A while back, we discussed various free online tools that allow you to monitor your brand’s reputation online. These tools enable you to search blogs and websites that have mentioned you and your company. But how often do you Google your business?

There are several reasons you should keep up with your brand’s ranking on Google. First of all, if you run a business online, it’s likely that you put effort into search engine optimization. So, a common reason to use Google here would be to check out your keywords. Say your site sells parts for cars and you want to check your rankings for certain keywords you focus on, such as “ford explorer shocks” or “cold air intake.” To get an effective idea as to how your site and pages are ranking for these keywords, you should be using Google at least twice a week to check up.

In addition to the monitoring tools mentioned in the link above, you should also randomly check Google throughout the week to see what’s being said about your brand online. There are several third party sites that house reviews and coupon codes for websites that show up in Google searches. While some of these sites offer positive effects to your company, some of them can be so negative that they result in damage to your business.

Sites like epinions.com and measuredup.com allow consumers to create a profile about your company and review their experience. Back to the car part store – let’s call it “shopcarparts.com.” If you Google “shopcarparts.com” and you find a negative review about your company, what do you do? Keep in mind that if you see it on Google, customers (and potential customers) are seeing it, too.

Over at the Personal Branding Blog, they suggest sending out a press release as a way to control your Google results. Although they discuss sending out a personal press release, which may or may not be relevant to your business, it’s still a great idea to build off of. Not only is a press release a good way to gain results in Google, it also provides links and anchor text that boost SEO value.

These are just a few reasons it is important to use a site as simple as Google to keep up on your customer service and marketing endeavors. Are there any other suggestions your business has used? We’d love to hear them in the comments!

In a recent post on The Basics of Variable Data Marketing, we discussed using variable data marketing to enhance the marketing program within your small business. Variable data can be used in emails and direct mailing to reach out to customers, using personal and relevant content that relates to each customer individually. From using this form of marketing, a loyal relationship is established between the customer and the business.

Such a relationship is formed because the customer feels a connection through the personalized marketing. To maintain this connection, PURLs are introduced through direct mailing. A PURL is a personalized URL given to customers for a specific use. Typically the PURL address has the customer’s name at the end of your company’s website.

Hopefully you have used your PURL here at the Supplies Guys, as seen above. If so, you know that it is our website with your name and zip code at the end. Here, we use PURLs to make ordering easy for our customers. But that isn’t the only function of PURLs; they can be worked into any type of marketing plan for any type of business.

For example, many companies use PURLs to obtain new customers. Mailing lists can be rented for one time use so that a company can reach a new audience. To entice the potential customer, it is suggested that the company offer a discount or free service if the person visits their PURL site.

Once the customer is at the site, the company has several options to keep their interest. A short video can be played that explains the services of the business. Or, a quick survey of 3 to 5 questions can pop up to gain an understanding of the customer’s wants and needs. Whatever you want people to see at their PURL site is completely up to you.

Additionally, there are some ideas that have been proven to provide effective results in PURL campaigns. For starters, many marketers suggest leading your customers/potential customers to an informative landing page. If you’re going to include a survey, don’t require the person’s email address or phone number. Studies show that asking new customers to provide personal information at the PURL landing page often causes many customers to abandon the page. Secondly, make sure the PURL, direct mail and email all have relative content and artwork so the customer feels comfortable and familiar. Most importantly, you need an exciting incentive so your customer will want to check out their PURL.

Not that we know what PURLs can do for your customers, let’s talk about what they can do for you. Because customers are interested in a website with their name, PURLs generally bring a high response rate. Since you can immediately see who is visiting the site and learn what they’re saying right away, you can quickly generate your response rate. If a survey or questionnaire is part of the site, the PURL functionality gives you automatic results each time a customer responds.  Such real-time reporting allows you to start initiating follow-ups and serve appropriate offers as soon as you receive the responses.

From knowing what your customers are looking at on the PURL and what items or services they are interested in, you learn what you can do to keep the customer coming back for more. Best of all, the PURL enables you to connect your sales and variable data marketing plans together for a more efficient system.

Finally, the PURLs are environmentally friendly for your business. No longer do you need large, colorful flyers. Marketing materials can be small postcards, as long as they include the PURL, where the customer now obtains important information electronically and personally. Also, PURLs are great to include in your email marketing. All it takes is one click and your customer is at their PURL!

What do you think about PURLs and variable data marketing? How would they be useful to your small business?

Last week we discussed the importance of having a blog for your small business. Communication was mentioned as an attractive way to interact with customers and potential customers through your blog. But, how do you communicate with your readers if there aren’t any?

photo by taygete05

First, it’s important to market your business blog as a whole. Get the word out. Add a link to your website so that visitors can easily click through. Send out an email to your customer database. Offer a deal on products or services as simple as 10 to 20% off for those that subscribe or leave a comment. Drop a flyer in boxes or envelopes that leave your office that includes a blurb about the blog and highlights from current posts. Essentially, you want to market your blog as you would a product or service offered by your company.

A granular level to marketing your blog is to market each post individually. Submit them to social content sharing sites, such as Digg, Reddit, and Kirtsy. Also submit your posts to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Delicious. These sites will gain you extra exposure. Also, link your blog to your Facebook profile or fan page so that your fans are updated each time a new post hits your blog. You can also do the same with Twitter.

If you want to gain readers that are thought leaders in your industry, find them on your social networks and start reading their blogs. Connect with them by responding to their tweets and engaging in discussions on their blogs. Although this may seem time-consuming, putting yourself in front of such influencers with likely grab their attention and steer them to read more of your ideas via your blog.

These are just a few simple ideas to get the word out about your blog. Before jumping into all of these suggestions, create a simple strategy to determine who you want to target and where you’ll be likely to find them. No sense in wasting time preaching to the wrong choir!

What are some tactics you use when promoting your blog? Do you have other ideas? Share them in the comments!

Have you considered attending an internet marketing seminar this year? The benefits of attending such a seminar can be limitless – as you will typically hear from internet marketing thought leaders, discuss the latest trends in internet marketing and have the opportunity to interact with other professionals. The goal of most internet marketing seminars is to improve  competency levels by providing its guests with theories and tools that can ultimately make an impact on their organization’s bottom line. Typical attendees of internet marketing seminars are search marketing professionals, webmasters, IT professionals, small business owners and other marketing managers seeking best practices tips, professional networking and even career advice .

Now once you factor in the cost of attendance, travel and living expenses for a few days – expenses add up rather quickly. It is important to identify what it is you hope to accomplish from attending an internet marketing seminar because it can get costly once you factor in the cost of attendance, travel and living expenses. That said we took some time to highlight a few of the upcoming 2010 internet marketing seminars and what you can expect if you choose to attend. Please note that prices are subject to change and for most internet marketing seminars, prices vary depending on registration date.

Follow our Internet Marketing Seminars Twitter list to receive updates from twenty-three of the world’s best seminars!

SES New York 2010 – http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/
When – March 23, 24, 25
Location – New York City, NY
What – Expo (featuring 100+ vendors), paid search / SEO training workshops, 70+ internet marketing sessions lead by respected web professionals from around the world.
How Much – Free to attend expo ($25 on-site); up to $2,000 for 3-day full access. Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – David Meerman Scott, author of World Wide Rave;  Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics: An Hour A Day; and Yusuf Mehdi, VP of Online Audience Business at Bing.

ad:tech San Francisco 2010 – http://www.ad-tech.com/sf/
When – April 19, 20, 21
Location – San Francisco, CA
What – hosted networking mixers and attendee party, Expo (200+ vendors), Marketing Masters Series (covering social media, e-mail marketing, mobile marketing & search), Digital Demographics Series (how to market to a particular demographic online), Bruce Clay SEO training session.
How Much - Conference Pass ($1,195 – $1,595); Exhibit Hall Pass ($50 or $100 depending on date of purchase); SEO training ($1,295), Conference Pass + SEO training ($2,060). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – Jaime Cohen Szulc, CMO of Levi Strauss & Co.; Geoff Ramsey, CEO and co-founder of eMarketer; Kristi VandenBosch, CEO of Publicis & Hal Riney.

PubCon 2010 – http://www.pubcon.com/dallas2010/
When - April 13, 14, 15
Location – Dallas, TX
What – Expo (50+ exhibitors), 60+ sessions covering SEO, SEM, Social Media, PPC / Internet Advertising, and Interactive Site Reviews; PubCon Search Training (1-day crash course on SEO or PPC),
How Much – Full Access Conference Pass ($499 – $799); Professional Search Training ($399 – $599); Training + Full Access Pass ($799 – $999). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – TBD

Web 2.0 Expo – http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2010
When – May 3, 4, 5, 6
Location – San Francisco, CA
What – Expo; Sessions (Cloud Computing, Design, Social Media Marketing, Business Models & Strategy, Analytics, Enterprise, Mobile, Real-Time); Workshops (Designing Social Interfaces, Hands on HTML-5, Laws for User Experience, Data Visualization); Web2Open (open panel discussion lead by expo attendees).
How Much – Expo Hall Only ($100); Expo Hall Plus ($350); Workshops Only ($595 – $1045); Conferences Only ($1095 – $1645); Conferences + Workshops ($1395 – $1945). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers  – Kevin Lynch of Adobe Systems, June Coehn of TED.com, Josh Silverman of Skype, Hilary Mason of bit.ly, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land, Paul Buccheit of Facebook and a few others!

Search Exchange - http://www.searchexchange.org/
When – May 17, 18, 19
Location – Charlotte, NC
What - 30 Sessions covering: (Link building, How social interacts with search, Getting links through social media, latest SEO tools, Building SEO dashboards for accountability, Optimizing WordPress for SEO, Digital asset optimization, In-house SEM, Using Analytics for Landing Page Optimization, Measuring PPC campaigns, Location based marketing, Creating viral traffic and more!
How Much - Single Day Pass ($395); Conference & Expo ($695 or $895). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – David Szetela of Clix Marketing; Chris Brogan author; Chris Winfield of 10e20; Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing; Rhea Drysdale of Outspoken Media; and Rae Hoffman of Outspoken Media.

Search Marketing Expo – SMX Advanced 2010 – http://searchmarketingexpo.com/advanced
When – June 8, 9
Location – Seattle, WA
What -Expo, Bruce Clay SEO training, In-House SEM training
How Much – Expo (free); in-house SEM training workshop ($695 – $895); all-access pass ($1,195 – $1,595); all-access pass + workshop ($1,795 – $2,195). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – Matt Cutts, Google Software Engineer and search marketing guru.

Internet Retailer Conference & Expo - http://www.internetretailer.com/IRCE2010/
When - June 8, 9, 10, 11
Location – Chicago, IL
What – Expo (375+ exhibitors); Sessions lead by 175+ E-retailing experts (tracks for: e-commerce executives, global selling, advanced e-marketing strategies, small e-retailers, sourcing products, e-commerce technology, customer service, search marketing, e-mail marketing, social media, taxation, merchandising & design and corporate management) ; 5 Intensive Workshops (e-commerce technology, beginning search marketing, advanced search marketing, social media & e-retailing, and mobile commerce).
How Much – Expo ($165 – $210); Day Long Workshops (per workshop cost – $295 – $495); Main Conference Only ($595 – $795); Main Conference & Day Long Workshops ($845 – $1395). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers - Imran Jooma, Senior VP and General Manager of E-Commerce for Sears Holding Corp.

SES San Francisco 2010 – http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sanfrancisco/
When – August 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Location – San Francisco, CA
What – Expo (featuring internet marketing vendors), sessions to reach each audience: internet marketing for beginners (introduction to SEO / SEM, search advertising basics) , intermediate internet marketing sessions (social media optimization, blended & universal search), and advanced internet marketing sessions (b2b marketing, duplicate content, black hat seo).
How Much – Varies. Free to attend expo ($25 on-site); up to $2,000 for 3-day full access. Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – Jeffrey Hayzlett, Vice President of the Eastman Kodak Company.