One of many great advantages the Internet provides over traditional media like print, TV, radio, etc. is the accountability. On your website you have the ability to track just about everything. You can see exactly how many users come to your site, what they did on your site and even how they got there.

There are many tools out there that you can add to your website to help track your analytics, some paid, some free. One of the most robust and useful tools comes from Google. One advantage of Google Analytics is that it flushes out all the search engine crawlers, spiders and bad data that can distort other traffic tools. This gives you the best representation of the true traffic and activity of your website. And the best part of Google Analytics....it's completely free!

The first step is to get signed up for an account with Google. Go to www.google.com/analytics/ and you'll notice a blue Access Analytics button on the right hand side and the ability to sign up below. If you already have a Google account, just use that and sign in. Next, provide Google with the URL of the site you wish to analyze. Then follow the steps of providing what country your site is in, your contact information, etc. Once you click Create New Account, Google will provide you with a block of code. Copy this code. You will need to insert this on your website.

Placing this code on your site is a straight forward process for most sites out there. You simply copy the analytics code in the footer. If you're not comfortable doing something like this, just give us a call. Our Service & Maintenance team can place this on most websites in under an hour. The benefits will easily exceed the time and small investment it will take to get you up and running.

                 When you think about online communities you may think of message boards, blogs, Facebook, and other forms of social media – but if you really want to go from good to great, you should also think about ways to encourage your community to connect offline.
                Below are three examples of very different organizations (one political, one in the sports realm, and one in retail), which have each thought outside of the box in order to take their online communities to the next level.

Political: My.BarackObama.com

                When Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign launched its community site, they saw an overnight boom of 1,500 groups formed online. While this is quite remarkable in its own right, this was not when the magic happened.  Of those groups and the thousands that formed later on, many were silly, and only loosely connected people with a thin interest in common (like “Barack Fans in the Colbert Nation”, which united Obama supporters who were also fans of Stephen Colbert, or “Wine Lovers for Obama,” among many others.)
                The magic happened when the campaign encouraged those groups to set up offline in-person meetings.  So, while some of those groups remained as purely online interest groups, others across the country started setting up local meetings, using the tools provided on the website.  These tools were simple: the ability to post an event and invite people; the ability to search for users by ZIP code; the ability to use a listserv to email your group members; and the ability to post to your group’s blog page.  These three tools were enough to allow leaders to emerge from all across the country, and to take some ownership of the campaign in their own communities. They met each other in person, exchanged ideas, and started to recruit more people through carefully planned offline activities. These offline meetings were what turned those early Obama supporters into real communities – communities, which would be ready to do some serious heavy lifting for the campaign when the time came.  And the secret was giving people the online tools they needed to connect offline.
                It should be noted that part of the vibrancy of these groups came from the fact that they did not always march to the beat of the national drummer – in a remarkable show of trust, the Obama campaign gave them the latitude to take some real ownership, and campaign activities in Northern NY farm country were often very different than campaign activities in Chicago, which were in turn different from what was going on in Dallas. This may not have been exactly what the professional staff wanted, but they had the good sense to recognize that you can get a lot more out of people if you allow them real ownership.

Sports: www.syracusecrunch.com

                The Syracuse Crunch Hockey Club is the minor league affiliate for the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Their website includes news, multimedia, blogs and photos. Their “Crunch Alerts” keep fans up-to-date on all the latest news, trades and promotions.   Their Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/SyracuseCrunch) cross promotes information from the website and elsewhere, and their Facebook page has thousands of fans.  These are all a baseline, but what makes their online community building great, is the wonderful attention they pay to engaging and bringing these same people together offline as well.
                Recent examples include very publicly honoring the Jamesville-DeWitt Little League team for their 10U CAN-AM Tournament championship, holding a barbecue for their season ticket holders, and a contest just for their Twitter Followers.  (Incidentially, when some Facebook fans yelped that they were being ignored, someone from the Crunch organization replied right away, and a similar contest was set up for Facebook fans almost immediately.)  Fan forums are held every year, and the organization listens hard to what the fans have to say.
                Even though hockey season is only part of the year, community building season lasts all year round: in summer the Crunch host youth street hockey games open to kids between 5 and 15. A golf outing is held for media and sponsors, and throughout the year various player events, such as celebrity bartending, raise money for charities.
                By putting in the extra effort both online and offline, the Crunch have been able to build a strong local community of supporters, which is good for them, but which also adds value to the larger community around them. 

Retail: Harley Davidson: http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/HOG/HOG.jsp?locale=en_US

                One might not think that a retail business would have the cultural power to form a network of local organizations all across the country, but that is just what Harley Davidson has been able to do.  And, the community pull is so strong that they are actually able to charge people for membership.  The slogan on the owners section of the website is “NO ONE UNDERSTANDS YOU LIKE FAMILY,” and the company culture strongly reinforces this idea in several ways.
                  On the national site, users can create an online profile, where they can plan rides and share them with the online community.  Members are encouraged to share their stories, encourage others, and join a local owners group. 
                Searching on the locator for the Rochester chapter reveals an upcoming “Biketoberfest” event, a Fall Foliage ride and a chapter meeting.  Searching on other cities reveals a patchwork collection of very active local websites with their own community events.
                By using a few online tools, like personalized accounts, the ability to post stories, or map a route, Harley Davidson has been able to cultivate an online community of owners.  But, only by taking it to the next level and actively encouraging people to ride together and form real offline associations and friendships, have they been able to create the strong-as-family sense of community, which adds so much value to their brand, and which adds tangibly to the enjoyment of their owners.

                So, what can your organization do to break out of the box?  Efforts do not have to be nearly as elaborate and labor intensive as the stellar examples above, but consider what sorts of nudges you could provide to your online community to get some of them to meet face-to-face.  Perhaps it would involve hosting a networking event.  Sometimes just planting the suggestion is sufficient – a simple form that allows members of your community to post their own event, along with the encouragement to do so, may produce surprising results.  The important thing is to think beyond the virtual world, and to understand that a true community is not totally directed from the top.  Once you let go and to extend enough trust to your community members to allow them to take some ownership, you might be amazed at what they can do.

It’s Free
I have worked with a large number of nonprofit organizations and there is one thing that is consistent: budgets are tight, especially marketing budgets.  Social media is essentially free, except for the time commitment.  I am not one to take a “why not” attitude when it comes to marketing, but in this case there is only upside to getting involved.  Have volunteers help, spread out the tasks in the office, or focus your efforts so there is less work involved. However you decide to manage it, get started now.

You have a lot to say
I have never met a nonprofit organization that didn’t have some kind of image problem or some services that people didn’t know enough about.  Your organization has a lot more to say than you can get in the PR and advertising you do.  Social media allows for you to expand your message, give your organization some personality and speak to a supportive community.  Your social network may not be very big, but remember they are very powerful.  They want to hear from you, and they all have friends that want to hear from them.  Give them something to share.

You deal in helping people
Why might someone be interested enough to follow your twitter or become a fan on Facebook?  That’s a common question.  Keep in mind that your organization helps the community, helps people.  There is an audience for that.  People like to know there is help out there and what you are doing.  Also think about all the people your organization touches and their friends and family.  Social media allows you to stay connected to them and more importantly it allows them to stay connected to your organization.

For Education and Inspiration
Social media is a conversation.  It’s not advertising.  People are asking to hear from you, they are not forced to.  Since this is the case ask yourself: why are they asking to hear from me?  What do they want, expect?  They want to know more, lean more about what your organization is doing.  Use this opportunity to educate your network about what you do and how you do it.  Be careful not to be an advertisement but be enlightening instead.  Your social media efforts will also inspire people.  You do good work; share how it affects the community and the people you serve.  You can be inspiring simply through what your organization does.  Share that inspiration.  Chances are it will draw more people in to your social network. 

                Gaining high quality links to your website content is a great way to direct more visitors to your site and improve your ranking with the search engines.  Below are five ways to build inbound links without buying or trading them.

1) Post good, relevant content and make it easy to share. 

                There is no substitute for providing specific, high quality information that your particular target market might need and then making it easy for your readers to share it with others.  The more targeted and useful your content is, the more likely you will be to cultivate the right audience for your site, and the more likely you will be to generate lots of good links to your site.  See the "share this" link at the bottom of this post for a good example of how to make it easy for readers to share your content. Share links can be automatically generated - just ask your account exec about adding this functionality to sections of your site if you do not yet have it.

2) Post high quality comments on relevant blogs and message boards and link back to your site when you do.

                The key here is picking the blogs and message boards most closely associated with your area of business/expertise and making relevant, valuable comments.  This gets you the right audience, and helps to reinforce your company's particular expertise.  You should be staying up the key conversations in your industry in any case, why not establish yourself as a contributor when you do?  Make sure that when the option is offered, you input a link back to your site, either as part of your user profile, or as part of the comment you are submitting.  

3) List your URL in your LinkedIn profile, Twitter Bio, Facebook, etc., and ask your employees to do the same, as appropriate.

                LinkedIn and Facebook both have high page rankings, which means that links from those sites are treated by the search engines as more significant than most.  (See previous LS blog post for details on making the most of LinkedIn for this purpose: http://www.logicalsolutions.net/BLOG/post/Using-LinkedIn-for-Business.aspx) 

4) Get listed on trusted sites that offer links to businesses or organizations in your niche.

                Are there trusted sites that offer selective links to sites in your area of specialty? This is different than paying for links in large indiscriminant listings.  Links from trusted sites, with selective recommendations, are far more valuable, both to users and to the search engines.  For example, if your site is for a history museum, a single link from the Smithsonian would be worth far more than dozens of directory listings alongside a laundry list of other organizations.  

5) Write press releases and always include a link to your site when you do.

                When your company or organization does something notable, write and distribute a press release documenting the where/when/how and why.  When you do, always include a link back to your site.  You never know when a media outlet might pick up your story, and run the link as well.  Sites for local newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations tend to have relatively high page rankings.  Any links from those sites can bring in a lot of visitors to your site and improve your page ranking in the process. Don't forget listings for your events in community calendars as well, as these can reach a wide audience. 
               
If you focus on quality, offer good information and resources, and stay vigilant about getting the word out, the links you cultivate will not just increase your rankings with the search engines, but will also help you to engage a larger, more loyal audience for your site.

If you have a business profile setup for your company on LinkedIn, there are some easy, and free ways to better utilize it.

1) Add Links in the Website Section
You can include up to three links to your website within your profile in the “Websites section”. Use this to add your homepage, and two other specific sections that are important and targeted, for example your blog page and news page. This way anyone viewing your profile will have easy access to your content.

2) Improve SEO.
When editing your profile, select “Edit Public Profile Settings”. From here, make sure it’s set to full view. Another easy tip when editing your profile is to utilize the custom URL option. Set it up so the naming matches your company. Google views LinkedIn as having a high PageRank, so having your links coming from LinkedIn effects your own ranking favorably.

3) Update Your LinkedIn Status Message
When editing your profile, there is a status message labeled with “What are you working on”. This let’s you post a small update at any time. It’s basically the same thing you can do with Twitter or Facebook, but within LinkedIn. Similarly, when an update is made, your connections are notified of an update to your profile (how depends on their personal settings). It also shows to anyone viewing your profile. LinkedIn is a different crowd than Twitter or Facebook, so make the updates less frequently and more ‘meaningful’, something that can last a couple days. Maybe do 2-3 per week.

4) Take advantage of Groups.  LinkedIn has groups just like the other social networks, but more geared towards professionals. If you’re into sales, there are sales related Groups. I’m in some PM groups. There are industry groups for whatever your business is involved in. Join these and participate! LinkedIn groups sometimes require you to apply and be approved, don’t let that intimidate you, more than likely you will be accepted. Many groups have thousands of members.

Once you make the cut, start getting involved in conversations and posting news. This allows you to post some links to your own relevant content. Groups have their own news sections as well, so you can add links & descriptions.

5) Add the ‘Blog Link’ Application
When editing your profile, you can find this within the applications section. “Blog Link” automatically pulls in and displays the latest blogs and Twitter updates from you and from others in your network and posts them on your profile. Again, it’s a great way to share updates from your other online venues, and it’s free.
Don’t be blatantly posting only advertisements or random stuff. Keep it relevant to the group, and keep it meaningful, or else you may be removed.

Some simple marketing concepts are being ignored by some email marketers today.  In an increasingly competitive environment there are still marketers sending out “email blasts” to their email list.  From experienced marketers to beginners, they are violating the most basic marketing premise of delivering the right message to the right person. 

In an ideal marketing world, an email list should be set up to segment by gender, zip code, needed services, past purchases or whatever will be beneficial to the business.

So why do so many great marketing minds ignore this targeting opportunity?  Because they don’t have the resources and they don’t have the time to segment.

If you are using a good email marketing tool (www.lightningemail.com) resources are not an issue.  A good email tool is easy to use and manage.  However, correct data is probably your biggest issue and therefore; time.

A list of emails does not give you much to work with.  If they are customers you can organize them based on the kind of customer, type of business, possibly location.  The point is you do have some data you can define.

Next is deciding what data you want.  That answer comes from how you want to market to this list.  Once you know what data you want/need for your list it is a matter of collecting it so you can use it to target market. 

This is where the time issue can be daunting.  I suggest breaking it out over time and get some help from other people and just start collecting and filling in the data you need.  Some of our clients have hired a temp for a week to find and place the data.  Other clients have set up a couple hours around lunchtimes and brought in food and worked on filling in the gaps in client data.

The message here is if you are just doing email blasts and telling yourself it is better than nothing, you are copping out.

Use your email marketing to truly gain a competitive advantage.  Target your message to those that are appropriate.  Stop taking the shotgun approach to email marketing and start really targeting your new business opportunities.

Many people do not know that Google Maps allows you to control the map listing for your business.  You can claim your company, move the map marker to exactly the right location, and list a range of information, including category of business, phone number, hours of operation, a link to your website, description, and up to 10 photos.  It even lets you create a free online coupon.

http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter

Make sure your company and website are on the map!

Search Engine Optimization can be a missing link in this whole web development industry. Building a web site without a plan for search engine optimization is an expensive lesson that many businesses have learned in the last few years. To avoid this lesson, SEO should be considered before, during and after the development phase of your website. If SEO is done strategically, the results will be a long lasting relationship with newly acquired customers that otherwise would not have found your company during their internet search. Here’s some, but not all the questions, you should be asking yourself regarding your company’s website.

• What's the purpose of the website? Increase sales? Generate Leads? Greater exposure? Provide information? Gain more franchisers? Donations?

• Who is our target audience?

• What advertising mediums are we currently using; Print? Radio? Internet?

• How should we plan to allocate the budget between mediums in the future?

• What is our current search engine visibility?

• How do we currently measure the performance of the website?

• What current metrics, if any, do you use to measure performance?

• What percentage of your business is web generated?

• What source refers the most valuable traffic to our website?

• Which medium refers the most valuable traffic to our website?

• Which content is accomplishing our company’s goals the best?

• How can we improve the quality and quantity of our traffic This represents just a few of many questions, which should be considered when formulating a company’s Search Engine Optimization strategy.

A common obstacle to many internet marketing specialists that utilize Google AdWords has been the use of trademarks or copyrighted keywords in their advertisement text. For example, if you are an electronics retailer and would like to sell an iPod or a Zune, you may be restricted to actually using those trademarked names in the text of your ad. As you can imagine, this creates all sorts of complications for both the advertiser as well as the user looking for products and services.

But it appears Google is changing course. Google announced that starting in June, it would start allowing certain companies to purchase ads that use trademarks, even the ones they don't own. Not only does this help business by letting them use specific keywords in their ads to help attract users and visitors to their site but this has a great benefit to the consumer as well. This move will help reduce the number of overly generic ads appearing throughout their search result network. It seems like a win-win for both businesses and consumers. Although, if you're the company that owns a trademark and no longer have exclusivity in the AdWords arena, you may not be too pleased with this decision.

To read more check out the full article on cnet news: Changes to the Google Adwords Landscape