5.18.2012

6 Tips for Writing Compelling Blog Titles


Blogs form an integral part of any good Internet marketing campaign. Blogs are key to keeping loyal consumers and readers informed and engaged with your brand.

Quality and relevancy of your blog content is crucial. However, before users get to read the great content you have on your blog, you have to attract them to it in the first place.

In order to achieve this, you must have a catchy, compelling blog title that makes users want to read what is in the blog post. There are several ways through which you can write blog titles that will attract many readers to your post.

Below we offer 6 tips for writing compelling blog titles:

1 .You should be precise, clear and to the point. From the title, the readers should instantly know what they are going to get when they read the content of your blog. If the title clearly captures what they are looking for then they are definitely going to read that blog post.

2. People will always be looking for blog posts that tell them how to accomplish something. By using a title that tells the readers how to solve a certain problem or achieve something, they are more likely to read your blog post because they want to learn from the information you are offering.

3. Your title should tell people that the information you are sharing is new and they need to know about it. People are always looking for new products or new ways of doing things, so if your blog title gives this impression, it is bound to attract a lot of readers.

4. The use of numbers and lists in your title will also help in attracting readers to your blog post. It breaks down the article in a way that readers will find easier to read. It also sets expectations for what is in the post. For example, if your title is '6 tips to writing compelling blog articles', the readers will come to the blog posts expecting exactly that.

5. You will also be able to attract a lot of attention by being sensational or even controversial with your title. Readers will be immediately curious to read more once they see a title that challenges the norm and general expectations.

6. Using the right keywords in your title is also very important, as this is what the readers will use to find the blog through search engines. If you get the keywords right, your blog will have a better chance of ranking in the SERPs and readers will be quickly attracted to it since they will see that it talks about what they are looking for.

These are just some of the things you can do to attract more readers to your blog with your title. Remember to also write high quality blog content and give the readers what you promise in your title.

5.10.2012

Adapting Your Business to Evolving Trends


The digital landscape changes every day. It is important that businesses keep up with the latest changes since there is intense competition over the Internet. Every business should take advantage of social media, and the most righteous businesses use these channels strategically and creatively.

Be Social & Start Learning About Your Target Market

Having a presence in social media allows you to interact with customers and potential customers. This will help you in gaining more awareness of who your target market is, and the things they appreciate. In essence, a social media presence is an effective and cheap market research tool. Create a Facebook brand page, a Twitter account, and Google+ profile page. Start asking questions and starting getting insights. Sound simple? It is.
F-commerce (Facebook Commerce) for Business

Your business should take advantage of such geo-location check-in services as Facebook locations and Foursquare. These services are important because you will help potential clients/customers find you easily. You could have rewards or discount opportunities for clients/customers who update their status that they are at your business premises.

Depending on the nature of your business, you can also take advantage of crowdsourced discounts and deals, such as LivingSocial and Groupon. You should also try such social commerce services as Armadealo and Shopkick. These create personalized experiences, which are important in that your clients/customers will share them.

Get Listed. Get Found.

Your business stands to benefit from such referral-based solutions as Yelp, Angie’s List, and Service Magic. These solutions promote the visibility of your business. The shared experiences with customers/clients mean you can improve your business, brand, products, or services.

Rewarding engagement will lead to greater ROI (return on investment) and improves customer loyalty and you should therefore consider using such gamification platforms as Fangager and Badgeville.

Be on the Cutting Edge 

Mobile Internet Marketing Strategies
You should also consider taking advantage of the mobile phone app frenzy. You could create an app to have an edge over your competitors. Mobile device users are making more and more decisions while on the move and they are reviewing their experiences and comparing options on these devices.

You should have a multi-disciplinary approach when creating an online presence and overall Internet marketing strategy. You should focus on tablets, laptops, desktops, smartphones and other platforms. You should create an experience that is holistic and optimized for each of these platforms.

Consider where the consumer click path begins and ends as you steer experience based on customer expectations. You should also take advantage of M-commerce and Facebook F-commerce. Determine what the expectations of your customers are and what they value in each platform and channel.

Knowing where customers engage will help you improve the customer experience. Customers are then more likely to share the experience.

5.04.2012

Competing with Cloud-Based Businesses


Accenture, a global management consulting, outsourcing and technology company that has a presence in over 120 countries (and a staff of over 246,000 people) recently released a report titled ‘Where the Cloud Meets Reality: Scaling to Succeed in New Business Models’.

The report was based on phone and in-person interviews with 40 IT executives, operations executives, and business unit executives in 30 high-tech industry companies. All the businesses interviewed are Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Software-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service cloud-based businesses. The Interviews started in May 2011 and ended in November 2011.

According to the research findings in ‘Where the Cloud Meets Reality: Scaling to Succeed in New Business Models’, high-tech companies are having a hard time transforming their traditional business models of shipping packaged software or hardware products to business models that provide new services based on cloud computing, the latter being more complex. The goal of this research was to come up with insights that will help companies that are interested in cloud-based business models.

According to the research findings, senior management executives in most companies lack the understanding of how the complexity of cloud-based business models impact operations in almost all functions of their establishments. The disconnect is significant since the interviewed companies intend to adopt over 5 business models for revenue generation by 2015 and it is likely that most of these models will be based around cloud computing. The companies interviewed had an average of 2 to 3 models today, adding a lack of security to the outlook of these companies.

Tech companies that use the old models are having a hard time competing with those that have already adopted cloud-based computing/services. Theses companies are being faced with operational challenges as they try to figure out how to support the new models and to deliver the experience that enterprise customers are demanding. These companies are having a hard time coping with the disruption that the change is causing.

According to the Accenture research, there are several steps that companies that are changing to cloud-based computing/services can take. They need to determine the exact business models they need so that they do not invest money in the wrong place. They must identify and create the distinctive capabilities that are needed in the delivery of business in the cloud.

Accenture also added that these businesses also need to develop segmented operation models to deliver the service capabilities and to save money whilst enhancing the customer experience. They also need to design governance model that will help in the making of such critical decisions as decisions on resource allocation.

What are you thoughts on these movements in business operations and resource allocation? Provide your comments below.

5.02.2012

The Mobile Future of Search Marketing


Many people are increasingly using the search engines to find information, products or services that they need. In the past, most of these searches have been performed using personal computers, but the trend is now changing.

There has been an influx of mobile devices that allow users to access the Internet from just about anywhere, especially when they are on the move. The social networking sites are also very popular and are being used by millions of people all over the world. Many people now use their mobile internet devices to make searches online and also to access the social networking sites. This combination presents a great platform for the future of internet search marketing.

Mobile + Social Infusion

Businesses that are tech-savvy have recognized the role that mobile internet devices and the social networking sites are set to play in terms of internet marketing. Already, more than 50% of all online search activity occurs from mobile devices. This is because people conveniently carry their mobile devices around, and if they feel compelled to search for anything, the first place they will go is their mobile devices.

Having recognized this, businesses are now looking for various ways of, not only appearing at the top of SERPs during related searches, but also having their websites in a format that is easily accessible and navigable using the various mobile devices. Many businesses are exploring new and creative ways for mobile marketing and attaining more customer through mobile-based strategies.

Mobile Marketing Moving Forward

Once a business understands how people will use their mobile devices to find whatever they are looking for through search engines, it should be able to come up with a mobile friendly website design or landing page instantly available wherever they are. The page should be designed to captivate and engage the visitors, provide what they want, and convince them to pay money for your products or services in the end. It is important to localize the search parameters so that the visitors will see that the products or services that they are searching for are actually available easily and this will act as an additional reason to do business with your organization.

Businesses have also recognized that people share a lot of information and ideas about various aspects of their lives on social networking sites. Any business that can understand the dynamics of these social network site users can use it to market its products and services to a potentially huge audience. This requires establishing a presence on the social networking sites through fan pages and related ideas, and actively engaging the target audience through regular updates, comments and sharing of other relevant information.