In this fifth of five blog posts, I'm providing you with 10 Internet Marketing Ideas that will help you be successful online. Some are pratical, some are philosophical, but they are all intended to help you be more successful with your small business marketing strategies. Here are numbers nine and ten, plus a bonus eleventh key to effective internet marketing:
9. TIMING CAN BE EVERYTHING - To effectively Market certain products we need to have a real grasp of our Target Market. You will, for example, be able to sell Christmas Program Packages to Pastors - but not in January!! Typically, they begin their search for Christmas materials shortly after the Fourth of July. Proper “timing” may also help determine what gives you the greatest sales success at any given time may be. If you are not familiar with the seasonality factors in your products or business, then determine them. Proper timing for your offers can bring in substantial results!
10. TALK WITH YOUR AD VENDOR - Your vendor may not know your line of business as well as you do, but they are seeing advertising results across many clients and industries that you do not have access to, and they will be able to identify trends that are working and universal strategies or tactics that are being effective for other clients of theirs. Talk with them. Pick their brains. Get the input and feedback on your campaign. Ask questions. They may be able to give you those extra tidbits of helpful advice that gets your campaign over the top.
11. DON'T BE A JOHNNY COME LATELY - Avoid last minute stuff. Many mistakes get made because you are rushing to meet a deadline and everything is coming together at the very last possible moment. Avoid that pattern. It leads to errors and oversights. You need to get your strategies ironed out in advance, then develop your designs, then budget time for reflection. Give yourself a day or two in the schedule to reflect on what you've done and how it could be improved. Sometimes we're so caught up in the details we can't keep a perspective on the big picture. You prevent this tunnel vision by ensuring you have that one extra day or two to reflect on your work and make sure it really hits the mark, and has all the components it needs to be a successful online advertising campaign for your company.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
Posted Monday, March 1, 2010 by
Randall Mains
In this fourth of five blog posts, I'm providing you with 10 Internet Marketing Ideas that will help you be successful online. Some are pratical, some are philosophical, but they are all intended to help you be more successful with your small business marketing strategies. Here are numbers seven an eight:
7. TEST - TEST - TEST - The only way to determine what is going to work for you over time is to throw a lot of stuff against the wall and see what sticks. The odds of first time success are low, but the lack of immediate success should not be discouraging to you. Consider this - - of all the thousand and thousands of men who have played Major League Baseball, only 102 hit a homerun during their first plate appearance. Of those 102, only three hit a grand slam! Some of the men who didn’t hit a homerun in their first plate appearance include Henry Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Babe Ruth, and Barry Bonds!! Willie Mays went 0 for 12 at the beginning of his career, but did hit a homerun his 13th time at bat! Thomas Edison tried hundreds and hundreds of times to perfect the light bulb. When asked if he was discouraged by all of his failures, Edison reportedly replied, “Young man I have not failed at all. I have successfully concluded that none of the elements I have tried so far will work!” An important point to remember here is that not everything that works for one business will work for another. As a result, you will need to do your own testing, and not rely just on the results of what others may discover about their product/service/business. Try numerous approaches to see which angle or channel may work for you.
8. STICK WITH WHAT STICKS! - The goal of “testing” is to throw mud against the wall to see what sticks, and then to stay with what sticks. We often have such a propensity to be on the “cutting edge” of Marketing that we neglect to step back and decipher exactly what is working versus what is “cutting edge” testing. While Twitter and Facebook are growing trends for marketers, and often get enormous press, “tweeting” may not be making any money yet for many advertisers. As you hear about “what’s new,” don’t forget about “what’s old.” E-mail, with its proven track record, has become a bankable commodity, and that, after all, is what marketing is all about - putting money in the bank! Find out what works for your business. Stay with what works. Try out the other things using recommendation #7: test, test, test.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
7. TEST - TEST - TEST - The only way to determine what is going to work for you over time is to throw a lot of stuff against the wall and see what sticks. The odds of first time success are low, but the lack of immediate success should not be discouraging to you. Consider this - - of all the thousand and thousands of men who have played Major League Baseball, only 102 hit a homerun during their first plate appearance. Of those 102, only three hit a grand slam! Some of the men who didn’t hit a homerun in their first plate appearance include Henry Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Babe Ruth, and Barry Bonds!! Willie Mays went 0 for 12 at the beginning of his career, but did hit a homerun his 13th time at bat! Thomas Edison tried hundreds and hundreds of times to perfect the light bulb. When asked if he was discouraged by all of his failures, Edison reportedly replied, “Young man I have not failed at all. I have successfully concluded that none of the elements I have tried so far will work!” An important point to remember here is that not everything that works for one business will work for another. As a result, you will need to do your own testing, and not rely just on the results of what others may discover about their product/service/business. Try numerous approaches to see which angle or channel may work for you.
8. STICK WITH WHAT STICKS! - The goal of “testing” is to throw mud against the wall to see what sticks, and then to stay with what sticks. We often have such a propensity to be on the “cutting edge” of Marketing that we neglect to step back and decipher exactly what is working versus what is “cutting edge” testing. While Twitter and Facebook are growing trends for marketers, and often get enormous press, “tweeting” may not be making any money yet for many advertisers. As you hear about “what’s new,” don’t forget about “what’s old.” E-mail, with its proven track record, has become a bankable commodity, and that, after all, is what marketing is all about - putting money in the bank! Find out what works for your business. Stay with what works. Try out the other things using recommendation #7: test, test, test.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
Posted Friday, February 26, 2010 by
Randall Mains
In this third of five blog posts, I'm providing you with 10 Internet Marketing Ideas that will help you be successful online. Some are pratical, some are philosophical, but they are all intended to help you be more successful with your small business marketing strategies. Here are numbers five and six:
5. CALCULATE YOUR LIFETIME VALUE STATS - In this sales instance above, you need to factor in “Lifetime Value” of each customer that you make. “Lifetime Value” alludes to the fact that your first time customer may conduct more than just one business transaction with you over time. The “real money” may not be in the initial sale from them, but rather in upgrades, upsells or repeat business for other products or services that you have to offer. With Lifetime Value being considered, a 100% return in sales on your ad prospecting dollar might be considered an excellent investment given the long term rate of return. That being said, you need to calculate your lifetime value metrics to know how many “sales” or leads you need to make to allow you to make your advertising work. For some businesses, it's 85% of your ad prospecting dollar, for others it's 100%, for some others 150%.
6. GRASP THE LANDING PAGE CONCEPT- The objective of e-mails and banners is to get qualified potential customers to visit your Landing Page. Once that happens, the burden of responsibility shifts to your website. It's at the Landing Page that visitors are converted to leads or sales. The key here is very simple - if your Landing Page is “broken” don’t blame the Advertiser! Your goal, is to create a Landing Page that works hard to convert qualified traffic into company assets...it needs to motivate the visitor to follow through on what got them there in the first place. Think of your advertising as making the sale, and your landing page as closing the sale. The #1 most important thing you can do for your advertising plan is make sure your landing page(s) work.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
5. CALCULATE YOUR LIFETIME VALUE STATS - In this sales instance above, you need to factor in “Lifetime Value” of each customer that you make. “Lifetime Value” alludes to the fact that your first time customer may conduct more than just one business transaction with you over time. The “real money” may not be in the initial sale from them, but rather in upgrades, upsells or repeat business for other products or services that you have to offer. With Lifetime Value being considered, a 100% return in sales on your ad prospecting dollar might be considered an excellent investment given the long term rate of return. That being said, you need to calculate your lifetime value metrics to know how many “sales” or leads you need to make to allow you to make your advertising work. For some businesses, it's 85% of your ad prospecting dollar, for others it's 100%, for some others 150%.
6. GRASP THE LANDING PAGE CONCEPT- The objective of e-mails and banners is to get qualified potential customers to visit your Landing Page. Once that happens, the burden of responsibility shifts to your website. It's at the Landing Page that visitors are converted to leads or sales. The key here is very simple - if your Landing Page is “broken” don’t blame the Advertiser! Your goal, is to create a Landing Page that works hard to convert qualified traffic into company assets...it needs to motivate the visitor to follow through on what got them there in the first place. Think of your advertising as making the sale, and your landing page as closing the sale. The #1 most important thing you can do for your advertising plan is make sure your landing page(s) work.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
Posted Wednesday, February 24, 2010 by
Randall Mains
In this second of five blog posts, I'm providing you with 10 Internet Marketing Ideas that will help you be successful online. Some are pratical, some are philosophical, but they are all intended to help you be more successful with your small business marketing strategies. Here are numbers three and four:
3. SCRATCH THE BIGGEST ITCH - This necessitates you knowing your Target Market thoroughly if not intimately. In the case of Pastors, for example, the “biggest itch” is pretty apt to be the challenge of preparing to preach a sermon each and every week. Anything offered that will assist with this on-going task is not only going to receive thoughtful consideration, but will also be most appreciated. Know your audience. Figure out what makes them itch, and learn to offer products or services that really address their primary needs.
4. GET THE METRICS -- An understanding of this aspect of Internet Marketing is what will allow you to accurately determine whether your Marketing program is having a positive or negative affect on your “bottom line.” To help you with at least a minor grasp of this concept we have included the following example. However, if you feel you need more information to fully appreciate the Metrics of Internet Marketing in regard to your product or service, contact us for further assistance, or contact an expert in the field and make arrangements to be instructed by them.
Example:
When utilizing e-mails for your Marketing Program you need to know that there are three basic metrics to keep an eye on: Open Rate - Click Through Rate - Conversion Rate. Open rates can vary by client and industry and offer but respectable ones run from 10-20% (Divide the # of unique emails opened by the number Net Delivered). Reasonable Click Through Rates vary too, but can run anywhere from 5-20% (Divide the number of unique Clicks by the number of unique Opens). Good conversion rates can run anywhere from 2-5% (Divide the number of sales or leads by the unique Clicks).
Once you get the metrics, then do the math. If 100,000 e-mails are sent, and you get a 15% Open Rate , you have 15,000 opens. If you get a 10% Click through Rate, you have 1,500 clicks to your website. If you get a 2% Conversion Rate, you got 30 sales or leads. If the Program cost $1,500.00 to implement, then each lead cost you $50...or each sale cost you $50. Now that you know the metrics you can determine if 30 leads or sales was a good investment for your advertising spend. If you are an Architect, and you can convert 10% of your 30 leads into $10,000.00 contracts, you will, undoubtedly, be ecstatic with $30,000 of sales on a $1,500 investment. If, however, you are selling a $79.95 power point presentation for Pastors, the numbers get tighter, but you may still be happy with 30 sales for $2,398 total on a $1,500 investment.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
3. SCRATCH THE BIGGEST ITCH - This necessitates you knowing your Target Market thoroughly if not intimately. In the case of Pastors, for example, the “biggest itch” is pretty apt to be the challenge of preparing to preach a sermon each and every week. Anything offered that will assist with this on-going task is not only going to receive thoughtful consideration, but will also be most appreciated. Know your audience. Figure out what makes them itch, and learn to offer products or services that really address their primary needs.
4. GET THE METRICS -- An understanding of this aspect of Internet Marketing is what will allow you to accurately determine whether your Marketing program is having a positive or negative affect on your “bottom line.” To help you with at least a minor grasp of this concept we have included the following example. However, if you feel you need more information to fully appreciate the Metrics of Internet Marketing in regard to your product or service, contact us for further assistance, or contact an expert in the field and make arrangements to be instructed by them.
Example:
When utilizing e-mails for your Marketing Program you need to know that there are three basic metrics to keep an eye on: Open Rate - Click Through Rate - Conversion Rate. Open rates can vary by client and industry and offer but respectable ones run from 10-20% (Divide the # of unique emails opened by the number Net Delivered). Reasonable Click Through Rates vary too, but can run anywhere from 5-20% (Divide the number of unique Clicks by the number of unique Opens). Good conversion rates can run anywhere from 2-5% (Divide the number of sales or leads by the unique Clicks).
Once you get the metrics, then do the math. If 100,000 e-mails are sent, and you get a 15% Open Rate , you have 15,000 opens. If you get a 10% Click through Rate, you have 1,500 clicks to your website. If you get a 2% Conversion Rate, you got 30 sales or leads. If the Program cost $1,500.00 to implement, then each lead cost you $50...or each sale cost you $50. Now that you know the metrics you can determine if 30 leads or sales was a good investment for your advertising spend. If you are an Architect, and you can convert 10% of your 30 leads into $10,000.00 contracts, you will, undoubtedly, be ecstatic with $30,000 of sales on a $1,500 investment. If, however, you are selling a $79.95 power point presentation for Pastors, the numbers get tighter, but you may still be happy with 30 sales for $2,398 total on a $1,500 investment.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
Posted Tuesday, February 23, 2010 by
Karen Randau
Be sure to include images in your search engine optimization efforts. You can get even more visitors to your website by properly preparing and coding your images. The reason is that properly prepared and coded images will be found and indexed by search engines, thereby increasing your search engine rankings. Here are some tips.
1. Use high quality images that are optimized for the web.
If your images get picked up by Google Images, more webmasters will link to crisp, clear photos, resulting in more people click on your photos and ultimately to your website. Also specify a width and height in the HTML to help speed up the length of time it takes your page to load into a browser. Pathmaker Marketing's professional search engine optimization services take into account the user experience, which ultimately results in more visitors and more conversions of visitors to business assets.
2. Give all images a descriptive title using your keywords.
rose.jpg is much more descriptive than img010609.jpg, and if “rose” is one of the strategic keywords you use for search engine optimization, you’ve increased the incidence of that keyword on your page. If you’re a florist who sells roses, daisies, carnations, etc., people doing a search for roses might be more likely to find your site if you use a more descriptive image name that uses your keywords. In its search engine optimization services, Pathmaker Marketing will help you research keywords that not only are strategic but are more likely to help you increase your page rankings.
3. Always use descriptive <ALT> tags, preferably using your keywords.
ALT stands for alternate text. If your link to the image breaks, or if people have images turned off in the browser or email client, they can still see a description of what you wanted them to see. But an additional useful feature of the <ALT> tag is that you can benefit from them in search engine optimization. Search engines will “see” what’s in your photos because of your <ALT> tags. If your photo is rose.jpg, and Rose is not a flower but a person who owns a bicycle shop named Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop (which is also a keyword), the <ALT> tag might be <ALT=”Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop”>. Google warns against “stuffing” the <ALT> tag with keywords. Avoid something like: <ALT=”schwin shimano Windsor mountain bike”>. Sure, these might be the types of bicycles Rose sells, but none of them are in the photo. If she’s sitting on a Windsor mountain bike you could put that in the <ALT> tag: <ALT=”Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop sitting on a Window mountain bike”>. Just be sure everything is in context.
4. Never put captions inside the image.
Sure, it makes it easier to keep your caption where you want it if you include it in the image itself, but it's a really bad practice for search engine optimization. Put copyright info inside the image if you want, but not your descriptive keywords. Keep those in the HTML.
5. Opt toward JPG images when appropriate.
There are various types of image files, including GIF, PNG and JPG. Some older browsers don’t read PNG images well yet, and some search engines default to looking for JPG rather than the other two mentioned. That means the search engine is more likely to recognize your photo as a photo if you use the JPG format.
6. Put your images as close to the <TITLE> tag as possible.
If the title of your page is <TITLE=”Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop in Podunk”>, and someone is searching for “bicycle podunk”, your page could get picked up. If your <IMG> tag says <IMG src=”www.someplace.com/images/rose.jpg” ALT=”Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop in Podunk”>, and it is close to the <TITLE> tag (at the top of the page), the <IMG> tag reinforces the <TITLE> tag to help improve your page rankings.
7. Use strategic keywords in all links to the photo.
“Click here" is a good action phrase that people are used to seeing and therefore know what to do when they see it. But “See a picture of Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop” uses your strategic keywords while also using an action phrase that people can quickly figure out what to do with.
8. Register your webpage at Google Webmaster Tools and tag them with Google Image Labeler.
Google Webmaster Tools is a free service that allows webmasters to optimize and check the indexing status of their sites. It’s located here: http://code.google.com/apis/webmastertools/. Google Image Labeler is located here: http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/.
9. Provide context and relevance.
If your photo and everything that describes it is of Rose sitting on a Windsor mountain bike at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop in Podunk, it won’t help if the page content is about studying Japanese in Los Angeles. This will just send a confused message to search engines, and it could do more harm to your rankings rather than good.
10. Protect your images in a way this is friendly to search engine optimization.
You can put copyright info in the image, and some people also include a watermark. Most people don’t mind the copyright info, but watermarks could result in webmasters not linking to your photos. Google also recommends providing a snippet of HTML for people to use to give you attribution when embedding your image on their page. Be sure to include a link to your page on that snippet. This will increase visits to your site also.
Pathmaker Marketing offers search engine optmiization services along with non profit fundraising services, Internet business marketing promotion and more. See how Pathmaker can help you, whether you're looking for a non profit consultant or other Internet business marketing promotion. Click or give us a call at 623-322-3334.
1. Use high quality images that are optimized for the web.
If your images get picked up by Google Images, more webmasters will link to crisp, clear photos, resulting in more people click on your photos and ultimately to your website. Also specify a width and height in the HTML to help speed up the length of time it takes your page to load into a browser. Pathmaker Marketing's professional search engine optimization services take into account the user experience, which ultimately results in more visitors and more conversions of visitors to business assets.
2. Give all images a descriptive title using your keywords.
rose.jpg is much more descriptive than img010609.jpg, and if “rose” is one of the strategic keywords you use for search engine optimization, you’ve increased the incidence of that keyword on your page. If you’re a florist who sells roses, daisies, carnations, etc., people doing a search for roses might be more likely to find your site if you use a more descriptive image name that uses your keywords. In its search engine optimization services, Pathmaker Marketing will help you research keywords that not only are strategic but are more likely to help you increase your page rankings.
3. Always use descriptive <ALT> tags, preferably using your keywords.
ALT stands for alternate text. If your link to the image breaks, or if people have images turned off in the browser or email client, they can still see a description of what you wanted them to see. But an additional useful feature of the <ALT> tag is that you can benefit from them in search engine optimization. Search engines will “see” what’s in your photos because of your <ALT> tags. If your photo is rose.jpg, and Rose is not a flower but a person who owns a bicycle shop named Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop (which is also a keyword), the <ALT> tag might be <ALT=”Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop”>. Google warns against “stuffing” the <ALT> tag with keywords. Avoid something like: <ALT=”schwin shimano Windsor mountain bike”>. Sure, these might be the types of bicycles Rose sells, but none of them are in the photo. If she’s sitting on a Windsor mountain bike you could put that in the <ALT> tag: <ALT=”Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop sitting on a Window mountain bike”>. Just be sure everything is in context.
4. Never put captions inside the image.
Sure, it makes it easier to keep your caption where you want it if you include it in the image itself, but it's a really bad practice for search engine optimization. Put copyright info inside the image if you want, but not your descriptive keywords. Keep those in the HTML.
5. Opt toward JPG images when appropriate.
There are various types of image files, including GIF, PNG and JPG. Some older browsers don’t read PNG images well yet, and some search engines default to looking for JPG rather than the other two mentioned. That means the search engine is more likely to recognize your photo as a photo if you use the JPG format.
6. Put your images as close to the <TITLE> tag as possible.
If the title of your page is <TITLE=”Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop in Podunk”>, and someone is searching for “bicycle podunk”, your page could get picked up. If your <IMG> tag says <IMG src=”www.someplace.com/images/rose.jpg” ALT=”Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop in Podunk”>, and it is close to the <TITLE> tag (at the top of the page), the <IMG> tag reinforces the <TITLE> tag to help improve your page rankings.
7. Use strategic keywords in all links to the photo.
“Click here" is a good action phrase that people are used to seeing and therefore know what to do when they see it. But “See a picture of Rose at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop” uses your strategic keywords while also using an action phrase that people can quickly figure out what to do with.
8. Register your webpage at Google Webmaster Tools and tag them with Google Image Labeler.
Google Webmaster Tools is a free service that allows webmasters to optimize and check the indexing status of their sites. It’s located here: http://code.google.com/apis/webmastertools/. Google Image Labeler is located here: http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/.
9. Provide context and relevance.
If your photo and everything that describes it is of Rose sitting on a Windsor mountain bike at Guthrie’s Bicycle Shop in Podunk, it won’t help if the page content is about studying Japanese in Los Angeles. This will just send a confused message to search engines, and it could do more harm to your rankings rather than good.
10. Protect your images in a way this is friendly to search engine optimization.
You can put copyright info in the image, and some people also include a watermark. Most people don’t mind the copyright info, but watermarks could result in webmasters not linking to your photos. Google also recommends providing a snippet of HTML for people to use to give you attribution when embedding your image on their page. Be sure to include a link to your page on that snippet. This will increase visits to your site also.
Pathmaker Marketing offers search engine optmiization services along with non profit fundraising services, Internet business marketing promotion and more. See how Pathmaker can help you, whether you're looking for a non profit consultant or other Internet business marketing promotion. Click or give us a call at 623-322-3334.
Posted Monday, February 22, 2010 by
Karen Randau
Search Engine Optimization is a specialized field that helps your website get higher rankings in search engines. Your goal in search engine optimization is to capture as much of the page 1 real estate in searches relevant to your business. Whether you’re developing a new website or updating an existing site, you should keep the following guidelines in mind as new content is developed and coded.
1. Structure your site appropriately to be found by search engines.
Google webmaster guidelines say that your site should have a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
2. Make navigation easy and clear.
Google recommends a site map with links that point to the important parts of your site.
3. Remember that “content is king.”
It’s easy to get bogged down in attempt to make the site look great and forget that search engines are looking for content, not looks. Google recommends that you create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
4. Think Through and Liberally Use Appropriate Keywords.
Google recommends that you think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it. Pathmaker Marketing can help you carefully research keywords; we regularly uncover keywords for our clients that they may not have thought of and that have a higher likelihood of being found in search engines. Call us at 623-322-3334 to see if we can help you do a more thorough job of researching appropriate keywords for your business.
Designers love to create headlines in fonts that aren’t available in HTML. They do it by making your headlines images, and this is one sure way to harm yourself when it comes to search engine rankings. Google recommends that you use text instead, or at least use the <ALT> tag to include a few descriptive words of the image.
5. Make sure <TITLE> and <META> tags are used appropriately.
These are HTML codes that search engines look for when ranking sites. The <TITLE> tag should not be the same for every page of your site (for example, merely the name of your company). It should contain keywords that have been carefully researched. <META> tags contain specific information that search engines look for when deciding what each page of your site is all about. There is a <META> tag for description, and you should supply your coder with a short paragraph to describe why someone would want to visit this page of your site – it may not be used in ranking, but it could be displayed under the title of the page to help potential visitors decide if they want to click on your listing. These should contain words that actually describe the page content to avoid being penalized by search engines.
6. Check for broken links and correct HTML.
Your will severely hurt your rankings in search engines if you have broken links in your site or if your HTML cannot be read by search engines. Your coders need to be sure to check all code and clean up any extraneous codes left by edits or inserted by HTML generators. Several people should click on every single link in the site to make sure there are no broken links, and it should be re-done every time the site is edited. Also, Google recommends keeping down the number of links on any given page to fewer than 100.
7. Keep parameters short on dynamically-generated pages.
These are pages that are automatically generated from a database. The URL of this type of page will have a “?” in it. Google warns that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages and recommends that the parameters be short and few.
8. Be straightforward in your site structure.
Some sites create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content thinking they’ll trick search engines into believing there is more content on the site than there is. You’ll get found out of you do this – so the best advice is to avoid it. Google recommends that you avoid “doorway” pages created just for search engines or other “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content. If you site participates in an affiliate program, you need to develop your own content that adds value and gives potential users a reason to visit your site rather than the hundreds of others who also participate in the same affiliate program.
9. Make your photo captions text rather than embedding inside an image.
Search engines can’t read text that is part of an image. There rarely is a case when you need to make a photo caption part of the photo, and you’ll benefit in search engine rankings if you keep the captions to HTML text.
10. Use <ALT> tags and descriptive names for all photos and images.
This was briefly discussed with the tip about headlines. All images should have an <ALT> description so search engines will consider the images when ranking your site. These tags need to contain useful information about the subject matter of the image. You also need to use photo names that describe the content. Google states, “my-new-black-kitten.jpg is a lot more informative than IMG00023.JPG.”
Pathmaker Marketing offers a full range of website design, search engine optimization services, fundraising services, Internet business marketing promotion, Christian marketing, non profit fundraising and more. We would be happy to discuss with you how we might be able to help you get the highest rankins in search engines or any other topic about your fundraising needs. Give us a call at 623-322-3334.
1. Structure your site appropriately to be found by search engines.
Google webmaster guidelines say that your site should have a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
2. Make navigation easy and clear.
Google recommends a site map with links that point to the important parts of your site.
3. Remember that “content is king.”
It’s easy to get bogged down in attempt to make the site look great and forget that search engines are looking for content, not looks. Google recommends that you create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
4. Think Through and Liberally Use Appropriate Keywords.
Google recommends that you think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it. Pathmaker Marketing can help you carefully research keywords; we regularly uncover keywords for our clients that they may not have thought of and that have a higher likelihood of being found in search engines. Call us at 623-322-3334 to see if we can help you do a more thorough job of researching appropriate keywords for your business.
Designers love to create headlines in fonts that aren’t available in HTML. They do it by making your headlines images, and this is one sure way to harm yourself when it comes to search engine rankings. Google recommends that you use text instead, or at least use the <ALT> tag to include a few descriptive words of the image.
5. Make sure <TITLE> and <META> tags are used appropriately.
These are HTML codes that search engines look for when ranking sites. The <TITLE> tag should not be the same for every page of your site (for example, merely the name of your company). It should contain keywords that have been carefully researched. <META> tags contain specific information that search engines look for when deciding what each page of your site is all about. There is a <META> tag for description, and you should supply your coder with a short paragraph to describe why someone would want to visit this page of your site – it may not be used in ranking, but it could be displayed under the title of the page to help potential visitors decide if they want to click on your listing. These should contain words that actually describe the page content to avoid being penalized by search engines.
6. Check for broken links and correct HTML.
Your will severely hurt your rankings in search engines if you have broken links in your site or if your HTML cannot be read by search engines. Your coders need to be sure to check all code and clean up any extraneous codes left by edits or inserted by HTML generators. Several people should click on every single link in the site to make sure there are no broken links, and it should be re-done every time the site is edited. Also, Google recommends keeping down the number of links on any given page to fewer than 100.
7. Keep parameters short on dynamically-generated pages.
These are pages that are automatically generated from a database. The URL of this type of page will have a “?” in it. Google warns that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages and recommends that the parameters be short and few.
8. Be straightforward in your site structure.
Some sites create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content thinking they’ll trick search engines into believing there is more content on the site than there is. You’ll get found out of you do this – so the best advice is to avoid it. Google recommends that you avoid “doorway” pages created just for search engines or other “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content. If you site participates in an affiliate program, you need to develop your own content that adds value and gives potential users a reason to visit your site rather than the hundreds of others who also participate in the same affiliate program.
9. Make your photo captions text rather than embedding inside an image.
Search engines can’t read text that is part of an image. There rarely is a case when you need to make a photo caption part of the photo, and you’ll benefit in search engine rankings if you keep the captions to HTML text.
10. Use <ALT> tags and descriptive names for all photos and images.
This was briefly discussed with the tip about headlines. All images should have an <ALT> description so search engines will consider the images when ranking your site. These tags need to contain useful information about the subject matter of the image. You also need to use photo names that describe the content. Google states, “my-new-black-kitten.jpg is a lot more informative than IMG00023.JPG.”
Pathmaker Marketing offers a full range of website design, search engine optimization services, fundraising services, Internet business marketing promotion, Christian marketing, non profit fundraising and more. We would be happy to discuss with you how we might be able to help you get the highest rankins in search engines or any other topic about your fundraising needs. Give us a call at 623-322-3334.
Posted Monday, February 22, 2010 by
Karen Randau
A virtual tour can be an interesting and valuable addition to your website, and if you do it properly, it be a valuable part of your internet marketing ideas.
But if you’re thinking of adding a virtual tour to your non profit website design, you’ll need to take a number of issues into account before getting started.
1. What is the goal for your tour?
If your Internet marketing idea is to showcase your business, Then you’ll want a lot of photos of your campus – this is a more informational type of tour. But if your Internet marketing idea is to tell the inspiring story of how your ministry, church or business started, you’ll want to have more drama in your tour – and this could add to the bandwidth as you include more sound effectives and perhaps video.
As you begin to compile information for this particular Internet marketing idea, you’ll want to always keep your speciific goal in mind and organize that information in the tour so that it will be easy to present and experience. And you’re going to want to focus on what makes your campus, business, product, etc., unique.
Whether you include a virtual tour in your website as an informational or inspirational Internet marketing idea, you’re going to need to provide a real guided tour – not just drop people off and make them find their own way around on their own. This brings up another point, some people will want to be dropped off and explore, meaning you're going to need a visible map so anyone can find their way around ... and include the words "Begin Here" in the map.
2. Who are you trying to reach?
If your non profit is a university primarily for people directly out of high school, this Internet marketing idea should showcase the sorts of things that appeal to younger people. But if you have a combination of younger students plus people coming back for some mid-career training to stay relevant, you may be talking about two different tours. You need to think this through so filming day takes the approach for the generation you’re attempting to reach, and you’ll want your script, and the narrator, to have the voice of the generation you’re trying to reach. Any information you provide is going to need to be relevant and interesting to your specific audience – from their point of view, not yours.
3. What kind of interactivity will your audience most appreciate?
Some people, especially younger people, want to be in control of their browsing experience. They’ll appreciate choices – where can they click to find out more information? Some older people may want the tour to completely load and allow them to sit back and watch with few needs on their part for making choices. Your tour should be more than QuickTime videos with some text. It should be a special production that integrates many different kinds of media – videos, text, maps, photos, etc.; but these should be done in a seamless way so the viewing experience is appropriate for the audience and flow well. And provide choices for people who want to sit back and watch your tour as well as those you want to get dropped off and do a more self-guided tour.
4. What kind of bandwidth will you be working with?
Your IT department will be very unhappy if a virtual tour suddenly goes online that you have not discussed with them because they have a specific amount of bandwidth to work with, and you need to make sure your project is going to be well served without taking from other functions of the server.
Pathmaker Marketing is a professional fundraising company that serves ministries, non profit organizations and a for profit businesses. We offer search engine optimization services, fundraising services, blogging services, business marketing promotion online, a many Internet marketing ideas. Give us a call at 623-322-3334 to see how we can assist you, whether with a virtual tour or any other kind of website design or online fundraising services.
But if you’re thinking of adding a virtual tour to your non profit website design, you’ll need to take a number of issues into account before getting started.
1. What is the goal for your tour?
If your Internet marketing idea is to showcase your business, Then you’ll want a lot of photos of your campus – this is a more informational type of tour. But if your Internet marketing idea is to tell the inspiring story of how your ministry, church or business started, you’ll want to have more drama in your tour – and this could add to the bandwidth as you include more sound effectives and perhaps video.
As you begin to compile information for this particular Internet marketing idea, you’ll want to always keep your speciific goal in mind and organize that information in the tour so that it will be easy to present and experience. And you’re going to want to focus on what makes your campus, business, product, etc., unique.
Whether you include a virtual tour in your website as an informational or inspirational Internet marketing idea, you’re going to need to provide a real guided tour – not just drop people off and make them find their own way around on their own. This brings up another point, some people will want to be dropped off and explore, meaning you're going to need a visible map so anyone can find their way around ... and include the words "Begin Here" in the map.
2. Who are you trying to reach?
If your non profit is a university primarily for people directly out of high school, this Internet marketing idea should showcase the sorts of things that appeal to younger people. But if you have a combination of younger students plus people coming back for some mid-career training to stay relevant, you may be talking about two different tours. You need to think this through so filming day takes the approach for the generation you’re attempting to reach, and you’ll want your script, and the narrator, to have the voice of the generation you’re trying to reach. Any information you provide is going to need to be relevant and interesting to your specific audience – from their point of view, not yours.
3. What kind of interactivity will your audience most appreciate?
Some people, especially younger people, want to be in control of their browsing experience. They’ll appreciate choices – where can they click to find out more information? Some older people may want the tour to completely load and allow them to sit back and watch with few needs on their part for making choices. Your tour should be more than QuickTime videos with some text. It should be a special production that integrates many different kinds of media – videos, text, maps, photos, etc.; but these should be done in a seamless way so the viewing experience is appropriate for the audience and flow well. And provide choices for people who want to sit back and watch your tour as well as those you want to get dropped off and do a more self-guided tour.
4. What kind of bandwidth will you be working with?
Your IT department will be very unhappy if a virtual tour suddenly goes online that you have not discussed with them because they have a specific amount of bandwidth to work with, and you need to make sure your project is going to be well served without taking from other functions of the server.
Pathmaker Marketing is a professional fundraising company that serves ministries, non profit organizations and a for profit businesses. We offer search engine optimization services, fundraising services, blogging services, business marketing promotion online, a many Internet marketing ideas. Give us a call at 623-322-3334 to see how we can assist you, whether with a virtual tour or any other kind of website design or online fundraising services.
Posted Monday, February 22, 2010 by
Karen Randau
Promoting your website is similar to promoting any product, but there are several aspects of an Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan that you’ll want to take into account as you create a plan for non profit fundraising.
1. Define WHAT (the message) I want to say to WHOM (the audience), WHY (ROI) I want to say it to them, and WHEN I want to say it to them.
This is an important first step in developing Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan because it provides the framework around which to build the rest of the plan. Once you’ve analyzed who your audience is based on solid research, it typically takes about an hour or less to develop this framework for your promotional plan. It should result in about one page or less of text, and you’ll want to keep coming back to this information as you work through the next steps of creating your plan.
2. Identify internal channels to pursue.
Many people forget to include ALL of their internal channels when developing their Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan. These include staff who give to or buy from your business or non profit in addition to people who give to or buy from your business or non profit.
3. Identify the media outlets that will accomplish #1 through paid advertising.
When I have skipped Step #1 and moved directly to Step #2-4 while developing an Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan, I have found myself wandering around in a sea of details and struggling to sort through them. It isn’t until I get my head out of the details and go back to Step #1 that I get a handle on how specific media outlets will help me accomplish my big picture goals.
Once you’ve identified the best media outlets based on who they reach, what it costs, and availability (back to knowing the WHEN identified in Step #1), then you can quickly sort through them to whittle down your recommendations to fit your Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan budget. Part of the research needs to be whether or not you can meet the outlet’s deadlines – if you want to advertise in a magazine with a 3-month lead time, and you’re 3 weeks away from launching your advertising, move on. If the deadlines is within your timeframe but your ability to deliver isn’t, move on. There are plenty of outside places to advertise, so long as you get moving and don’t get so bogged down in the details of planning that you never move on to implementation.
4. Identify other channels that will accomplish #1 through publicity.
In addition to writing news releases and articles for other websites to publish, you’ll want to carefully include social and professional networking channels in your Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan, as well as the blogging community in your promotional plan. You can advertise on Facebook and Twitter, the most popular social networking sites, but don’t forget the professional networking sites like Linkedin and Naymz. Also, find the bloggers who are talking about your subject matter and ask them to write about your product or non profit. If you have a product, give them a sample so they know what they’re writing about. You could also include a “blogger tour” in this plan, which is similar to a media tour but with popular online bloggers.
5. Flesh out the strategy with tactical details, cost, specific due dates and responsibilities.
Many people try to start here when developing an Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan, but it is the last step until you’ve done all your homework. You need to specifically spell out who is going to be doing what so there are no misunderstandings (and so you know those people have agreed to do what you’re asking them to do).
Pathmaker Marketing can help you sort through the best channels to promote your non profit. Give us a call at 623-322-3334.
1. Define WHAT (the message) I want to say to WHOM (the audience), WHY (ROI) I want to say it to them, and WHEN I want to say it to them.
This is an important first step in developing Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan because it provides the framework around which to build the rest of the plan. Once you’ve analyzed who your audience is based on solid research, it typically takes about an hour or less to develop this framework for your promotional plan. It should result in about one page or less of text, and you’ll want to keep coming back to this information as you work through the next steps of creating your plan.
2. Identify internal channels to pursue.
Many people forget to include ALL of their internal channels when developing their Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan. These include staff who give to or buy from your business or non profit in addition to people who give to or buy from your business or non profit.
3. Identify the media outlets that will accomplish #1 through paid advertising.
When I have skipped Step #1 and moved directly to Step #2-4 while developing an Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan, I have found myself wandering around in a sea of details and struggling to sort through them. It isn’t until I get my head out of the details and go back to Step #1 that I get a handle on how specific media outlets will help me accomplish my big picture goals.
Once you’ve identified the best media outlets based on who they reach, what it costs, and availability (back to knowing the WHEN identified in Step #1), then you can quickly sort through them to whittle down your recommendations to fit your Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan budget. Part of the research needs to be whether or not you can meet the outlet’s deadlines – if you want to advertise in a magazine with a 3-month lead time, and you’re 3 weeks away from launching your advertising, move on. If the deadlines is within your timeframe but your ability to deliver isn’t, move on. There are plenty of outside places to advertise, so long as you get moving and don’t get so bogged down in the details of planning that you never move on to implementation.
4. Identify other channels that will accomplish #1 through publicity.
In addition to writing news releases and articles for other websites to publish, you’ll want to carefully include social and professional networking channels in your Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan, as well as the blogging community in your promotional plan. You can advertise on Facebook and Twitter, the most popular social networking sites, but don’t forget the professional networking sites like Linkedin and Naymz. Also, find the bloggers who are talking about your subject matter and ask them to write about your product or non profit. If you have a product, give them a sample so they know what they’re writing about. You could also include a “blogger tour” in this plan, which is similar to a media tour but with popular online bloggers.
5. Flesh out the strategy with tactical details, cost, specific due dates and responsibilities.
Many people try to start here when developing an Internet Business Marketing Promotional Plan, but it is the last step until you’ve done all your homework. You need to specifically spell out who is going to be doing what so there are no misunderstandings (and so you know those people have agreed to do what you’re asking them to do).
Pathmaker Marketing can help you sort through the best channels to promote your non profit. Give us a call at 623-322-3334.
Posted Sunday, February 21, 2010 by
Randall Mains
In the next series of five blog posts, I want to provide with you 10 Internet Marketing Ideas that wil help you be successful online. Some are pratical, some are philosophical, but they are all intended to help you be more successful with your small business marketing strategies. Here are the first two:
1. DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES - As you craft your Banner Ad or Email campaign or other online ad initiative you need to know exactly what you are expecting it to accomplish for you. There are basically two things that you can hope to achieve from your Internet Marketing endeavor other than exposure -- a lead or a sale. Typically, your product or service will determine which you should expect. For example, if you are pitching your services as an Architect for Church Building Expansions, you will undoubtedly be pursuing leads, not sales. The complexity of the sale process and the probable high cost make online sales prohibitive. On the other hand, if you are selling a $79.95 downloadable resource entitled “6 Steps to a Perfect Sermon,” your end objective is most likely a sale. Once you understand your objective (sale or lead) you can develop better copy and art to achieve your goal, and you can better measure the results of your campaign to get qualified leads or sales.
2. ADD THE “FREE WATCH” - As much as we may want to purchase something, many of us often need that little extra motivation or incentive to push us over the top and make that decision to purchase that which we are considering. One of the best ways to accomplish this with your Internet Marketing is to give a free bonus gift. Mentioned at the end of your offer, this extra incentive often becomes that “little extra” that convinces consumers to act on the offer! Be creative with your "free watch." This could be free shipping, 20% off, an extra goodie, bonus products, a discount coupon for a future purchase, etc.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
1. DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES - As you craft your Banner Ad or Email campaign or other online ad initiative you need to know exactly what you are expecting it to accomplish for you. There are basically two things that you can hope to achieve from your Internet Marketing endeavor other than exposure -- a lead or a sale. Typically, your product or service will determine which you should expect. For example, if you are pitching your services as an Architect for Church Building Expansions, you will undoubtedly be pursuing leads, not sales. The complexity of the sale process and the probable high cost make online sales prohibitive. On the other hand, if you are selling a $79.95 downloadable resource entitled “6 Steps to a Perfect Sermon,” your end objective is most likely a sale. Once you understand your objective (sale or lead) you can develop better copy and art to achieve your goal, and you can better measure the results of your campaign to get qualified leads or sales.
2. ADD THE “FREE WATCH” - As much as we may want to purchase something, many of us often need that little extra motivation or incentive to push us over the top and make that decision to purchase that which we are considering. One of the best ways to accomplish this with your Internet Marketing is to give a free bonus gift. Mentioned at the end of your offer, this extra incentive often becomes that “little extra” that convinces consumers to act on the offer! Be creative with your "free watch." This could be free shipping, 20% off, an extra goodie, bonus products, a discount coupon for a future purchase, etc.
For further internet marketing ideas, or tips for fundraising professionals, vist Pathmaker Marketing, or call Randall Mains direct at 623-322-3334.
Posted Thursday, December 17, 2009 by
Meagan Gillan
Why Use an Outside Marketing Firm for your Christian Marketing?--Part Two
As a small business owner or ministry leader, you may have considered how best to handle your Christian marketing efforts. Should you hire a person in house? Contract with an agency? Or try to find time to spearhead your Christian marketing efforts on your own?
As you consider how best to address your Christian marketing concerns, you can ask yourself if you have the ability to create strategy, collaborating with a variety of players in your plan? Are you able to move swiftly with your marketing efforts, sometimes setting aside all the other issues of your business in order to develop strategy and pull it off?
If you answered “No” to any of those questions, you may want to check out a Christian Marketing team like Pathmaker Marketing LLC to help you reach the valued customers and donors you seek to attract.
Collaboration—In House and Out
Collaboration and innovative partnership are among the freshest buzzwords in the business world today. Our team of seasoned veterans brings a strong background of collaboration and willingness to partner in any way that will benefit our client. We’ll listen to your concerns, research the issues that are impacting your online presence and we’ll work with you to devise strategies that are fresh and effective.
Speed of Delivery—We Can Get It Done
We understand the difficulty in trying to launch a project or campaign using your own in-house creative and I.T. teams—if you have them! They can be overloaded with the daily concerns of the company and getting in the queue to be serviced by them could mean a wait of several months to a year or more. Or, if you are a start-up or a new ministry, you are probably scrambling just to design stationery and build a website.
Pathmaker Marketing has an internal team that is poised and ready to move quickly to provide you with research, web presence, email marketing, social networking, back links, Search Engine Optimization and much more. Your needs are our team’s highest concern, so we are able to produce exactly what you need when you need it. We’ll do our best not to make you wait!
Cost Effectiveness—Our Specialty Brings Relief!
Companies that seek to do their own Christian marketing in highly specialized areas like social networking risk losing valuable productivity as employees struggle to understand all the ins and outs of the new world of social media.
Pathmaker Marketing has social networking specialists on the team. We employ them at reasonable rates and keep them focused in this key area. Using our specialists will relieve your staff and save you time and money.
The New Marketing—Our Specialty
The Internet has changed virtually every aspect of Christian marketing. Compended blogging, social media, back linking, search engine optimization and text messaging have all been used to market successfully. When we found that Christian publishing giant Tyndale House Publishers did not have a significant footprint on the Internet, Pathmaker Marketing used state-of-the-art online tools to find a solution to the problem, creating a compended blog and filling it with content that will help strengthen Tyndale products’ search engine rankings. Our approach is holistic and comprehensive and we view the concerns with an outsider’s objectivity.
Our staff can “work” social networking accounts, inviting people to be followers, friends, etc., and following up. We also invite them to your online events and auto-flow your blog content to your social networking accounts, further broadening the reach of your social networking efforts.
We will research your online presence and give you the good news and the bad regarding your search engine rankings. We are experts in being able to help you build your Internet assets. Our compended blogs will help drive up your rankings with Google, Bing, Yahoo and others.
Pathmaker Marketing LLC is grateful for the opportunity to help so many ministries and small businesses with their Christian Marketing, applying our expertise to the needs of our clients. If you are uncertain about your ability to tackle Christian Marketing on your own, give us a call at 623-322-3334 or visit our website to learn more. You can sign up for our free Christian Marketing eNewsletter HERE.
Posted Thursday, December 3, 2009 by
Meagan Gillan
Christian Marketing Help--Can You Hit the Target on Your Own?
Part One--Breadth of Experience
Whether you run a small business or lead a Christian ministry, you may wonder if there is value in using an outside firm for your Christian Marketing. This is not only a personal decision—it’s an important one-–for no matter what the nature of your work is, you have a responsibility to let others know about it so they can take advantage of your services or goods. Your business or ministry can provide tremendous help to your potential customers--but what is the best way to let people know about you? 
As you lead your organization the demands on your time and energy may cause you to feel that Christian marketing is not be among your highest priorities. You may wonder if you will lose control over the image or appearance of your business or organization if you utilize an outside agency. But you must ask yourself if you are able to hit your marketing target on your own. If not, you may want to consider Christian marketing as a way to get help for your organization.
Breadth—Diverse Clients, Multiple Industries in Christian Marketing
When you choose to employ an agency to help you with your Christian marketing, you benefit greatly from the breadth of the agency’s client list. In serving a broad clientele from many industries, it’s likely that your agency has already faced and solved a number of key problems that will need to be tackled in any given campaign or strategy. Your company can take advantage of the agency’s extensive experience in solving these problems.
The people at Pathmaker Marketing, LLC are experts in their fields. We’ve worked with a wide range of small business, ministries and Internet-based efforts. The diversity of our client list has pushed us squarely into the areas of Social Networking and Search Engine Optimization. We’ve learned how to effectively use several essential tools to help our clients achieve optimal results from our efforts on their behalf. Simply put, we can help you hit the bullseye with targeted marketing and messaging that will bring potential clients or donors to your door. If you aren't absolutely convinced that your Christian marketing efforts will be as successful, we encourage you to consider using an outside agency like Pathmaker Marketing.
Marketing is an intensely diverse field. As a small business owner or ministry leader, you undoubtedly have exceptional skills in many fields--one of which may or may not be the field of marketing. Choosing to use professionals for your Christian marketing efforts may be the the best choice you make--and the one that helps you hit your target dead center.
Can You Hit the Target on Your Own?
Coming in Part Two: Collaboration and Speed
Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 by
Randall Mains
Here's a perfect example of Internet Business Marketing Promotion Online:
To checkout the Tyndale NLT Bible Contest & Giveaway, go here
What an awesome moment it is when you read God’s Word and it’s talking right to your heart, your situation, your needs. Suddenly it’s all so clear, and you know God is speaking to you, right where you are. It’s your personal breakthrough—a breakthrough to clarity.
Read What Others Are Saying >
Everyone Wins! Download free Gospel of John Bible Study when you provide your name and email address.
A Bible A Day! Tyndale's giving away one NLT hardcover Study Bible every day. Share your story of how the NLT makes God’s Word come alive for you and you’ll be entered to win the study Bible.
Win a Trip to the Holy Land! Link your story to your social networking site—Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn or other—and be entered to win a trip for four to the Holy Land.
This is a great example of successful internet marketing ideas.
To checkout the Tyndale NLT Bible Contest & Giveaway, go here
What an awesome moment it is when you read God’s Word and it’s talking right to your heart, your situation, your needs. Suddenly it’s all so clear, and you know God is speaking to you, right where you are. It’s your personal breakthrough—a breakthrough to clarity.
Read What Others Are Saying >
Everyone Wins! Download free Gospel of John Bible Study when you provide your name and email address.
A Bible A Day! Tyndale's giving away one NLT hardcover Study Bible every day. Share your story of how the NLT makes God’s Word come alive for you and you’ll be entered to win the study Bible.
Win a Trip to the Holy Land! Link your story to your social networking site—Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn or other—and be entered to win a trip for four to the Holy Land.
This is a great example of successful internet marketing ideas.
Posted Monday, October 5, 2009 by
Meagan Gillan
In his groundbreaking book, Socialnomics, author Eric Qualman offers great advice for those seeking Internet marketing ideas. He provides insightful analysis of the current state of social media, suggesting that there’s a revolution taking place in our world—a revolution that anyone seeking new and fresh Internet Marketing ideas should heed.
Qualman contends that social media are not a fad, but rather a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. People are now driving much of the economy via user-contributed content they post on social media sites ranging from Facebook and Twitter to YouTube and Wikipedia. Social media provide companies and ministries with a unique opportunity to “hear” their customers and constituents that has heretofore been unavailable, short of the expenditure of great amounts of money.
Consider these key points that drive home the value of social media as one of the essential Internet marketing ideas in today’s climate and economy:
• As newspapers and magazines become more costly and less efficient, social media provide low-cost ways to reach more people.
• Social media reduce expensive advertising campaigns and middle-men.
• People no longer need to seek the news; the news finds them, via mobile devices and email.
• People no longer seek information on products—product information finds them, via social media.
• Information can “go viral” on social media at an exponential rate, making it more effective and quicker than email.
• Companies and ministries can gain a stronger “touch” on those they seek to reach via social media, and the best will take advantage of this trend to listen and respond wisely.
• 34% of bloggers post information on products and brands.
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations.
It’s easy to see, from these crucial points, that social media can be used for all kinds of creative and cost-effective approaches and Internet Marketing Ideas. The professionals at Pathmaker Marketing would love to help you creatively develop a plan to effectively harness the value of the social networking revolution to advance your business or ministry.
Through our search engine marketing strategy we can help raise your search engine rankings. Our targeted website analysis will enable you to strengthen your branding and our know-how of social networking will help you reach many more potential clients with your distinct message. Visit us on the web today for your free website analysis and take advantage of Social Networking—among the best Internet marketing ideas out there today.
Posted Friday, September 4, 2009 by
Meagan Gillan
Nothing can inspire donors to give like the power of a good story, told well, whether you are raising funds with a Saturday morning car wash or you are one of a handful of powerful fundraising companies helping clients raise millions.
In last week’s blog post I talked about the importance of connecting the donor to the end recipient of their generosity using Internet--just like Heart For the City does on this page of their website. You can see touching photos of families benefitting from the Thanksgiving “Adopt A Family” effort.
We also encouraged you to create interactive areas on your site that allow donors to tell the success stories of the effort themselves, like this page from the National Prayer Campaign for the Jerusalem Prayer Team. You can read last week’s entry on fundraising company Pathmaker Marketing’s blog page HERE.
In this posting, I offer two more ideas, drawn from the experience of fundraising companies and the professionals who run them.
3. Don’t overlook traditional forms of storytelling like newsletters and snail mail appeals. Stories collected on your website—or via letters and emails—can be used (anonymously, if needed) to keep the ministry’s efforts fresh in the minds of those who read them. PathMaker Marketing can help you develop an eNewsletter that will build your email list—and keep the powerful stories of your ministry in the forefront of your efforts as a professional fundraiser.
4. Create an event. Use awards, presentations, speeches or other “special moments” to connect givers to those they help and share them in your communication efforts. RISE, International is a ministry that builds schools in Angola. When an American couple raised and extraordinary amount of money to build one school in a rural village—$50,000—Lynn Cole, the ministry head (who is the professional fundraiser for the group--they do not use a fundraising company) took a photo of the family, enlarged and laminated it and hand carried it to the dedication of that school months later. She told the boys and girls in the Angolan village, who were overjoyed about the opportunity to now receive an education, about the family as she showed them the enlarged photo. She photographed the eager learners with the image of the Americans in a powerful ceremony that will remain unforgettable for both sides.
Sharing the fruits of your ministry with those who donate to make it possible will bring your fundraising efforts “full circle” and will further strengthen your professional fundraising initiatives. Pathmaker Marketing is a professional fundraising company that will listen to your needs and help you tell your story. We'd like to give you a free website analysis--get in touch with us today.
In last week’s blog post I talked about the importance of connecting the donor to the end recipient of their generosity using Internet--just like Heart For the City does on this page of their website. You can see touching photos of families benefitting from the Thanksgiving “Adopt A Family” effort.
We also encouraged you to create interactive areas on your site that allow donors to tell the success stories of the effort themselves, like this page from the National Prayer Campaign for the Jerusalem Prayer Team. You can read last week’s entry on fundraising company Pathmaker Marketing’s blog page HERE.
In this posting, I offer two more ideas, drawn from the experience of fundraising companies and the professionals who run them.
3. Don’t overlook traditional forms of storytelling like newsletters and snail mail appeals. Stories collected on your website—or via letters and emails—can be used (anonymously, if needed) to keep the ministry’s efforts fresh in the minds of those who read them. PathMaker Marketing can help you develop an eNewsletter that will build your email list—and keep the powerful stories of your ministry in the forefront of your efforts as a professional fundraiser.
4. Create an event. Use awards, presentations, speeches or other “special moments” to connect givers to those they help and share them in your communication efforts. RISE, International is a ministry that builds schools in Angola. When an American couple raised and extraordinary amount of money to build one school in a rural village—$50,000—Lynn Cole, the ministry head (who is the professional fundraiser for the group--they do not use a fundraising company) took a photo of the family, enlarged and laminated it and hand carried it to the dedication of that school months later. She told the boys and girls in the Angolan village, who were overjoyed about the opportunity to now receive an education, about the family as she showed them the enlarged photo. She photographed the eager learners with the image of the Americans in a powerful ceremony that will remain unforgettable for both sides.
Sharing the fruits of your ministry with those who donate to make it possible will bring your fundraising efforts “full circle” and will further strengthen your professional fundraising initiatives. Pathmaker Marketing is a professional fundraising company that will listen to your needs and help you tell your story. We'd like to give you a free website analysis--get in touch with us today.
Posted Thursday, September 3, 2009 by
Karen Randau
If you’re a non profit or church who raises funds, then you need to include online fundraising in your marketing tool kit. And when you start doing that, you’ll want to consider the advantages of working with various fundraising companies. Just because you work with someone who has been managing your direct mail for the last several years doesn’t mean they’re the right choice for your email fundraising or search engine marketing efforts. You’ll want to look for Internet savvy fundraising companies for that.
When interviewing fundraising companies, here are some helpful questions you’ll want to ask.
What is your experience raising funds online? You’ll want to make sure they have several years of experience, but also be sure that they deliver good return on investment for their clients. Ask them for specific examples, and look for at least a 4:1 ROI for their current or past clients (not just a promise that they can do that for you).
What is your strategy for raising funds online? While strategies for individual tactics may vary, there is a general philosophy for fundraising that need to understand before choosing from your list of fundraising companies. How do they come up with each eAppeal strategy? How will you be involved? What is their eAppeal blasting schedule and strategy? How will they avoid colliding with direct mail strategies? How they make sure you’ll be able to see results from all online strategies? Make sure their strategies agree with your philosophies.
What is your experience in my industry? People surely can learn your industry, but it helps if they already offer experience specific to your industry. If you’re a Christian organization, it helps a lot for them to understand Christianity and the way Christians communicate.
What is your billing schedule and terms? Be sure you can afford their services and thoroughly understand the services you’ll get.
How do you resolve conflicts and disagreements? You don’t plan it, but disagreements occur. Go into it knowing how you’ll deal with them.
These basic questions may launch you into other discussions, but these will help you springboard into a thorough understanding of how various fundraising companies stack up against one another.
Pathmaker Marketing LLC is ready to help you raise funds online and would love to talk to you about how our strategies and experience fit with your organization. Visit our website or call us at 623-322-3334.
When interviewing fundraising companies, here are some helpful questions you’ll want to ask.
What is your experience raising funds online? You’ll want to make sure they have several years of experience, but also be sure that they deliver good return on investment for their clients. Ask them for specific examples, and look for at least a 4:1 ROI for their current or past clients (not just a promise that they can do that for you).
What is your strategy for raising funds online? While strategies for individual tactics may vary, there is a general philosophy for fundraising that need to understand before choosing from your list of fundraising companies. How do they come up with each eAppeal strategy? How will you be involved? What is their eAppeal blasting schedule and strategy? How will they avoid colliding with direct mail strategies? How they make sure you’ll be able to see results from all online strategies? Make sure their strategies agree with your philosophies.
What is your experience in my industry? People surely can learn your industry, but it helps if they already offer experience specific to your industry. If you’re a Christian organization, it helps a lot for them to understand Christianity and the way Christians communicate.
What is your billing schedule and terms? Be sure you can afford their services and thoroughly understand the services you’ll get.
How do you resolve conflicts and disagreements? You don’t plan it, but disagreements occur. Go into it knowing how you’ll deal with them.
These basic questions may launch you into other discussions, but these will help you springboard into a thorough understanding of how various fundraising companies stack up against one another.
Pathmaker Marketing LLC is ready to help you raise funds online and would love to talk to you about how our strategies and experience fit with your organization. Visit our website or call us at 623-322-3334.
Posted Friday, August 28, 2009 by
Meagan Gillan
Fundraising professionals, no matter what their cause or kind, understand that they must, at some point in the fundraising stream, connect donors to the end-recipient of their giving. Stories, testimonies and images all can work together to bring that powerful sense of gratification to donors who want their dollars to truly make a difference in the world.
Whether you are raising funds for your local church, a street ministry or the building of hospitals overseas, those who give to you want to see how their gifts are helping. If, as a fundraising professional, you’ve lost sight of this meaningful principle, here are some ideas to help get you back on track with the important discipline of “telling the stories.”
1. Use the Internet. It’s relatively inexpensive, and you pay the same, no matter how many individuals read the testimonies you share. Bring the faces and stories of those who are impacted right onto the pages of your website. Make sure your storytelling is rich with images and effective words, using first person accounts whenever possible. Let the fundraising professionals at Pathmaker Marketing help you build a website (or re-design your current one) to motivate and encourage your donors.
2. Provide interactive opportunities that will tell the story for you. Are you giving your supporters interactive ways to be involved with the ministry other than giving? Prayer is an energizing way to draw constituents in and create community. And, it will truly strengthen your efforts! Let us help you create a prayer area on your website using our interactive prayer walls, prayer requests function and more. Just seeing the many heartfelt prayers that build up on the prayer wall will serve as a form of testimony that will go a long way for you, as a professional fundraiser, to encourage your stakeholders.
We can also help you create an area on your website where both the friends of your ministry as well as those you serve can post their stories and testimonies, much like this one of Gregory Dickow Ministries and this one from Jewish Voice. These accounts will help strengthen the link between donor and recipient as readers see the impact of their giving.
Check back for my next blog post to read two more great ways you can strengthen your efforts as a professional fundraiser by telling the powerful stories of your ministry or group.
Posted Thursday, August 27, 2009 by
Karen Randau
The secret to targeting keywords on your business, church or non profit website is this: research.
Many people think they just need to build their website, and search engines will lead people to your doors or online store. Those who take time to optimize their homepage for their business, church or non profit name may also be missing the search engine bus. And the keywords you think might bring the most people to your site may not work at all!
So what’s a website manager to do? Targeting Keywords through thorough research is essential.
Start by thinking about the keywords and terms you would enter into a search engine to find your competitors' rather than your own site. Compile a short list of targeting keywords, and then actually look them up in your favorite search engine to see what kinds of results these keywords return in a search.
Next, get some help growing your targeting keywords. This is where some online tools can help by suggesting targeting keywords that pertain to words you feed the online tool. One good tool is Wordtracker, which offers a free trial period for their subscription service. Google also offers a good free keyword research tool. Whether you choose a free or subscription tool, you can enter words into the tool and get back suggested targeting keywords for your optimization efforts. The benefit to a fee-based system is that you also get a more robust set of analytical tools, and a better idea of how competitive the targeting keywords are.
And that’s the next bit of research you need to do: find out how competitive the targeting keywords are. The free Google tool will give you some of this data, like Global Monthly Volume and estimate Cost Per Click charges, (both indicators of probable competitiveness) but subscription based services will give you a more in-depth analysis. This step is important because different combinations of words can be less competitive than the ones with which you initiatially start. This will make a significant difference in getting your site listed in the top 10 search results.
Once you’ve thoroughly searched your list of targeting keywords, then you’re ready to start optimizing various pages of your website for each keyword.
If this all sounds like a tedious process to you … well, it can be. Pathmaker Marketing LLC is here to help you find the right targting keywords and put those words into your site in just the right places and combinations to get higher listings in search engines. Give us a call at 623-322-3334 to help you get your targeting keywords process down.
Many people think they just need to build their website, and search engines will lead people to your doors or online store. Those who take time to optimize their homepage for their business, church or non profit name may also be missing the search engine bus. And the keywords you think might bring the most people to your site may not work at all!
So what’s a website manager to do? Targeting Keywords through thorough research is essential.
Start by thinking about the keywords and terms you would enter into a search engine to find your competitors' rather than your own site. Compile a short list of targeting keywords, and then actually look them up in your favorite search engine to see what kinds of results these keywords return in a search.
Next, get some help growing your targeting keywords. This is where some online tools can help by suggesting targeting keywords that pertain to words you feed the online tool. One good tool is Wordtracker, which offers a free trial period for their subscription service. Google also offers a good free keyword research tool. Whether you choose a free or subscription tool, you can enter words into the tool and get back suggested targeting keywords for your optimization efforts. The benefit to a fee-based system is that you also get a more robust set of analytical tools, and a better idea of how competitive the targeting keywords are.
And that’s the next bit of research you need to do: find out how competitive the targeting keywords are. The free Google tool will give you some of this data, like Global Monthly Volume and estimate Cost Per Click charges, (both indicators of probable competitiveness) but subscription based services will give you a more in-depth analysis. This step is important because different combinations of words can be less competitive than the ones with which you initiatially start. This will make a significant difference in getting your site listed in the top 10 search results.
Once you’ve thoroughly searched your list of targeting keywords, then you’re ready to start optimizing various pages of your website for each keyword.
If this all sounds like a tedious process to you … well, it can be. Pathmaker Marketing LLC is here to help you find the right targting keywords and put those words into your site in just the right places and combinations to get higher listings in search engines. Give us a call at 623-322-3334 to help you get your targeting keywords process down.
Posted Monday, August 24, 2009 by
Karen Randau
The simple definition of keyword marketing is that it is a process of getting your message in front of people who are searching websites such as Google, Yahoo or Bing with words and phrases that match the words and phrases found on your website.
The reason to do keyword marketing is that you will get more people to your website who are (1) inclined to do business with you and (2) are looking for someone with whom to do business online. In short, keyword marketing brings qualified people to you website, and when you put in the appropriate systems to convert visitors to assets, you should see increased income from your website as a result of keyword marketing.
But keyword marketing can mean different things to different people. Someone specializing in search engine optimization (SEO) might say it’s a process of getting the right words and phrases on the pages of your website. Someone specializing in ad buying, the process involves buying ads on the sites of search engines or other sites that attract people who are pre-disposed to do business with your type of organization.
For Pathmaker Marketing LLC, Keyword Marketing is a service we provide our clients that involves five elements of search engine marketing:
The first step we take is to carefully select your keywords. That involves conversations with you to determine what types of words we should look for and then to discuss our list of choices with you. We do extensive research to find the right words, and we run the words through a difficulty ranker to make sure we choose the words and phrases that not only describe your business but also will be the easiest to get you listed into the top 10 search results.
The reason to do keyword marketing is that you will get more people to your website who are (1) inclined to do business with you and (2) are looking for someone with whom to do business online. In short, keyword marketing brings qualified people to you website, and when you put in the appropriate systems to convert visitors to assets, you should see increased income from your website as a result of keyword marketing.
But keyword marketing can mean different things to different people. Someone specializing in search engine optimization (SEO) might say it’s a process of getting the right words and phrases on the pages of your website. Someone specializing in ad buying, the process involves buying ads on the sites of search engines or other sites that attract people who are pre-disposed to do business with your type of organization.
For Pathmaker Marketing LLC, Keyword Marketing is a service we provide our clients that involves five elements of search engine marketing:
- SEO
- Link Building, globally, locally and in authoritative sites such as Wikipedia
- Social and professional networking
- Pay Per Click Advertising
- Blogging
The first step we take is to carefully select your keywords. That involves conversations with you to determine what types of words we should look for and then to discuss our list of choices with you. We do extensive research to find the right words, and we run the words through a difficulty ranker to make sure we choose the words and phrases that not only describe your business but also will be the easiest to get you listed into the top 10 search results.
Posted Wednesday, August 19, 2009 by
Meagan Gillan
The professionals at Pathmaker Marketing live to assist our clients with their email fundraising. We understand the delicate relationship between ministries and their donors, and we've learned the importance of selecting just the right words in every part of an email fundraising strategy. We recommend that your words align not only with the brand identity of your organization, they must also communicate clearly to your constituents that you understand them. Words and messaging can go a long way to show donors that you and they are on the same page.
In his newest book, Axiom, Bill Hybels’ opening parry focuses on the importance of words. He describes the angst he experiences as he seeks just the right word, phrase or tagline for a point in a sermon, conversation or campaign. He goes into great detail to explain that when it comes to words, you have to get it right!
The truth is, leaders rise and fall by the language they use. Sometimes whole visions live or die on the basis of the words the leader chooses for articulating that vision.
--Bill Hybels, Founding Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church in Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs
Good email fundraising will show understanding and sensitivity to the values, priorities and lifestyle of donors--and you demonstrate this by the choice of words you use. If you fail in this, you let down the very people whose support you are seeking to engender. Answering the following questions will help you choose well in your messages to donors.
Reflect Your Donors' Values in Your Email Fundraising: What are the key values of your constituents? Do you know which things they hold dearest? And why they are drawn to your organization? Is there a values niche that you serve that is unique? Do your messages communicate these values clearly? Most Christian ministries work hard to show they are morally clean and untainted. What other dearly-held values do your constituents have? Patriotism? Social activism? When it comes to your email fundraising, don’t waste words on things that are not valued by your donors.
Reflect Your Donors' Priorities in Your Email Fundraising: What are the highest priorities of your constituents? Are they family-oriented? Prayer warriors? Ardent for missions? Whatever their priorities, your words must communicate that you understand the priorities that guide their lives.
Show You Understand Your Donors' Lifestyles in Your Email Fundraising: Do your donors tend to have active lifestyles? Are they Internet savvy? Tuned in to contemporary Christian music? Are they pinching every penny, or do they have a little financial breathing room? As you consider ways to use email for your fundraising efforts, you can reflect the lifestyle choices of your backers as you communicate with them, choosing words wisely.
The extra effort you put into choosing just the right words for every part of your email fundraising strategy will go a long way to show them that you understand them and their concerns. This connection will strengthen their willingness to give.
Posted Tuesday, August 18, 2009 by
Karen Randau
If your website isn’t getting the traffic you hope for, maybe you’ve not properly optimized it to be found by search engines. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important step for getting your website listed in the top 10 search engine listings when someone is searching for a keyword that applies to your business. That makes SEO a key small business marketing strategy for you to consider.
Here are some tips I picked up from SEOMoz, specialists in this field.
The first step is to know the keywords that will get your website listed. Pathmaker Marketing LLC is a solid online fundraising company and non profit consultant that does extensive research for our clients. We first identify the keywords that could apply (the list is always quite long), then we get the client’s input, then we run them through a difficulty ranker. The difficulty ranker helps us determine which keywords will be the easiest for us to get a higher listing for on our client’s behalf. We can help you with this step. Give us a call at 623-322-3334 to see if there’s a fit.
Once you know your keywords, then you can begin the process of optimizing your site. Here are some important elements.
HTML Tags – the most important one to use is the <TITLE> tag. Optimize every page of your site for a different keyword. Be sure to use the keywords near the front of the <TITLE> tag for the page you are optimizing. Also, while using the Meta Description won’t get you a higher ranking, it will show under the title of the page in search results, so be sure to write a good description.
URL – if you can, get your keyword in the URL of the page. Shorter URLs work best, so don’t hide your page behind lots of directories (example: www.yourbusiness.com/page is better than www.yourbusiness.com/directory1/directory2/page.
Body Copy – be sure to use your keywords two to three times on shorter pages and four to six times on longer pages, and get at least one of those occurrences in the first 50-100 words. Use the keywords in a context that makes sense. You can also use variations of the phrase throughout the copy. Use the <H1> tag for your headline rather than an image or just making the size of the text bigger. Use <ALT> tags (using your keyword) for images, and try to name images using the keyword. It wouldn’t hurt to put the keyword in bold/italics at least once, but this only helps a little.
Linking – link to pages within your site (and make the click-through depth shallow), and do your best to get other sites to link to you. When you do, ask if you can provide the appropriate text. This small business marketing strategy will often mean you’ll need to do reciprocal links. Don’t be afraid of that – just open the link up in a new window so people won’t lose your website, but don’t make the link any more prominent than necessary.
Social Networking – have social and professional networking accounts, and link to your site from them. Work to get followers/friends in your accounts.
According to SEOMoz, here is the weight of the various factors considered in search engine optimization. Take them into consideration and make them part of your small business marketing strategies.
Here are some tips I picked up from SEOMoz, specialists in this field.
The first step is to know the keywords that will get your website listed. Pathmaker Marketing LLC is a solid online fundraising company and non profit consultant that does extensive research for our clients. We first identify the keywords that could apply (the list is always quite long), then we get the client’s input, then we run them through a difficulty ranker. The difficulty ranker helps us determine which keywords will be the easiest for us to get a higher listing for on our client’s behalf. We can help you with this step. Give us a call at 623-322-3334 to see if there’s a fit.
Once you know your keywords, then you can begin the process of optimizing your site. Here are some important elements.
HTML Tags – the most important one to use is the <TITLE> tag. Optimize every page of your site for a different keyword. Be sure to use the keywords near the front of the <TITLE> tag for the page you are optimizing. Also, while using the Meta Description won’t get you a higher ranking, it will show under the title of the page in search results, so be sure to write a good description.
URL – if you can, get your keyword in the URL of the page. Shorter URLs work best, so don’t hide your page behind lots of directories (example: www.yourbusiness.com/page is better than www.yourbusiness.com/directory1/directory2/page.
Body Copy – be sure to use your keywords two to three times on shorter pages and four to six times on longer pages, and get at least one of those occurrences in the first 50-100 words. Use the keywords in a context that makes sense. You can also use variations of the phrase throughout the copy. Use the <H1> tag for your headline rather than an image or just making the size of the text bigger. Use <ALT> tags (using your keyword) for images, and try to name images using the keyword. It wouldn’t hurt to put the keyword in bold/italics at least once, but this only helps a little.
Linking – link to pages within your site (and make the click-through depth shallow), and do your best to get other sites to link to you. When you do, ask if you can provide the appropriate text. This small business marketing strategy will often mean you’ll need to do reciprocal links. Don’t be afraid of that – just open the link up in a new window so people won’t lose your website, but don’t make the link any more prominent than necessary.
Social Networking – have social and professional networking accounts, and link to your site from them. Work to get followers/friends in your accounts.
According to SEOMoz, here is the weight of the various factors considered in search engine optimization. Take them into consideration and make them part of your small business marketing strategies.
- Trust/authority of your domain – 23.87%
- Link popularity of specific pages – 22.33%
- Anchor text of external links to specific pages – 20.26%
- On-Page keyword usage – 15.04%
- Registration and hosting data – 6.91%
- Traffic and Click Through Ratio (CTR) data – 6.29%
- Social graph metrics (the popularity of your site in social networks) – 5.30%
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