Not sharing enough

LinkedIn is not a place you want to look mysterious. You want to show that you are active on your page. This indicates that the information on your page is up-to-date and that you are available to engage with people.

Sharing too much

This tip relates more to your personal profile than anything else. When you are creating or updating your profile do not put any information that you wouldn’t want a future employer to see. Unlike other social media websites, LinkedIn requires your profile to be accessible (to a degree) to everyone, so keep that in mind when you are putting in your personal information.

Social Media Connections

LinkedIn gives you the option to add your Twitter and website URLs. If you plan on connecting your LinkedIn page with Twitter make sure that it is professional. The same goes for any other websites that you add. If these websites do not represent the image you want to portray about yourself, it is often better to leave them off all together.

Picture says a thousand words

Make sure your picture is professional and represents you well. Even if you don’t think you are a photogenic person, it is important to have a picture of yourself. It shows that you are comfortable with yourself and adds a personal touch to a sterile profile.

Choose your friends carefully

People can see who you are friends with, so make sure that they don’t misrepresent you. Some people are very picky about who they are ‘seen with’ as friends on LinkedIn. I say, it is good to keep it in the back of your mind and use common sense, but don’t go overboard.

Choose your words wisely

Once you have posted a comment or status update, it can never be erased. When writing comments on your LinkedIn profile, make sure you to check your spelling, grammar and slang before you post. Your posts should be appropriate for all audiences. Remember, people are often connected with their old bosses, current bosses and future bosses who may be looking. For that reason, make sure not to bad-mouth

previous jobs or your current one. It can get you in hot water fast, and make you less desirable to a future employer.

Example of the new Facebook page timeline.

The Downside

With this new format they are doing away with the apps that run off your main page. No longer will they have the tabs on the left side for people to use. You can still have apps, but they have moved right below the cover image and people will only get to see so many at one time. They are trying to reduce their prominence on their site, to keep the site’s look more consistent. Unfortunately, some companies have become quite dependent on their apps, so there will be some adjustments these companies will need to get used to.

The Upside

Even though change can be hard for some of us, this new change has its benefits. This new “story telling” version is much more visually interesting and unlike the current version, it emphasizes more important information over less important information.

The new format lends itself to a more visual experience. To take full advantage of this new asset, make sure to post more comments with pictures or videos. This will make your page nicer to look at and more interactive for your visitors.

What You Should Do

1. Log into your account. Facebook will do its best to re-organize the information already on your page, but it is likely you will want to do some of your own re-organizing as well.
2. Do your best to familiarize yourself with the new changes. Playing around with it for awhile will give you a better understanding of how you can take advantage of the interface for your business.
3. If you have a Facebook social media plan, look it over and see what types of things need to change to fit the new format. You may want to include more photos and videos in your posts. Another idea would be to add past milestones into the timeline, to help people better understand your business. If you don’t already have a plan, I suggest making one. When you have a plan in place you are more likely to stick with it, and consequently, see better results.

If you are not sure where to start, contact Infinite Web Designs to help. Our trained experts can help you make the transition and create a social media marketing plan that works for your business.

I only recommend you intervene if you believe that there is something your company can do to help. For example if they say “I hate Company X, I will never use them again!” let it go, you will never be able to satisfy every customer. However, if they say “I hate Company X, they excluded me from a deal that they are giving to all of the new customers!” In this instance you may want to participate in the discussion because there is something concrete that you can do to help the situation. In this example, you may want to use their name from twitter and try to find their account and sort out the situation. Then you can go onto Twitter, identify who you are and who you work for and explain that you appreciate their loyalty and you have approved them to receive the promotional deal.

The one thing to be careful about is how you obtain the customer’s information. Check with your company’s legal team to find out what you can and cannot do. If you are not able to get the customer’s information it is best to contact the person via twitter. Let them know who you are and who you work for. Then tell them you want to help anyway you can and ask them to send you their information via twitter message or personal email so that you can deal with the matter more confidentially. It is very important to double check with someone else in your company before you send a message. You can never…I repeat NEVER take it back and you don’t want to fuel the fire.

The most important thing to remember is your image. If you believe that someone on twitter can benefit from you intervening, than it will benefit your image as well. Showing people that you are listening and willing to help will make them feel empowered, which can lead them to tell their friends about your company.

If you want advice about a specific incident happening to your company, leave a message below explaining your situation.

Below is the presentation from the panel discussion for those of you looking for any of the information we talked about today.

Want to Be a Host?

For years, Amy DeLardi has been putting on successful panel discussions and presentations covering a broad range of topics including: marketing, web design, search engine optimization and social media. Her straightforward and educational approach makes it easy for people of all skill levels take something away from her presentations. Here at Infinite Web Designs, we strive to educate our current clients and the community. This is just one of many ways that we reach out to help other businesses on their path to success. If you are interested in hosting Amy DeLardi for a presentation or panel discussion, please contact us today.

Check back on Thursday to find out what to do if people wrote something bad about your company on Twitter.

For a while now, website content management software systems has been dominated by three big players: WordPress, Joomla, and Drupla. We get ask all the time, which one is the best solution. Well, the wait is over, we found an article that breaks down the important components of a content management system and compares how each one stacks up against each other.

Based on our own experience and information gleamed from this article, WordPress comes out as the winner by a landslide. In almost every element that you can judge a content management system, WordPress is superior. It started as a blogging platform but since then has evolved into this great solution for websites. Offering a slew of plugins to fit almost any functionality requirement, WordPress popularity and use has skyrocketed. We have worked with other content management systems in the past but WordPress is by far the most intuitive and user friendly, which is especially helpful for the end user.

Read More>>

Picture provided by: Douglas Wray

Here are a few areas that Google Analytics can help you improve your search engine optimization:

Bounce Rate

A bounce rate captures how many people jump on your site and then quickly jump off. This is usually an indication that your site was not what the visitor was looking for. If your bounce rate is too high, it indicates that your website may be optimized incorrectly. Showing up in search results that do not reflect the content on your website could negatively affect the ranking of your website as a whole. Your bounce rate should be lower than 60%. If you have a higher bounce rate than 60% it could mean a couple of things. First, it could mean that your website is optimized for the wrong keywords. If people search for “fishing hot spots” and instead end up at your seafood restaurant website, then you better believe they are not going to stay on your site very long. Another deterrent is your design and content. If your site does not have clear and user-friendly navigation, or if the layout of the page looks messy or out-dated, people are less likely to stick around. In addition, if the content you provide is not relevant and easy to read, people might jump off because they don’t want to waste their time. Of course, there are also times that people just bounce off for no particular reason, and that is why having a 55% bounce rate is average. If your rate is too high, read our few simple tips to help improve your bounce rate percentage.

Number of Pages Visited

A well optimized website is going to have superb internal linking. These links help search engine spiders craw your website more easily. It will also help visitors move through the website and as a result will view more pages. The more pages and time a person spends on a website the better. It tells Google and other search engines that you have valuable information on your website. Using your Google Analytics you can check the number of pages the average visitor looks at on your website. If it is under 2 pages per visitor, you may want to consider beefing up your internal link structure and adding content to encourage more engagement on your website.

Average Time on the Site

Just like with the number of pages people visit on a site, the average time also helps indicate your website’s value to search engines. The longer people are on the site demonstrates that your website is able to engage its visitors, which is looked at favorably when determining your ranking.

Referral Traffic

Internal links are important, but inbound links can be even more important. Inbound links are when external websites link to your website. These link relationships help build a network of connections. The more inbound links you have, the more reputable you look, and as a result, you will rank better. By looking at the referral traffic on Google Analytics, you can see the websites that have inbound links to your website. By looking at the types of sites bringing in referral traffic, you can get out and seek out similar websites to establish a link relationship. You can also expand the link relationships you already have to help drive even more traffic.

Keywords

In your Google Analytics you can see the top keywords people are using to find your website. This can tell you a lot about the optimization of your website. If the list of keywords is relevant to your products and services, then you have a very well optimized website. If they don’t seem to match, or if the only keyword people can find your site with is your company name, you may want to consider getting your website optimized by a professional. If people cannot find you using search engines, it won’t matter how nice your website is or how great your product or service is.

All of these areas will help the overall success of the optimization of your website. If you find you have problem areas in your website, we have SEO experts that can help you fix these issues, and organically optimize your website to help you bring in new business. Contact IWD today for a free consultation and estimate.

Once you are in your Google Analytics account, and your website is set-up, it is up to you to decipher the information that Google captures. To help you out, we have broken down the information that they provide so that it is easier to understand and utilize.

Main Google Analytics Page

1. Once you have logged into your Google Analytics account. Make sure that you click the “Standard Reporting” tab on the top left of your screen. On the left side bar, make sure that “Overview” under “Audience” is selected. This will ensure that you are looking at the correct information

2. This graph shows you the number of visits you received during a specific time frame. To change the time frame you can customize the date in the top right of the screen.

3. This is the number of times people visited your site during your specified time frame. This numbers shows you just how active your website really is. Your ultimate goal is to see this number continue to grow. To do this, you need to use the analytic information to help market your website.

4. “Unique Visitors” is the number of people who visited your site. It does not include multiple visits made by the same person. If this number is dramatically different from your total visits you could conclude that you have several visitors that are coming back to your site many times. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It shows that you have a lot of loyalty among your visitors. In these cases I recommend that you make sure that you update you website regularly with your different company messages or products. This will help you maximize your company’s exposure to these reoccurring visitors.

5. When people visit your site, they will often look at more than one page on your website. The “Page Views” count all of the pages that each of your visitors looked at. This should be much larger than your visitor number. If it isn’t, it would indicate that people are not moving around your site much. To fix this problem, you need to work on making your more website more user-friendly and easier to navigate.

6. This is the average number of website pages that were viewed per visitor. If your number is higher than 2, than you have a user-friendly website and you make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for.

7. The more time people spend on your website the better. The longer you can engage a visitor, the more likely they will want your service or product. If this number is lower than 50 seconds, this could be a red flag. If people are spending that little time on your site if could mean that you are targeting the wrong people. If the content on your site doesn’t match the search query that a visitor used, you will need to look into getting your site re-optimized asap.

8. A bounce rate is the percentage of people who go on your website, realize that it is not what they were looking for and then quickly “bounce” off. Your bounce rate should really be no higher than 60%. Anything below that is average, and is not a concern. If it is higher than 60%, it means that you need to make some changes to your website to keep people from bouncing off. Please read our bounce rate blog for more explanation and solutions.

9. The “New Visits” percentage represents the number of people visiting your website for the first time. Obviously you would want a pretty high percentage for this category. This one is good to watch over time to help you measure the success of your efforts to draw in more traffic to your website.

10. Lastly, you can examine the types of browsers people are using when they are on your website. This can be a reminder to make sure that your website is compatible with all browsers. If your site does not show up properly on a browser, you could be missing out on potential business.

In the “Audience Overview” section, you have the option to see more detailed breakdowns of selected information in the bottom left section. I recommend clicking on the “Operating systems” under the “Mobile” title. You can see the number of people using mobile devices to access your website. If you are getting any sort of traffic from mobile users I strongly urge you to have a mobile friendly website. It can be hard to surf websites on smart phones and iPads without the mobile formatting feature. People will often give up faster if it isn’t mobile friendly. To learn more about creating a smart phone friendly website, check out our recent smart phone blog or attend our free smart-phone friendly website workshop, at Fairfield Library on March 5th.

1. Now that we have covered the Audience Overview, click “Traffic Sources” and then “Overview” on the left sidebar.

2. When you know how people get to your website, you can develop those avenues more, maximizing your potential traffic. “Search Traffic” refers to the amount of people that used a search engine to find your website. If this is a considerable chuck of your pie, you should consider search engine optimization (SEO) for your website. SEO will help you rank better in search engines, which would increase your website’s visibility.

3. “Referral traffic” is when someone is on a website and there is a link on one of their pages that directs them to your site. These link relationships are invaluable to your website’s success. Not only do they help your search engine optimization, but also drive traffic to your website.

4. When someone types in your exact URL into the URL address bar that is considered “direct traffic.” This demonstrates how important it is to have a website URL that is easy for people to remember.

5. The last feature in the pie is the “Campaigns.” This section monitors traffic sent by social media such twitter and Google+. This will help you measure the success of any social media campaigns.

Just Like for the “Audience” Section, “Traffic Sources” has a bottom section that offers even more insight into your website’s activity. When you click on “source” in the bottom left section you can see what search engines your search traffic is using.

When you select “Source” under “Referral Traffic” you will get a list of websites. These websites all have links that direct people to your website. This can help confirm that your directory listings are working properly and help up discover new relationships that you could continue to explore and grow for even more traffic.

“Landing Pages” under “Direct Traffic” tells you what the first page people are going to on your website. This information is only from the direct traffic people who typed in your URL in directly.

All of this information will help you understand how people get to your website and how they use it once they are on it. When you can understand these numbers you can see where there are opportunities to grow your online marketing. Once you have settled on a new online marketing campaign, you can use Google Analytics to measure the success of the campaign.

It is important to state that we covered only the Google Analytics basics. There is much more Google Analytics can do for you, once you have mastered the basics. Check back later this week when we discuss how Google Analytics can help the search engine optimization of your website.

Networking

Just like any other social media website, the main objective is to communicate with others. Unlike other social media networks like Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn is specifically geared for the business professional and everything business related. People use LinkedIn to meet new people just like you would at a chamber meeting, or networking event.

Gathering Referrals and Testimonials

Many people choose to work with a business based on referrals, testimonials and other types of word-of-mouth. LinkedIn, unlike any other social network, allows you to collect testimonials and referrals that will help you build your word-of-mouth marketing. This is especially important if you are in the process of finding a new job. If you can get co-workers or old bosses to write a reference for you on your LinkedIn page, it will make you look more desirable and help build your reputation.

Learn About Future Clients

Are you going to a big meeting to pitch your service or product? Do your research on the company and its employees before the big day. On LinkedIn you can see anyone’s profile, even people you don’t know yet. This is a huge advantage for you. You can learn the general hierarchy of a company, and the past experience of the people at the company. This will help you tailor your presentation and help you learn what direction the company wants to head in. Going into a presentation with this knowledge will not only make you feel more confident, but impress the people you are presenting to.

Discover Relationships

As you build connections on LinkedIn, you may be surprised who you find yourself connected to. People you are directly connected to are called 1st connections. People that your first connections are connected to are called your 2nd connections—and so on and so forth. By examining these 2nd and 3rd connections, you may find that someone you want to know can be introduced to you by one of your 1st connections. Being able to build your network and create new relationships with people can help your business.

Maintain Relationships

There is only so much time in each day. To help stay on top of your business it is important to maintain relationships with all sorts of people that help your business thrive. LinkedIn makes this easy to do this without taking too much of your precious time.

Visibility & Branding

Making sure you are out there representing your company is very important. By having a LinkedIn account you can create an online presence. It makes you look more reputable and is a great opportunity to get your branding messages out on a large scale.

Industry Groups

Along with creating a profile you can also join industry groups. These groups consist of other industry professionals that you can start discussions with, invite them to events and create new relationships within your industry. These groups help you grow within your industry and help you create a name for yourself.

Notifications

It can be hard to keep up with all of your business relations and what they are up to. With LinkedIn, you can get email notifications informing you of recent job and title changes, additional experience, and much more. This will help you stay on top of your game and help you take advance of ongoing professional relationships.

Search Engine Optimization

Creating a LinkedIn company page gives you one more chance to get listed within search engine results. Having a company page gives you an additional opportunity to advertise your business, create more link connections and establish your company’s keywords.

Convinced to start your own LinkedIn account? Contact IWD today to get your account set-up by experts quickly and easily.