMR, states that organizations will need to examine four streams of change when devising a web strategy and choosing technology providers: strategic, pervasive, engaging, and responsive. 


Download:  AMRResearchWCMReview.pdf (191.64 kb)

[Credits: White paper obtained from Sitecore Web Insites Free Subscription Service  / October and November 2009 Issue]  

The first leg of the 4 part series concentrates on ‘strategy’ and highlights and ranks top CMS providers representing various degrees of functionality and programming platforms: 

  1. Fatwire
  2. Oracle
  3. Interwoven
  4. Vignette
  5. Sitecore
  6. SDL Tridion
  7. Ektron
  8. EMC
  9. IBM
  10. Microsoft 

Upcoming

AMR intends to provide a follow-up white paper wherein they will look at the pervasive web and the providers that will help companies meet impending challenges. 

About AMR Research

AMR Research provides subscription advisory services and peer networking opportunities to supply chain, sustainability, and IT executives in the consumer products, life sciences, manufacturing, and retail sectors. They are the world’s leading independent research firm focused on the global supply chain and its supporting technologies. 

Best

Denice MacDonald

 


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