Knowmad Blog

Google+ is gaining traction and, with the release of Search+, has become more relevant to businesses because Google+ company pages are now showing in search results. Setting up a page on this growing social network gives potential customers one more way to find your business.

You might notice as you setup your business page on Google+  that you don’t have to verify you’re the business owner. Google Places requires telephone verification to ensure ownership of the business but this wasn’t included in Google+.

Why? Great question. I think we’d all like to know.

This means that ‘name squatting’ is entirely possible on Google+ unless you’re a global brand (and Google likes you). The only recourse at this time is to go ahead and create an ‘official’ presence for your business on Google+ by creating a company page.

Google has made it easy to create a business page by giving us a wizard style tool. Even though there are a few screens, it’s really just a two-step process asking for very basic information. Creating your business page on Google+ will only take you about 5 minutes. Read the rest of this entry →

January is the perfect time to review your online marketing plan to ensure it still matches up with your company’s sales plan for the upcoming year. What has changed in your company’s planning or marketplace since you last reviewed your online marketing plan? Reviewing the performance of your website and the competitive landscape online will inform your planning.

Do you know the top 3 metrics to measure?

For most companies, the website’s highest purpose is to bring sales leads. If it’s not performing on this task, take a look at the following top three metrics for success.

• Total number of website visitors vs. visitors that become leads or buyers
• Close rate of sales leads
• Average order value

The number of metrics available for a website is daunting and trying to track all those numbers will distract you from real success. Instead, narrow your focus to metrics that will drive the business forward.

Is your website bringing more customers to your door?

By using the metrics mentioned, you can easily track the performance of your website and overall Web presence. If your metrics are trending downward, what is driving the change?

If traffic is at expected norms but interactions are down, you may want to review and update the product descriptions or offers on your website. If traffic has decreased, where are your previous visitors going? You may find you have a new competitor, visitors are finding more relevant content somewhere else online or your online market space has changed.

Are You Falling Behind?

When was the last time you reviewed your online competitors? The online marketplace changes quickly. It’s smart to complete this every 4 to 6 months or when your metrics significantly change. One way to do a competitive review is to search on your most valuable keywords and review both the search results and advertisements. You may discover new competitors or that existing competitors are gaining ground.

Many business owners researching Internet marketing have likely stumbled across web tracking software that claims to report contact information for every single person who visits your website. Sounds great, right?

Unfortunately, it isn’t currently possible to legally collect this information using any web tracking software. Worse still, the anonymous data that can be legally collected about your web visitors does not reveal much in the way of identification.

This is because most web tracking software uses an IP address to look up contact information for prospective leads. An IP address is a number that identifies the network a visitor is coming from. It is legal in the United States to track IP addresses because they do not provide personal information. Because many computers can connect into one network, and many people can use the same computer, it is impossible to know who specifically is visiting your site.

The company name can sometimes be found based on the IP address for large corporations, but for smaller companies, visitors browsing from home, or mobile visitors, the IP address will most likely be associated with an Internet Service Provider, like AT&T or Time Warner.

In the small likelihood a company name owns the IP, these marketing tools just send you the CEO or business owner’s name—or no contact information at all.

So how can you know if your website is reaching the right audience? Opt-in marketing, in which visitors freely give you their information through a contact form, newsletter sign-up, or another special offer is the best way to know exactly who is visiting your site. To get the best results, don’t ask for too much information up front—start with just an email address, and ask for more information later.

If you’re still dying to know which companies are browsing your site, you can find that information for free, using Google Analytics online tracking software, by looking at the Network Service Providers information for Visitors. This report will tell you the name of the company that is associated with the IP (if available).

As Facebook and social media have become more prominent in our daily lives, businesses have been moving into the social media arena in search of customers. At Knowmad, we’ve explored Facebook and decided it’s not the ideal avenue for us but it’s not to be ignored.

Why? Customers and prospects typically don’t look for us on Facebook because we sell to businesses (B2B), not consumers. However, a company or individual could create brand confusion by presenting themselves as Knowmad on Facebook. In addition, we might later find a use for Facebook in our marketing and we don’t want to lose the opportunity to claim our brand name.

How did we decide on the use of Facebook for our brand? I’ve included a few questions in this post that helped us evaluate if Facebook is right for our business. Hopefully, these questions can help you start the conversation for your business.

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“The desire for symmetry, for balance, for rhythm is one of the most inveterate of human instincts.”—Edith Wharton, Pulitzer-prize winning novelist, writer, and designer

Here’s some advice that might be hard to swallow: The colors, fonts, spacing and imagery on your website could be the difference between a user purchasing from you or choosing a competitor. This means that even the most strategic SEO or marketing campaign could be jeopardized by a visually neglected site.

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Facebook is an important marketing communication tool for businesses of all sizes. Businesses are using Facebook Fan Pages to promote brands, send out event invites, broadcast company updates, conduct crowd sourcing research and otherwise stay in touch with a loyal customer base. From international brands to your local corner store, businesses of all sizes use social networks to share the personality of a brand, encourage brand interaction and cultivate buyer loyalty.

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