Your Facebook fan page is one of the best places to engage and communicate with people interested in your brand. Unfortunately, many fan pages fall short in this crucial area. Creating a fan page can be fairly simple, but building a successful brand on Facebook is a much more difficult process. Good results require strategy, planning, design skill, HTML & CSS knowledge, and ongoing creativity.

The following three tips will give you a strong start toward creating a successful Facebook fan page; but don’t forget that this is just the beginning.

1. Secure a Search-Friendly Vanity URL

On June 9th, 2009 Facebook announced a new system for users to secure their own custom Facebook URLs. Not only did the custom URLs produce enhanced brand exposure on Facebook; they also dramatically improved search functionality and search results.

Now, users find Facebook pages directly within traditional search results. They can discover your fan page when they search within Facebook, but your fan page will also be delivered by the major search engines. This revolution in branding can be a very powerful way to build a fan base.

Follow these steps to secure your own search-friendly vanity URL:

• Acquire a minimum of 25 fans. (Facebook requires this minimum in order to cut back on vanity URL squatting.)
• Select a username that either builds brand equity (i.e. your company’s name) or improves your search visibility (i.e. a targeted keyword).
• Visit Facebook’s username selection page and see if your desired username is available.
• It’s not a bad idea to run your new username by a trusted advisor or two before you set it in stone. You want your vanity URL to be easy to read, easy to spell, easy to remember, and easily associated with your brand.
• Double-check the spelling of your username! I repeat: DOUBLE-CHECK THE SPELLING OF YOUR USERNAME. Once you set your username with Facebook, it cannot be changed.

2. Create a Custom FBML Landing Page

Facebook fan pages allow for separate default landing pages or tabs for non-fans and fans. Taking advantage of this structure can help your brand create unique messaging and promotions to improve fan acquisition. These pages or tabs can be as simple as a static image, or as complex as a full-blown application.

Example of Ikea’s simple yet effective custom FBML landing page.

Example of Nike Golf’s complex, interactive FBML landing page.

In order to build a customized landing page, you will first need to add the Facebook Markup Language (FBML) application. Then you will be able to edit tabs and add custom HTML. For additional information on the logistics of building a custom FBML page, read Mashable’s concise article: HOW TO: Build a Facebook Landing Page for Your Business.

3. Build a Social Media Ecosystem

Improving the quality and quantity of your Facebook fans requires a network or ecosystem of traditional platforms and other social media. The integration of other platforms can be implemented through FBML, and can involve any number of the following:

• Links to other social media profiles, such as Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Integration of blog posts and other relevant content sources.
• A simple lead generation form.
• An email newsletter signup form.
• A RSS feed subscription link
• Your Youtube and Vimeo videos.
• Any Podcasts that you have recorded.
• You can even add e-commerce functionality!

So don’t wait another day to harness the power of Facebook. Just follow these 3 simple tips to get started on improving brand awareness, page accessibility, search results, and the quantity and quality of fans visiting your Facebook fan page and liking your brand.

Please feel free to leave comments here if you have any additional tips about this ever-evolving new way to market your brand online!

To the uninitiated, growing a successful social media marketing campaign can be intimidating. While you can find an abundance of information pertaining to social media marketing both online and offline, just determining where to start can be difficult. That’s why I’ve pulled together my top four tips for cultivating success in social media:

1. Create a Strategy

A comprehensive strategy is fundamental for all forms of marketing, and social media is no different. Creating and following a concise social media strategy is paramount when marketing a business or yourself. Items to consider:

• What is your objective? Are you trying to leverage social media to generate sales, improve brand equity or aid in support efforts?
• Who are your stakeholders? Consider who will be “driving” your social media strategy. Will management, employees, or an outside agency be involved?
• How will you measure your social media marketing efforts? What applications and tools will you need?

2. Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin

One of the most common mistakes I encounter is marketers signing up for every conceivable social network out there. Social media marketing takes time and commitment. If you spread your efforts too thin, you are much more likely to fail. Consider conducting some simple market research. What social media networks are used by your target audience? Where are your competitors marketing? Which networks will be the easiest for you to manage? Try to stay focused, and only expand to other networks when you feel comfortable.

3. Be Helpful, Not Spammy

It’s pretty simple. Don’t spam your friends and followers. You wouldn’t do it to your close friends, so don’t do it to your social media friends. Instead, be helpful by passing along useful links, industry articles, answers to questions, tools, content, and direct communication. Honestly engage with your followers, and success will follow.

4. Don’t Worry About How Many Friends You Have

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” – William A. Foster

Successful social media strategies are based on quality, not quantity. Don’t worry about how many friends or followers you have. Instead, focus on engaging with influential users within your niche. One engaged friend is worth far more than dozens of unengaged friends.

I hope these four basic tips will help you get started on your path to social media success. If you have any additional helpful tips, please feel free to send us a comment..

This famous line from the 1968 science-fiction film written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark embodies the spirit behind the upcoming Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) 2010 Space Gala, taking place in Portland, Oregon on January 23, 2010. Sub-titled Discover * Inspire * Dream, the purpose for this exciting event is to ‘open the pod bay doors’ of the attendee’s minds to the possibilities of future space exploration and interplanetary travel.

Space Station Sponsor

As an industrious, technology-based services company, EngineWorks recognizes that the advancement of science and industry is spearheading new interactive technologies that are enabling our clients to connect with their target audiences through innovative means never imagined before. This fact is the impetus for our ‘Space Station’ level sponsorship of the OMSI 2010 Space Gala.

Taking place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in beautiful downtown Portland, the 2010 Space Gala will feature “launch pad” lounges throughout the museum offering savory buffets, signature drinks, and enjoyable conversations with fellow supporters of OMSI. Coupled with the examination of possible future space endeavors, the event will also include an exhilarating look into the history of human flight and aeronautics.

An OMSI Adventure

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is one of the nation’s leading science museums, offering almost 220,000 square feet of brain-powered fun through hundreds of interactive exhibits and hands-on demonstrations. The museum, which was founded in 1944, also has five exhibit halls, eight science labs, and an OMNIMAX Dome Theater. Other exhibits include the most technologically advanced planetarium in the Pacific Northwest, and the USS Blueback submarine, the last fast-attack diesel-powered submarine built by the U.S. Navy.

OMSI also offers a variety of educational programs, including the largest science outreach education program in the United States. The museum’s outreach programs take innovative science education “on the road” to students, teachers, and the public throughout five Western states. In addition, OMSI delivers professional development workshops for teachers, and distance learning programs for schools and districts.

A Journey To Our Future

The OMSI 2010 Space Gala will also celebrate the opening of the museum’s latest exhibit titled Space: A Journey To Our Future. This extraordinary exhibit, which is currently touring major science centers around the country, will offer attendees the opportunity to experience our past explorations and future destiny in space. Visitors are introduced to the dreamers and thinkers who, throughout history, have given us a better understanding of our universe.

Through immersive scenic exhibits, Space: A Journey To Our Future enables OMSI attendees to touch actual rocks that have been brought back from the surfaces of both the Moon and Mars. In addition, the presentation features the most advanced interactive displays, and state-of-the-art projection and audio technology, to bring the story of outer space to life.

Event Information and Registration

EngineWorks is privileged to be a ‘Space Station’ level sponsor at this important event, along with fellow Space Station companies including Nike, Comcast, and the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). For additional information pertaining to this wonderfully informative social event, and for online registration, simply access the OMSI Web site through the following online link:

http://www.omsi.edu/gala

You can also gain more insight into the current developments leading up to the 2010 Space Gala by visiting OMSI on Facebook at the following Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-OR/OMSI-Gala-Event/168838082307

In addition, to find-out what the online community is saying about this worthwhile event, you can follow the OMSI Gala online through the following Twitter account:

http://twitter.com/omsi_gala

Finally, if you are not able attend the 2010 Space Gala; you can still support science education by giving museum tickets, event passes, or OMSI Experiences as a green gift this holiday season. Information pertaining to thoughtful OMSI Experience Packages can be accessed online through the following link:

http://www.omsi.edu/OMSIExperiences

Join Us

Given that our efficacious search marketing services, and the advancement of our vibrant industry, are both technology-based, we are extremely pleased to support OMSI in their effort to promote the tremendous benefits of science and industry through this exciting gala event. If you are in the Great Pacific Northwest, or plan to be on January 23, 2010, we highly encourage you to attend the OMSI 2010 Space Gala.

According to the announcement made by the G-Men and G-Women in August of this year, Caffeine is even faster and more accurate than their previous spidering and indexing algorithms. This is truly an amazing statement, given the world-class search performance that has been delivered by the company over the past decade.

It is also a development that could directly impact how search engine marketers develop effective strategies for achieving prominently positioned listings within Google’s Natural search index.

A New Brew

Caffeine appears to feature new elements and weighting factors within its ranking algorithm. We, at EngineWorks, have been testing this new algorithm over the past few months in order to understand how it affects overall search performance and the ranking of pages within Google’s organic index.

Through our research, we have discovered that there are significant changes that have occurred behind the scenes at Google, including the enhancements to their following performance metrics:

• Number of search results per query,
• Speed of search queries,
• Accuracy of search results,
• Degree of temporal relevance.
• Number of Results

Google has built their reputation on an ability to very quickly crawl and discover new content and Web sites. Over time, this ability has created a situation whereby any given search query can return an astronomical number of search results. For example, the search query ‘hotels’ currently returns more than 343 million listings. However, our analysis of Caffeine reveals that Google appears to be attempting to eliminate a significant amount of duplicate content and irrelevant listings, in order to present even higher quality search results.

For example, a search conducted for ‘destination resort’ through their old algorithm returned more than 38 million result pages; whereas Caffeine displayed less than 19 million listings for the same query. In addition, a similar percentage in the reduction of the number of search results generated by Caffeine occurred for many other popular queries.

Speed

We have discovered that Caffeine generates results almost twice as fast as the previous iteration of their algorithm. It is important to point-out, however, that this increase in speed can only be discerned by turning your attention to the return time displayed by Google on each search engine result page (SERP). In terms of the actual time it takes for Caffeine to generate a relevant SERP compared to their previous algorithm, we found it to be approximately a quarter-of-a-second (i.e., from 0.25 seconds to 0.12 seconds).

While difficult to perceive in real-time, Google’s new algorithm is able to identify what you are searching for, query their massive index, and return highly relevant results in half the time it took through their previous engine. A very impressive feat.

Accuracy

As most individuals familiar with the Google story know, the champion of search technology built their empire upon accurate search results. In fact, the company’s ability to consistently deliver a better user experience than competitive engines, keeps them far, far ahead of the pack.

Caffeine attempts to enhance this commitment to accuracy by delivering blended search results that fit each search query more precisely than their previous algorithm. At first glance, there does not appear to be much difference. However, this new version of Google’s algorithm presents more relevant images, videos, news stories, and blog posts in its search results. At the time of our analysis, overall accuracy through Caffeine appears to be improved for some results. More time will tell if users recognize this improvement.

Temporal Relevance

A hot topic in the search industry right now is temporal relevance, which pertains to which online sources are able to present breaking stories in the timeliest manner. In other words, where do individuals go online to get the most up-to-the-moment news?

When an important news story breaks, who will have the fastest and most relevant news results? Is it Twitter, with their legions of mobile phone users? Or, Wikipedia, with their army of independent editors? What about CNN, and their global network of professional journalists? Or, will it be Google, with their impressive ability to identify the slightest uptick in attention being given to a specific story, and then aggregate the best sources in their search results?

Google is currently battling with these other “real-time” aggregators, such as Twitter and Facebook. In addition, the search company is also competing head-to-head with the other major engines, including Microsoft’s new “Decision Engine” – Bing. Through our analysis of news-based keyword searches in Caffeine, we found little to no improvement in temporal relevance compared to Google’s previous algorithm. We perceive that this will be a factor that Google will need to address in order to maintain its dominant position within the today’s search landscape.

So, What Can Caffeine Do For Me

Google is committed to continuously enhancing your online search experience. While Caffeine does not necessarily present a quantum leap in this area, it does offer faster results that feature more types of relevant sources pertaining to your query.

As a Web site owner or search marketing professional, this means that it is paramount for you to continually feature fresh, optimized content in varied presentations that appeal to the greatest number of individuals searching for your brands, products, and services. Google’s enhanced algorithms in Caffeine seek-out the most relevant, most diverse, and most time-sensitive Web sites for each search query.

To ensure that your site makes it to the top of the list, stimulate your Web pages with legitimate optimization enhancements and effective usability elements.

As well documented, Microsoft has been relegated to a distant third place position in the domestic search market-share race (trailing both rivals Google and Yahoo!). However, this recent launch presents a tremendous opportunity for online marketers to capture additional qualified traffic and improve conversion-to-customer performance on their Web sites.

The Decision Engine

In an attempt to differentiate Bing from the ‘other’ search engine (‘other’ being the term used in their advertising instead of ‘that well-known search company in Mountain View, California’), Microsoft has dubbed Bing as a decision engine. While it remains to be seen if Bing actually facilitates decisions, this advertising tactic is the latest example of the age-old marketing strategy designed to convince an audience that it needs a solution to a previously unrealized problem.

Much like “embarrassing dishwasher water spots”, and “calcium-deficient antacid tablets”, Microsoft touts that using Bing will cure “search overload syndrome” . . . even though the general population is not even aware that they suffer from this debilitating affliction! The intent is to claim that, unlike that ‘other’ engine (which may provide lots of search results that are random and unrelated to the purpose for your search query); Bing offers a superior search experience by delivering much more relevant listings. These ostensibly more succinct search results enable better decisions, according to this ad campaign.

Binghoo!

Before turning our attention to specific strategies that you can employ to achieve enhanced performance through Bing, it’s important to point-out that the top executives at Yahoo! were so impressed with the capabilities of Bing, they decided to hand-over their entire search function to Microsoft. In fact, last month, the Big Purple Portal contracted with Microsoft to have Bing perform as its search provider for the next ten (10) years!

This unprecedented multi-year arrangement gives Microsoft access to the Internet’s second-largest search engine audience, and should enable the Redmond-based software company to better confront Google. It also, obviously, has significant repercussions within the search engine marketing industry. Today, a combined Yahoo! and Microsoft now commands more than twenty-seven percent (27%) percent of all Internet searches in the United States.

Optimizing for Bing

Microsoft has segmented Bing’s core searches into the following four primary categories: local, shopping, travel, and health. In addition, for large-volume search queries (e.g., ‘insurance’ or ‘mortgage’), Bing presents results in ‘Explore Panes’ that feature internal links referred to as ‘Quick Tabs’. It is important to note, however, that its algorithm continuously refines the selection of a given category for specific search queries. This means that you should not attempt to implement optimization strategies designed to rank for a specific Quick Tab, but rather integrate enhancements that will improve your current search listings.

As most search marketers are aware, effective optimization begins with proper page titles and descriptions. For each Web page in Bing, the title and page descriptions are pulled from the title description tag and the Meta description tag, respectively. Because of this, the best strategy for ensuring proper title and description elements in Microsoft’s new engine is to maintain the optimized tags that you have created for Google. This prevents the possibility of negatively affecting your rank within Google, while at the same time presenting compelling call-to-action information and accurate page descriptions in Bing.

In addition to maintaining optimized title and Meta tags, it is very important that you optimize the images and videos contained on your site for Bing. Just as you would optimize these elements for Google; use Alt tags for your images, and descriptive keyword tags with your videos.

Quick Preview

Another important feature within Bing’s search engine result pages (SERP’s) is the ability for users to preview the landing page associated with each search listing. By scrolling over a specific listing on Bing’s SERP’s, a window will appear that provides a textual description of the Web site, along with additional page elements such as contact information, content topics, and internal links. To attract more visitors through your listings in Bing, it is paramount that you include all of these Quick Preview elements into every page of your Web site.

Be Local

A significant component of Microsoft’s new search design, Local Search, is very similar in appearance and function to Google’s extremely popular Local Business Listings (LBL) section. This section on the SERP’s presents information, such as phone numbers and directions, pertaining to local businesses that are relevant to each specific search query. In order to have your site listed on Bing Maps within Local Search, all you have to do is add your business profile in the Bing Listing Center. It’s important to always keep this information updated within your profile, as well. Given the fact that the Local Search listings appear at the top of Bing’s SERP’s (as they do on Google), we recommend that you include as much detailed information as possible within your business profile.

Best Practices = Best Results

As with most search engines today, your best performance within Bing will be achieved through proper site structure, legitimate optimization enhancements, and rich, relevant page content. Even though this newly re-designed engine from Microsoft has only existed for a couple of months, it is already apparent that by adhering to the best practices and Web site guidelines published by the ‘other’ major engine, you can achieve prominently positioned Natural search listings in Bing. This may not be revolutionary . . . however; it is the premise behind the Big Bing Theory!

A dynamic human-powered ‘engine’ – possessing this same willpower – is the heart of our professional Search Engine Marketing company. Through the sponsorship of our international cycling team, Team EngineWorks, we hope to convey our continuous commitment to performance and excellence.

Team EngineWorks

Lead by road racing expert Gary Spodnick, Team EngineWorks is scheduled to ride in its inaugural race, the International Granfondo LA FAUSTO COPPI 2009 (a.k.a. La Fausto Coppi) road bike race, which is being held in the celebrated cycling city of Cuneo, Italy, on August 30, 2009.

Team EngineWorks, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, logs hundreds of miles on the road each week to maintain its elite level of conditioning, and to prepare for the La Fausto Coppi. In addition, Spodnick recently completed a rigorous training regiment with Chris Carmichael, founder and CEO of Carmichael Training Systems, Inc., and personal coach to seven-time Tour de France Campion Lance Armstrong.

La Fausto Coppi

La Fausto Coppi, the legendary European cycling race named after famed Italian rider Angelo Fausto Coppi, starts and finishes in the historic town of Cuneo, Italy. This daunting 200 kilometer road race loops its way through the awe-inspiring mountains of Northern Italy, and culminates in the central Galimberti Public Square in Cuneo.

The city of Cuneo takes its name from the triangular plateau (the ‘cuneo’) on which it lies, and is dominated by the peaks of Monviso, the Argentera, the Rocca dell’Abisso and the Bisalta. The Italian community’s passion for cycling is evidenced by the numerous competitions that have been held in the vicinity of Cuneo, including a stage in the 2008 Tour de France.

Fausto Coppi

Arguably the greatest cyclist the sport has ever seen (second, perhaps, only to Eddy Merckx or Lance Armstrong), Fausto Coppi was the dominant international cyclist during the years before and after World War II. His many accomplishments, which include winning the Tour de France twice, the Giro d’Italia five times, the World Championship in 1953, and numerous other multi-year victories in some of Europe’s most prestigious races, earned him the nick-name Il Campionissimo, or ‘Champion of Champions’.

Fausto Coppi’s legendary races against his arch-rival Gino Bartali actually divided the country of Italy into two factions; the coppiani and the bartaliani. This historical schism stemmed from the fact that the conservative and religious Bartali was raised in the agrarian southern hillsides of the country; while Coppi was born in the industrial north of Italy, and had an upbringing that was much more worldly and secular.

Follow Our Team

The team of search marketing specialists here at EngineWorks is extremely excited to sponsor our world-class cycling team as they race to victory around the world. You can follow the performance of Team EngineWorks on our EngineWorks Facebook page, through Twitter, and via updates on our blog. Race results and photographs will also be posted to our blog following Team EngineWorks inaugural race on August 30, 2009.

The spirit that drives each member of Team EngineWorks cycling team also drives our team of search experts to deliver the highest performance, and greatest return-on-investment, for all of our world-class clients!

On July 21, 2009, we launched a unique blog post contest that offers caring individuals, like you, the chance to win a free three (3) month Search Engine Optimization (SEO) engagement for the non-profit animal advocacy organization of your choice. The contest is simple to enter, and requires no entry fee.

As an individual interested in Search Engine Marketing, you obviously are aware of the fact that enhancing the visibility of your favorite organization across the online search landscape will increase both exposure for their cause, and the number of compassionate individuals arriving on their site. It is also important to point-out that every online search for your organization of choice represents a potential donation!

Enter for Free

All you have to do is write a short blog post pertaining to why your favorite animal advocacy organization is a great cause, and why it is important to have more people discover their Web site through search engines. Then, simply publish your post to the blog on your Web site with a link back to EngineWorks. You can also notify us via Twitter.com by inserting a specific hastag into a ‘tweet’.

For complete information on this easy-to-enter contest, please visit our Helping Animals One Search at a Time contest Web page through the following link:

http://www.engineworks.com/helping-animals/

Also be aware that this contest is open to all individuals interested in supporting animal advocacy organizations or causes, not just members or employees of these entities.

Vote to Win

The most deserving blog post, as determined by online public voting, will receive a free SEO engagement from EngineWorks that includes three (3) months of professional enhancements and strategies designed to improve the positioning of the organization’s Web site throughout the most popular search engines.

On August 18, 2009, the animal-loving search experts here at EngineWorks will announce the five (5) best blog posts on our EngineWorks.com blog. Once announced, we will then open-up the contest to the public for individuals to vote for their favorite blog post via Twitter, Facebook, and our EngineWorks blog. Information on how to vote can also be accessed through the link to our contest Web page above.

The writer of the animal advocacy blog post that receives the most online votes through these three sources will win the professional SEO engagement for their organization of choice.

Let the World Know You Care

This extremely worthwhile contest not only offers you the opportunity to win free exposure for your favorite organization, but also enables you to make your voice be heard across the Internet. Therefore, we encourage you to take a few minutes today to publish a simple blog post to convey your commitment to helping animals. Also, please feel free to forward this contest to friends and acquaintances in your social networks, and in the animal care and pet products industries. Thanks for caring!

- Sean McMahon, President

Connect with me on LinkedIn and Facebook.

The fortuitous winds of success are once again blowing through the great Pacific Northwest. Our hometown NBA team, the Portland Trail Blazers, is currently experiencing an incredible ascension, both on and off the court.

It was only a few short years ago that Blazer fandom hit rock bottom here in Rose City. The team’s roster was riddled with players of questionable character (to put it politely), ticket sales were at all-time lows, and rumors of bankruptcy swirled throughout the league. Today, however, the franchise is on-track to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2002-2003 season, due in large part to its upgraded group of core players. Rather than filling-out its roster with troubled individuals such as Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells and Zach Randolph, the Blazers now boast highly likeable, tremendously skilled players, such as Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden.

On the court, the team is climbing its way up the standings. However, in an important off-court arena – one we at EngineWorks especially admire – the franchise is already atop the NBA leader board: Social Media Marketing.

Connecting with Fans

In a tech-savvy city like Portland, it stands to reason that fans would leap at the opportunity to participate in fervent online discussions about this young, likeable team. Currently, several devoted blogs, Twitter.com accounts, and Facebook groups are dedicated to the Blazers, offering online venues for fans to voice how pleased they are with their new team. Nobody could be happier about this online fan love-fest than Dan Harbison, Interactive Marketing & Media Director for the Portland Trailblazers.

Our Search Specialist here at EngineWorks, Tyson Braun, had the opportunity to sit-down with Dan at a local Starbucks coffee shop to discuss how important a robust presence within online social communities has been to the resurgence of the franchise. Harbison joined the Blazers in 2005, and from the beginning, he imagined a Web site that enabled fans to better connect with the team and its players. However, with the despised “Jail” Blazers era still lingering, and rumors of the team’s poor financial status, the timing for a fan-engagement campaign could not have been much worse. “We didn’t know what was going to happen”, Dan recalled, “So, we had to put the ideas on hold.”

Dan began making small strides to improve the team’s tarnished image by slowly testing Social Media Marketing strategies. The first victory came when he persuaded Blazers TV announcer, Mike Barrett, to create a blog. As many businesses realize, a blog can be a great way to interact with customers, as well as improve search rankings for relevant keywords.

On the Blazer’s site, Barrett’s blog, along with the ‘Center Court‘ blog by Casey Holdahl, has been a big hit. Fans can post comments about his observations, and feel closer to their team. In addition, the Blazer organization benefits by reading these comments, and improving their product for this once-neglected fan base. “I’m very impressed how well (Mike Barrett) has kept up with it,” exclaimed Dan. “Writing a good blog can be very challenging.”

I am a Trail Blazer Fan

The initial improvements began to be realized in 2006. Owner, Paul Allen, re-invested part of his fortune into the team, front-office personnel were improved, and troublesome players were traded away. The timing was perfect for Dan to implement his plan for a vast online fan network. He connected with Steve Loughlin of Affinity Circles, a San Francisco based company specializing in creating social networking sites, to begin work on a site for the Blazers. “That’s when we really started pounding the pavement,” proclaimed Dan.

Dan says he was inspired by the now famous Apple computer ads that depicted typical computer users declaring their allegiance to the brand. In those ads, individuals presented their “every man” computer needs, and then stated that “I am a Mac user.” The ads reminded Dan of many Blazer fans, jaded by the low-character teams of recent years, but itching for a come-back. He wanted them to proudly declare “I am a Trail Blazer fan,”, and thus set out to make it happen.

In January 2007, the Blazers launched the first site devoted to a single team in professional sports history: I Am A Trail Blazers Fan. The site has been a success in every facet of measurement: increased ticket sales, highly engaged fans, and effective two-way communication with its target audience. Dan’s goal was to create a space where fans could ‘talk Blazers,’ or meet-up online to volunteer, play hoops, or attend a Blazer game.

In short, Dan gets it.

Social Media is all about interacting with your consumers, listening to what they want, and giving it to them. Dan didn’t have anything to do with the prophetic draft-day choice of Brandon Roy. However, he has allowed fans to fall in love with him through Roy’s “featured profile” on the site! He didn’t help Greg Oden rehabilitate his knee after his season-ending injury last year. But, he did include fans in the process through an innovative “Rehab Blog.” Other NBA teams have followed Dan’s lead, launching similar sites to iamatrailblazersfan.com. However, no other fan base has embraced online networking and social communities quite like the fans here in Rip City.

As a founding board member of Search Engine Professionals of Portland (SEMpdx), we at EngineWorks have been privileged to have Dan present at our SEMpdx SearchFest, the premier search engine marketing conference in the Pacific Northwest. His passion is obvious when he delivers his messages on integrating fan experience through social media. Not to mention the fact that there is no shortage of enthusiasm or ideas among Dan’s interactive team for inventing ways to directly communicate with their engaged online community.

Call ‘em the Portland Internets

Before this season, ESPN Columnist Bill Simmons, identified the steps the Blazers were taking to win back its fans through online social media, and how the roster was perfect for it, by stating the following:

“These guys bring everything to the Internet bandwagon table: youth; likability; a real excess of talent; foreign stars; a rabid fan base… Rookie of the year dark horse and potential NBA heartthrob Rudy Fernandez (a cross between Paul Westphal and Antonio Banderas); a superb group of beat writers; multiple players who translate well to YouTube clips; a shrewdly run front office that spends its riches correctly… A top three (Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge) that ranks off the charts on the Good Guy Scale and might have broken the record for a professional sports team… There’s just a lot going on with the 2008-09 Blazers. They were made for blogs and message boards and YouTube and losers like me who watch the NBA every night and everything else. Call ‘em the Portland Internets.”

Social networking is a cultural phenomenon that is changing the way consumers use the Internet. Smart businesses are engaging these networks to reach potential customers and loyal audiences. In the case of our hometown Portland Trail Blazers, they are doing more than just participating… they are creating online social communities. To learn more on how Social Media Marketing can advance your client acquisition strategies, simply give us a call.

Super Measurable!

The ‘S’ on this super hero’s cape can also stand for ‘Super-Measurable’. This invaluable attribute of search marketing is the main reason for the current meteoric shift in advertising budgets. Marketing managers across the country are realizing that it’s much more effective to commit precious resources to advanced online campaigns that deliver – and fully measure – qualified visitors and eager customers, than to spend money on promotional schemes that zap marketing dollars with no ability to determine results.

Online Marketing to the Rescue

In an October 27, 2008 article from eMarketer titled ‘Online Ad Spending Will Keep Growing’, Geoff Ramsey, CEO and co-founder of eMarketer, declares that even though there has been a lowering of expectations from industry analysts, there is still a consensus among marketing executives that spending growth for online advertising will continue to show double-digit gains in both 2008 and 2009.

The following results from three recent surveys of U.S. marketing professionals, taken directly from this eMarketer article above, reveal that the efficiency and measurability of interactive marketing is powering this double-digit increase in online advertising:

• According to a June McKinsey & Co. survey of 340 senior marketing executives worldwide, 91% are using online advertising, and over one-half indicate that their companies plan to maintain or exceed current levels where possible. Even more telling, 55% of marketers said they’re cutting expenditures on traditional media, precisely in order to increase funding for online efforts.
• Even more-bullish expectations for digital spending were cited by respondents in an Epsilon CMO survey conducted in September. Among 175 senior marketing executives, 63% expected increases for interactive/online marketing spending for 2008; only 14% expected a reduction.
• This month, a survey by MarketingProfs, of 600 US marketers, found that 60% planned to increase their spending on online advertising in reaction to the downturn.

Quantum Leap in ‘Quantifiable-ness’

Geoff Ramsey expertly summarizes the reasons for this trend in re-allocating marketing dollars to online campaigns, especially Internet marketing’s ability to precisely quantify performance and measure each campaign’s return-on-ad-spend.

Rather than re-phrase Geoff’s well-presented reasons, here they are directly from the eMarketer article:

1. The Internet is inherently more measurable and accountable than are traditional channels.
2. The Internet allows for better, more-granular targeting than do other forms of media. That reduces media waste and can save marketing dollars.
3. The Internet is interactive, thereby allowing for a higher degree of engagement with consumer and business prospects and customers.
4. Particularly among younger consumers, the Internet is accounting for a larger and larger share of total media time; numerous studies demonstrate that teens, millennials and other younger cohorts are spending more time online per week than they are watching television.
5. The Internet plays into the consumer-in-control movement and therefore provides new opportunities for marketers to be a part of their conversations about interests, attitudes, shopping plans and even brands.
6. New Web 2.0 phenomena such as blogs, social networks and Twitter provide marketers with the potential to gain rich insights into consumer behavior and attitudes (the Internet is like a perpetual focus group on steroids).
7. The Internet, unlike any other medium or channel, allows marketers to reach prospects throughout the entire consumer buying cycle, from initial awareness through pre-information-gathering to sales and post-sale feedback and support.

Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound

With the crucial holiday selling season upon us, now is the time to take your mild-mannered marketing budget to new heights! Let us provide to you a free evaluation of how our proven search marketing services can immediately accelerate your client acquisition performance.

Simply contact us for your complementary consultation and customized service proposal.

Let us show you how our super marketing team can be ‘action’ heroes for your marketing efforts this season.

Contrary to popular perception, however, Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is not a one-time “shot it the arm” for your Web site.

As more and more savvy marketers are realizing, in order to consistently achieve and maintain prominently positioned Natural search listings throughout the major engines, it is paramount that a concerted strategy be applied throughout the entire length of their online existence. Top performance requires continuous effort.

Time to Perform

Any professional search marketing firm with more than an ounce of integrity acknowledges that effective Natural optimization requires extensive research and expensive resources (with the most valuable of these resources being: time). Not only do typical SEO engagements require several months of initial research and analysis to lay the foundation for efficacious relevancy enhancement, but today’s search algorithms now place significant weight upon a multitude of criteria that requires substantial time to build into your Web site, such as high quality in-bound links and indexed optimized content.

Lay the Foundation

The research phase of any optimization engagement is the most important, given that the identification of your most valuable keyword phrases is accomplished during these first months. This crucial process reveals the targeted search terms which should be used to optimize all elements of your site. In addition, without effective keyword research, your team will not have an effective road map for enhancing your site structure, information architecture, on-page content or layout.

After the first months of in-depth research, a typical SEO engagement should progress into three defined phases. Each of the phases can take more than 6 to 12 months to implement, depending on the size and complexity of the Web site.

The SEO Trifecta

We at EngineWorks, implement a three-pronged approach in order to achieve the greatest performance within the Natural engines. This strategy, which we call the ÔSEO Trifecta’, consists of Site-Wide SEO, On-Page SEO, and Off-Page SEO.

Site-Wide SEO addresses the global site elements that affect the ability of search engines to rapidly index, and appropriately rank, your Web site. We provide professional recommendations and enhancements for your most critical global factors, including server issues, site structure, usability functions, URL design and structure, and overall site accessibility.

Upon completion of our Site-Wide SEO, we address important relevancy components contained on each page of your site. An emphasis is placed on optimized titles, descriptions, tags, and page content. Along with this professional instruction, we provide in-depth information pertaining to SEO best practices.

On-Page SEO is followed by aggressive Off-Page strategies designed to entice external sources to link to your site. Search engines evaluate the relevancy of pages linked to your site, and assign a significant amount of weight to relevant links within their ranking algorithms. In addition to improving rank within Natural search indexes, links from topically related sites can drive qualified traffic.

A Shot of Wisdom

The principal take-away from this e-mail is that the efficacious process above requires a substantial amount of time, and not just in terms of how long it takes to see indexing results within the engines. It is very important that you optimize as many pages on your site as possible. This can mean the optimization of hundreds of pages, which requires significant manpower. However, failure to optimize most, or all, of your pages will result in a compromised strategy for attracting eager customers to your site.

Even small sites need to embrace a multi-year approach to Natural SEO. Having only ten or 20 pages is, more than likely, not enough to establish authority within your space, especially if it is highly competitive. Therefore, small sites should add fresh optimized content and additional site pages at least every month to improve search engine results.

A Healthy Engagement

Finally, aside from the fact that it takes many months (if not, years) to establish relevant in-bound links consistent with search engine guidelines, your competitors are actively striving (each month) to out-perform your listings for your most important search phrases. Thus, the best way to stay ahead of the crowd is to continuously enhance the attractiveness of your site through a long-term SEO engagement.

It takes discipline and consistency to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The same can be said for your ability to acquire customers through your Web site. The best optimization medicine is not a one-time shot in the arm… but, rather monthly effort applied for the life of your site.

Let’s face it (!), by now most savvy marketers know that Paid Search Marketing delivers a compelling value proposition that cannot be achieved through most traditional media channels such as print, television, and outdoor.  Paid Search Marketing is able to definitively measure the return on each advertising dollar.

However, in order to maximize the return on your Paid Search budget, it is paramount that you take your campaign beyond just bid management, position analysis, and ad copy testing.  In today’s hyper-competitive online environment, you need to systematically perform rigorous testing to determine which elements of your campaign are enticing PPC visitors to convert into customers.

Beyond A/B Testing

Aggressively testing and optimizing your landing pages and other campaign elements provide a benefit beyond improving your conversion rates.  You can also dramatically out-perform your competition’s efforts in the search engines.  JupiterResearch reports that more than sixty percent (60%) of all Paid Search campaigns do not include any type of comparison testing.

An effective means of accomplishing this evaluation has been to employ regularly scheduled A/B testing on Paid Search landing pages, in order to identify the better performing version of the same PPC landing page.  Now, however, it is possible to take this analysis to an even higher level through multivariate testing, which actually evaluates the performance of specific elements of each Paid Search landing page within your PPC campaign.

The concept of multivariate testing is very simple.  However, the approach to granularly testing each unique page elements is very advanced.  Most PPC campaigns deliver online visitors to a specific landing page.  Since the design, layout, and messaging of these arrival pages ultimately determine their success, the ability to test specific page elements (not just separate versions of the same landing page) significantly improves your opportunity for conversions.

Multivariate Means More

The definition of ‘multivariate’ is ‘having or involving more than one variable’.  Multivariate testing enables you to identify which changes made to your campaign elements have the greatest impact upon conversion rates and return-on-ad-spend (ROAS).

Through the application of multivariate testing to your content, images, calls-to-action, and specific offers, you can ascertain which site presentation will lead to your highest conversion rate.  In addition, multivariate testing can be applied to your other important Web site components, including online forms, sales funnels, navigation structure, and micro-sites.

These techniques simultaneously test and optimize multiple elements (e.g., images, prices, headlines, value propositions, etc.) to determine how each factor impacts your performance.  By using sophisticated analytics, and statistical confidence levels, multivariate testing consistently presents the most enticing page elements to your prospective customers.

Active Testing

The process to multivariate testing of landing page elements within your Paid Search campaign should include the following simplified steps:

1. Design/create/identify specific page element to evaluate, (e.g., call-to-action message, action button, check-out flow, etc.)
2. Establish multivariate test success metric, (e.g., click-through-rate, conversion rate, ROAS, etc.)
3. Establish confidence level of success metric, (e.g., 95% confident that one element performed better than the other)
4. Determine test length, (be sure to take into account seasonality factors, sales cycles, etc.)
5. Define test size, (i.e., establish how many visits is appropriate for your confidence level)
6. Monitor performance, (record the success metric results each day of the test)
7. Determine performance test results, (assign success variable to each landing page)
8. Apply multivariate process to new landing page elements, (i.e., test additional features on page)

Ultimately, this process should identify which elements contained on your Paid Search landing pages entice a greater number of site visitors to perform a desired result (e.g., fill-out a form, request information, make a purchase, etc.).

Unfortunately, many companies do. The explosive growth of social media has created numerous opportunities for consumers to broadcast their opinions over the Internet. With the introduction of “blended” or “universal” search, it is now common for video, pictures, news items and alternative content, to show up in the search engine results pages (SERPs). A company that has spent years managing their brand’s reputation can be ruined by a single piece of negative content. Is it possible for a company to monitor and manage these issues? Yes, through Online Reputation Management (ORM).

Online Reputation Management

ORM is a hot sector of search marketing. A combination of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and traditional Public Relations, ORM leverages numerous online sources to minimize and address inflammatory consumer comments while proactively capitalizing on positive comments. Additionally, ORM provides piece of mind, allowing you to monitor every mention of your brand which in turn helps you tailor your marketing message.

Plan for Reputation Management

ORM involves continually monitoring mentions of your brand, identifying positive and negative information and the source of that information, and addressing any issues. ORM also requires a well-conceived plan of action for your company and your company’s employees.

How Do You Monitor Reputation Online?

It only takes a few hours for a story to be shared and posted on 100s of blogs and in 1,000s of media outlets. So how do you monitor this?

EngineWorks develops a list of sites, media outlets, and tools that are constantly monitored. A few examples include:

• General RSS Aggregators – Sites like Technorati.
• Social Media – Sites in your niche, like Kirtsy, Digg or Reddit.
• Buzz Sites – Yahoo Buzz or Google Hot Trends are a few of our favorites.
• Reputation Management Applications – Applications such as Andy Beal’s Trackur.

Engage and Solve the Problem

To ensure that your audience finds favorable information pertaining to your brand within the SERPs, proactive management is required. Strategies for addressing positive and negative results include:

• Search Engine Optimization - Optimize your Web presence. This includes your corporate site, blogs, communities, and micro-sites. The goal is to control as much of the SERPs as possible.
• Leverage Social Media – Actively participate in relevant social networks, industry blogs, and targeted forums. By simply participating in these communities and addressing comments you may be able to avoid major issues.
• Write Strategic Content – Is there a particular theme which arises on a regular basis? Are people complaining about a certain incident? Write strategic content which addresses these issues. Make sure your audience knows you are aware of the problem and are addressing it.

Want to Learn More?

EngineWorks can help you put together a plan of action, so that when the proverbial (insert explicative here) hits the fan – your company is prepared. Request a consultation.

Conversational. Not conventional.

Let’s face it. Social media is here to stay. It’s not a fad, or a gimmick, or a hobby for high school nerds. Social Media Marketing has exploded into a full-fledged marketing channel. In addition, all signs point to it rapidly developing into a critical advertising medium as more and more people become Internet savvy, and also become less influenced by traditional marketing. According to Strategy Analytics, there will be more than one billion social media users by 2012. That’s a heck of a lot of potential customers using new avenues to discover products and services.

What does that mean to you? It is IMPERATIVE that you learn all you can about Social Media Marketing, and immediately begin to leverage the multitude of social networks to connect with your customers.

Ok… So what exactly is social media marketing?

Social Media Marketing helps companies engage and retain clients, increase brand awareness, generate traffic, and ultimately, drive sales. This is accomplished by interacting with their audience through various online channels including blogs, social networks, video, podcasts, photo sharing, wikis, and other sources of user-generated content.

The compelling aspect of social networking is the fact that current and prospective clients now have a voice, and that voice can directly impact your company for better or worse. Social Media Marketing is the means to create conversational messaging to ensure that your products and services are perceived in the best light.

Is social media marketing effective?

Actually, the question should be “How do I track the effectiveness of my Social Media Marketing campaign?” Connecting directly with your audience through social networks is proving to be very effective. However, given the myriad of metrics used to ascertain success, many times this effectiveness is not being captured or conveyed to site owners.

For example, tracking a site visitor to a sales conversion is pretty straight forward. But, how do you track brand awareness? Or, the influence of conversational content? Or, your company’s online reputation? Finally, how do you leverage – and track – social media to improve your customer service and support?

Let me answer these questions with another question: How are you currently tracking these crucial elements?

More than likely… you’re not. Therefore, rather than worrying about traditional online metrics such as unique visitors, page views, and bounce rates, it’s much more important to focus on leveraging Social Media Marketing to proactively influence your audience, and connect with them on an intimate level. Social Media Marketing should be used as a tool to make your company, brands, products, and services as accessible as possible to your audience.

Initiate Your Strategy Today

Social networking is the cultural phenomenon that is changing the way consumers use the Internet. So, get started today! Join Facebook. Create your profile on LinkedIn. Create your corporate blog. You may be surprised to discover how many people are already talking about your company.

Get things started by connecting with me at the following social media sites:
LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook