Afraid of Pandas? Meet the Newest Beast in Search – Google Penguin.

Just when you thought you were safe from Google updates, along comes another beast in Google Penguin. A few months ago we did an article outlining how you can protect yourself from Google Panda. Google actually released another update, Panda 3.5, just before, but it was the Penguin update on April 24th that has really caused waves in the Internet community.

What Happened

This newest search engine optimization update is predicted to affect a smaller amount of queries than Panda, but has still caused problems for some sites. The forums are a-buzz with talk of job and income losses, giving a rather bleak outlook and making Google look like the bad guy. Otherwise known as the WebSpam update, Penguin focused on penalizing those using spam and black hat SEO tactics such as cloaking, link schemes and general keyword stuffing. As much as we can’t help hearing from those that were hit, there were some winners with this update as well. It’s important to follow the rules.

SEO Points to Remember:

Quality. Focus on quality content that readers will want to share, rather than strictly writing for the search engines.

Unique Content. Make sure your content is unique, not duplicated.

Rankings Fluctuate. Don’t put all your marketing tactics in one basket. Relying strictly on Google search to make your site successful may not work. Always have a back-up strategy, so that if there is another update and you get hit (even accidentally), it won’t matter as much.

What You Can Do to Your Site

If your site has been hit with the Google Penguin update, there are a few steps you can take. First, look at your site honestly to see if there is something you could do better. If you believe you have been penalized incorrectly, you can submit a reconsideration request to Google.

If you’re worried about your rankings and how to get your site found, contact a WSI Consultant today to plan out a successful digital marketing strategy for your business.

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
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Winter Park, FL 32789
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The new Google+ cover is much like Facebook’s cover but the dimensions are slightly different and the profile picture is located on the right side of the cover. The optimal Google+ cover size is 940 pixels x 180 pixels.

Unlike Facebook, Google+ allows users the option to use the older photo strip mast instead of the cover. There are 5 thumbnails and each of their dimensions are 112 pixels by 112 pixels. The Profile photo size is 250 pixels x250 pixels.

Other Google+ Changes

One of Google+ major benefits has been its ability to showcase media. The recent changes that were made bring even more attention to content shared on the network.  One photo now takes up nearly all the above the fold area. Additionally, there is a new “insta-gallery” that appears when you hover over an image, making it simple to view an entire set of photos.

The new Explore button has replaced ‘What’s Hot’. Within the new Explore section users can find out what’s new and interesting on Google+. The new layout allows users to better manage ‘Hangouts’. Instead of working directly into the stream, it has its own page which includes updated invitations, quick access to public hangouts and popular hangouts that are displayed via a large billboard.

The best news of all is no news. Unlike Facebook, Google+ still has not created any strict guidelines for what brands can put into their cover photos or thumbnails. Google+ offers company’s unique opportunities to market and promote their business. If you need help making the most of Google+’s latest changes to increase your SEO or for more information on social media marketing, contact WSI.

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According to BringShare, the popular online marketing analytics provider for (SMB) small to mid-sized businesses, search engines generate significantly more traffic, but social media visitors have a much stronger propensity to take action. In Q1 2012, search traffic was responsible for one-third of all traffic, while social media drove a meager 8% of all traffic. Interestingly, the traffic from social media converts at a much higher rate (7.64%) compared to search engines (4.35%), which mean that social media visitors are 76% more likely to purchase than organic search visitors.

Struggling to get your business ranked on Google for targeted keywords?

You’re not alone. More than 8 out of 10 small businesses are unable to get listed on the first page of Google for targeted keywords. I mention Google because it is the king of all search engines. Bing and Yahoo may be able to match Google with respect to traffic quality; however Google has the lion share of the market at 65%. In Q1 2012, Google drove 85% of all traffic to SMB websites. In comparison, Bing and Yahoo drove less 10% combined.

Social Media Traffic Volume and Quality

It’s no shocker that Facebook and Twitter were the overwhelming traffic drivers for all SMB using social media in Q1 2012. In fact, Facebook and Twitter combined for more 96% of all traffic!. Facebook accounted for 58.7%, while Twitter followed at 37.7%. Next was LinkedIn at 2.03%, Youtube at 1.20%, and the new rising social media darling, Pinterest at 1.16%.

Traffic volume is important to SMB, but traffic quality must be measured as well. In this category, BringShare found that Facebook and LinkedIn have the highest conversion rate of all social platforms. The conversion rate in this study is defined when a user triggers a goal conversion or when a user completes a transaction on an ecommerce site. Facebook converted 8.84% of its traffic, LinkedIn converted 8.11%, Twitter converted 5.95%, Pinterest converted 5.08%, and Youtube converted 3.91%.

Pinterest is flexing its muscle

Pinterest’s numbers are staggering. In January users spent more time on Pinterest than LinkedIn, Twitter and Google + combined. Additionally, Pinterest was able to reach 10 million users quicker than any stand alone website in history and they’ve been able to increase their traffic by more than 600% over the past three months.

Conclusion for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses

Although it’s a good idea for your SMB to be active and engaging on social media, remember Google still dominates how online visitors find your company online. Yes, social media converts well, but let’s face it…Google drives 85% of all traffic to SMB websites. Your company’s resources would in all likelihood be best spent striving to be one of the few lucky businesses that are able to be listed on the first page of the (SERP) search engine results page for Google.

Is your business is struggling to get found on Google?

Contact WSI Internet Marketing. Our team of internet marketing consultants will create a plan that works with your budget that is geared to driving both traffic and results.

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
520 N Orlando Ave Suite 205-A
Winter Park, FL 32789
Toll-Free: 888-697-5107
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Last September Google launched a new advertising platform called Google Adwords for Video to a select group of marketers. Now Google has made their new advertising platform available to everyone allowing businesses to reach the ever expanding audience of online video viewers. Anyone familiar with Google’s text based (PPC) Adwords product will find the video format to be very similar. Ads will be displayed to those that search using keywords businesses bid on in a similar manner as the paid search links. Detailed online analytics are available pertaining to how, when, and where ads are viewed.

Amazingly internet video is the hottest segment in consumer technology, even hotter than mobile apps! With over 800 million people visiting YouTube worldwide every month, Google Adwords for Video offers businesses tremendous opportunities to build awareness and drive results.

According to Custom Content Council and ContentWise, 52% of companies in North America used video for content marketing in 2011. This is significantly up from 2009 when video accounted for only 37% of marketer’s content investment.

“You can promote your video by keyword to appear in YouTube search results, or you can choose to show your ad against content your customers are most interested in—such as sports or music,” said Baljeet Singh, YouTube group product manager. “On average, we’ve found that YouTube video ads drive a 20 percent increase in traffic to your website and a 5 percent increase in searches for your business.”

TrueView Advertising Format

All AdWords for video ads belong to the TrueView family, which means you only pay when viewers choose to watch your ad. That’s different from most video ads, where you pay as soon as an impression is served.

Viewers see your TrueView video ads while they’re watching or searching for videos or browsing related web content or suggested videos on YouTube and the Google Display Network. So everyone wins: viewers choose ads that are relevant to them, and you reach people who are ready to hear what you’ve got to say. Plus, you’ll get an increased YouTube view count.

TrueView in-stream ads

TrueView in-slate ads

TrueView in-search ads

TrueView in-display ads

In an attempt to encourage those new to video advertising to dive in, Google has appointed nine business ambassadors willing to go public with their stories of how video ads have worked for them. The personal video testimonials offer a closer look at how this new advertising platform is being harnessed by its initial user group.

Google will also give $50 million in free Google AdWords advertising in an effort to encourage 500,000 new businesses to try video advertising.

A short primer video about the Google Adwords for video has been launched in a number of different languages for global users, and a more in-depth video (below) covers the specifics of how the program works.

Contact WSI to learn more about how Google’s video ad programs can help your business expand your audience and increase your sales. At WSI we can help manage your online marketing efforts every step of the way.

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
520 N Orlando Ave Suite 205-A
Winter Park, FL 32789
Toll-Free: 888-697-5107
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As our digital PR strategy changes, it may be time to give that traditional press release a facelift. There was a time when sending out a press release was a great way to get noticed. Once a release was sent to listed media outlets, odds were pretty good the event would create some interest. These days, not only is the market saturated with businesses looking for press, but no longer is it enough to send out a simple PR. You have to start thinking outside the box and beyond the traditional release.

Why We Love PRs

Marketers still have a soft spot for press releases. They may not hold as much clout as they used to, but let’s not abandon them completely just yet. They can still be a vital piece to a successful online reputation strategy.

There are still a few benefits of a finely written PR:

Steps for a Successful Press Release

There has been plenty of discussion in internet marketing circles about whether or not the press release is dead. It’s not that a release is completely obsolete, but the traditional use may very well be. Here are a few steps to get more out of your press release plan:

Remember to supplement your press release with a blog post, tweet and Facebook post, and make sure to add it to the Media page of your site.

Use plenty of keywords, so even if it doesn’t get picked up you can still get the links

Give the journalist a definite angle – the less they have to do the better

Add interesting triggers and snippets media agencies can use (quotes, facts, figures, video clips, pictures)

Last Thoughts

Here are a last few thoughts on adding a press release to your Internet marketing initiative. First, be aware of what distribution service you’re using. The majority of businesses utilize free tools, so check out the paid services for better visibility and reach. Remember that your PR will only stay at the top of the newswire for a very short time, so make sure to craft news-worthy headlines that demand attention.

Do you still use traditional press releases? Have you had to rethink your online reputation efforts?

Make online reputation part of your digital marketing plan! Contact a WSI Internet Consultant today and get on the right track to better business online.

If your company needs help managing its social media content and marketing, please contact us at WSI. We offer affordable solutions that can be deployed within just a few days!

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
520 N Orlando Ave Suite 205-A
Winter Park, FL 32789
Toll-Free: 888-697-5107
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The enormously successful American inventor, engineer and businessman Charles Kettering once said, “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”

I mention this quote because I find that change is one of the greatest frustrations of so many Facebook users. I think what many of us at times forget or fail to realize is that we can’t move forward without change, and Facebook is actually one of the few incredibly successful companies that actually gets it. They realize in today’s rapidly changing technological and digital world, companies rise and fall faster than ever before. Lessons learned by the likes of Blockbuster, Sun Microsystems, Eastman Kodak, and Motorola all of which enjoyed enviable success, were followed by unenviable declines.

The truth is that most companies never reach the zenith of success, and the very few that do find it overwhelmingly difficult to remain at the top. Vijay Govindarajan, co-author of “The Other Side of Innovation” and professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business believes that virtually all successful companies at some point fall into three traps which make it difficult to remain at the top. They are as follows:

Believe it or not, there some companies that have failed to adapt and even scored a hat trick and fallen into all three traps.

But don’t expect Facebook to do so, at least not anytime soon. If you’re using Facebook (and likely you are, since it has a 69% penetration rate in North America) you’ve become accustomed to the frequent changes to the social networking platform.

Just six months ago Facebook added the “Subscribe” button enabling users to subscribe to another member’s feed. Then they added the news ticker feed to the extreme right side of the page, and a few months later Facebook launched the new Timeline interface. All of which can be considered significant changes, and each of them were hated by millions of Facebook users. Regardless, Facebook’s worldwide appeal continues to grow as membership . was listed at 845 million through December 2011.

The bottom line is that Facebook knows that much of the world hates change, but also recognizes that it’s necessary for their continued success.

Speaking of change… Yes, there is another Facebook update coming very soon. A few years ago Facebook introduced “check-in” giving users the ability to check-in to a local business on Facebook, similar to other check-in networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla. Every time someone checks in at a local business using Facebook, the business’s total check-in number increases on their page. Since then, many loyal patrons have regularly checked in to their favorite places.

Facebook believes some users are checking in too often

It appears that the social networking giant has decided that if someone visits a business multiple times per day, each succeeding visit should not be considered a unique visit. So, in an effort to increase the validity and accuracy of their check-ins, Facebook is preparing to implement a few changes to their system.

Upcoming Facebook Check-in Changes

Overall, I don’t think this will have a major impact on most business pages since very few patrons frequent businesses more than once in any give 12 hour period. Those that do… oh well you can only check in once.

If your company needs help managing its social media content and marketing, please contact us at WSI. We offer affordable solutions that can be deployed within just a few days!

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
520 N Orlando Ave Suite 205-A
Winter Park, FL 32789
Toll-Free: 888-697-5107
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Ok, so Facebook has decided to rock our world … AGAIN. Are you among the many businesses that have been caught off guard by Facebook’s change to the new timeline? In Facebook’s defense, they did warn us in advance. But they actually changed it today. At this point complaining about it does no good so let’s make the most of it and turn this into a positive. And trust me; Timeline does have its advantages.

I’ve listed below a few of the new Timeline essentials for you and your Facebook business page.

Facebook’s timeline cover image

The main “cover image” allows businesses to brand like never before. With dimensions 851 x 315 pixels, the options to be creative and connect with visitors are endless. As with all things Facebook, there are strict guidelines that must be followed.

Tabs and Apps

Unlike before, you can no longer set a tab as the default landing tab. Apps are the now the new tabs. Here are a few things that you can’t do…

Business Milestones

I think this is one of the neat things about Timeline. Facebook now encourages business to set milestones for your business for both current and past events. By taking advantage of this, you can go back and show your grand opening, ribbon cuttings, new menu items, opening of new stores or product launches, tradeshow events, conventions attended, along with awards. You can also add images to milestone images but they must be no larger than 843 x 403 pixels.

Private Messages

Unlike your personal facebook page, you can’t message your friends/fans. However, you fans can message you.

Highlighted & Pinned Posts

With the new Timeline, you can choose which post you want to feature or “highlight”.  This helps you bring attention to the post that you feel are more important than other. You do this by expanding the size to both sides of the page. You can also create a post and have it pinned to the top of the page. These pinned posts stay on top of your timeline for up to 7 days. All images that you place within your wall posts will display at 404 x 404 pixels.

Visit our WSI Facebook page

If your company needs help managing its social media content and marketing, please contact us at WSI. We offer affordable solutions that can be deployed within just a few days!

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
520 N Orlando Ave Suite 205-A
Winter Park, FL 32789
Toll-Free: 888-697-5107
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Create a map to a successful digital marketing strategy with an editorial calendar.

Isn’t That a Publishing Thing?

Your company’s blog posts and written social media efforts may be online, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think like a traditional “publisher”. One of the best tools a magazine editor has is their editorial calendar. This simple and effective tool plans out all activity over a few months or up to a year in advance.

How to Start

The best place to start when developing an editorial calendar is to go backward. List all your previous blog posts to see what you’ve done in the past. That way, it’s easy to see any holes that may have occurred as well as how the content has been received. Use this information from the past to look ahead and think about any seasonal activities or themes you should cover over the next year.

Looking backward and forward, a good editorial calendar should include:

Things to Remember

Even if you feel your digital marketing plan isn’t set in stone, doesn’t mean you can’t make an editorial calendar. Think of it more as a breathing, living tool – one that changes and adapts with your plan, not work against your efforts. It’s no secret that it helps to make your goals visible, so you always have a distinct direction. However, you also know plans can change and you have to be ready to alter your path to reflect that.

Organizing your social media efforts may take a little bit of work, but once you create a clear course of where you’re going, it’s much easier to reach your goals and succeed in your social media and PR activities.

Looking to ramp up your social media strategy with tools like an editorial calendar? Contact us today and get a digital marketing strategy that works for your business.

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
520 N Orlando Ave Suite 205-A
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Toll-Free: 888-697-5107
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Creating a “successful online presence” is the ultimate goal of every website developer and internet marketer. But what does that mean? How do you define creating a successful online presence?

Well, in order to fully understand what we are attempting to achieve, we need to identify what each of these three words encompass.

Successful – As you can imagine, success can be defined in many different ways. The best way for us to define ‘success’ is to say we’ve accomplished the goals set forth, or we’ve met or exceeded expectations. Those goals could include enhancing a company’s brand, getting found on search engines, generating traffic, converting customers, etc.

Online – Another term for the internet, which seems to have an infinite number of interconnected networks. Some of which include search engine results pages (SERP), websites, social media sites, directories, review sites, blogs, and email.

Presence – Another term for visibility, or getting found. Visibility is considered the most important dynamic for any business, particularly in a highly competitive industry.

Developing a plan is essential to creating a successful online presence. When properly planned and carefully implemented, it can provide businesses with a strong competitive advantage that can provide a tremendous return on investment.

Below are the five steps to creating a successful online presence

Build a Professional Website

Today practically everyone is searching for things they want and things they need online. Like it or not, we live in a digital society.

Did you know?

Your company’s website is the gateway to your business. It’s often the first impression for potential customers, clients, business partners, and prospective employees. A good first impression will drastically increase the chances of a visitor returning again, while a bad first impression will be almost be impossible to overcome.

What kind of first impression does your company’s website make?

Get Social

The opportunities to build an online community of fans, followers, connections, and subscribers are huge in the world of social media. Today, a company can add subscribers via photo and video hosting sites such as Flickr and Youtube. They can add subscribers from a company blog. A business can grow its followers on Twitter. They can increase their fan base on Facebook, and expand their connections via LinkedIn. Literally, there are dozens of online networks for which a company can build their community. What makes these platforms unique is that we can publish messages, photos, and videos and engage back and forth with each of them. Even better, your audience has the ability to immediately reply or share your posts with their friends online. Therefore, the content has the potential to become viral, which dramatically increases the number of impressions received thus creating huge opportunities to expand a company’s online community.

Start Blogging

Over the past few years, there’s been a major shift in the perceived value of ‘Blogging for Business’ among marketing managers and business owners. While there are a number of reasons for this change, I think their motivation to start blogging can be attributed to the fact that they are beginning to understand the power and exposure it provides.

Unlike most internet marketing strategies, where companies create campaigns to promote their products and services with various calls to actions attempting to convert targeted customers; blog marketing focuses on sharing fresh, relevant and interesting content for the purpose of engaging and interacting with its target audience. Blogging also opens up an entirely new spectrum of opportunities to market your business online which is simply not possible with just a website.

Learn What Results You Should Expect from Blogging

Build Your Company Profile with Online Directories

We’ve all of heard the expression Location, Location, Location. Well, directories provide excellent exposure and visibility for companies since consumers are increasingly searching for products and services via the internet, especially from their mobile devices.

Most online directories will allow you to write a description about your company, list the products and services that you provide, and upload company photos and videos.

Manage your Company’s Online Reputation

Reviews can have a huge impact on a company’s online reputation, which can dramatically impact the volume of sales and profits that a business generates.

Unfortunately many business owners look at reviews negatively, when in reality they should view them as an opportunity to enhance or improve their company and its online reputation. It’s also relatively easy to manage. Not all reviews sites allow business owners the opportunity to respond to reviews, but many do. Having the ability to engage with the people who willingly offer feedback is an excellent way to better understand your customers and what they think about your business. Just understand that when you respond to reviews it’s considered public information. So choose your words wisely because it will be available for everyone to see in a virtual permanent space.

Read Our Guidelines to Responding to Reviews

If you would like to create a successful online presence for your company, please give us a call. We offer affordable solutions that can be deployed within weeks.

To learn more about the WSI team, the services we provide, client testimonials, upcoming webinars and white papers, contact WSI.

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
520 N Orlando Ave Suite 205-A
Winter Park, FL 32789
Toll-Free: 888-697-5107
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Over the past few years, there’s been a major shift in the perceived value of ‘Blogging for Business’ among marketing managers and business owners. While there are a number of reasons for this change, I think their motivation to start blogging can be attributed to the fact that they are beginning to understand the power and exposure it provides.

Unlike most internet marketing strategies, where companies create campaigns to promote their products and services with various calls to actions attempting to convert targeted customers; blog marketing focuses on sharing fresh, relevant and interesting content for the purpose of engaging and interacting with its target audience. Blogging also opens up an entirely new spectrum of opportunities to market your business online which is simply not possible with just a website.

So what results should your company expect from blogging?

Building Credibility – A professional, well-designed website should portray your company in a positive light, educating visitors about your company, your employees and the products and services it provides. However, your blog is something very unique. It has the power to project the passion, the wisdom, and the expertise your company maintains within your field. Blogging has the power to elevate your company into being viewed as an industry leader or resource.

Building Relationships – Blogs are not only great resources of information for starved consumers interested in learning more about your business and what your company is saying, it is a tool for building relationships. So keep the communication lines open between you and your audience. Like social media, a blog provides businesses the opportunity to listen to what your readers have to say about your company. They should be a two-way conversation that allows readers to express themselves.

Unlike websites, which are typically straightforward and lack emotion, blogs allow companies to either be serious or not. Southwest Airlines has one of the best company blogs titled, “Nuts About Southwest“. Their blog is at times humorous, yet informative. It provides visitors a peek inside its operations and the culture at Southwest, while interacting and building relationships with its customers. Your company’s blog should also be viewed as a place to effectively communicate with your customers about stuff that matters to your company.

Expand Your Audience – Interesting blog posts have the potential to reach new readers that are interested in your services or products. These readers are unlike the ones that are reading traditional advertisements or even your company’s website. So write content that enables your readers to better understand how your services or products can help solve their problems. Offer case studies to illustrate how your services are used. Allow visitors the ability to comment on your blog posts. Remember, one of your primary goals of blogging is to converse with your audience. If your content is interesting and your readers find it useful, they may leave a comment and begin interacting with you.

Improve Website Rankings – For many business owners and marketing managers, the decision to begin blogging was made in an effort to improve their website rankings on search engines.

One of the greatest challenges for most business websites is trying to continuously develop new quality content. At a certain point in the evolution of a website, it becomes rather difficult to continuously add original content to the website. However, adding a blog to your company’s website eliminates this problem opening up a wealth of content opportunities

Since a blog post is also indexed as a page by search engines, blog marketing is an excellent strategy to quickly increase the number of pages on your website. A well written, highly optimized blog post will immediately get indexed by search engines, helping to improve your website page rankings.

If your company would like to start blogging, please contact us at WSI. We offer affordable solutions that can be deployed within just a couple of weeks!”

WSI Internet Marketing | Web Development
520 N Orlando Ave Suite 205-A
Winter Park, FL 32789
Toll-Free: 888-697-5107