The online advertising industry is one of the fastest growing industries as of late. According to an eMarketer report, online ad spending will grow 20% this year to reach $31.3 billion. As a small business owner, that leaves us wondering where all this online advertising success if being found? Well, the majority of online advertising spending is found in search, with Google and other search engine giants set to take in $14.4 billion. However other advertising methods are growing steadily, and slowly seeing measurable results with small business marketing. Banner Ads (Display Advertising) In 2011, banner ads will grow roughly 22%, making online ad spending a $7.6 billion dollar industry. eMarketer is quoted with, “as more people view more pages, banner inventory growth will outpace Continue Reading

You’re where you have always wanted to be. You are in business for yourself with loads of growth potential and have products or services that people want and customers purchasing what you have to offer. Your future is bright and there is every chance that you will truly succeed in this endeavor. However, now is not the time to sit back and see where your small business will lead you. Now is the opportune time to analyze what you are currently doing well and what changes need to be made so that you can continue to successfully lead your company. How do you know what you’re doing well? Ask your customers. Customers will never fail to surprise you, whether their responses relate to what you’re doing right or where you have room for improvement. Your customers will be impressed Continue Reading

Photo credit When it comes to blogging, one of the most important steps is selecting the perfect theme for your blog. Of course content is important, but your theme plays a critical role in grabbing and maintaining your visitor’s attention. In some cases, your theme is the deciding factor for whether a visitor stays on your blog a little longer or immediately leaves after getting the information they came for. Equally, a bad theme design can turn visitors away and discourage repeat visits. Here are 8 key elements to look gor when choosing a theme for your blog: 1. Uniqueness and Originality First impressions are everything. You want a unique theme that will stand out from the rest. You’ll never be the only one to use a theme (unless you design it yourself), but the more unique Continue Reading

Do you find yourself completely lost with the different social media websites out there?  Which one should you start with? How to do it? There are indeed many questions that can bother a small business owner that is now starting in the social media world. Below are 5 tips that might prove helpful when it comes to managing your social media sites. 1. Don’t Overdo It Some small business owners feel the need to sign up for all the social media websites out there – this is a big mistake and can become unmanageable very quickly. Look for the sites that matter the most for your own business and sign up for them. Among the sites most small businesses find useful are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. 2. Search for Your Competitors One way to determine which site to join is to look at what Continue Reading

The key to a successful small business is getting in touch with your customers in the most effective and direct way possible. Marketing messages sent via snail-mail can be effective but are slow and costly. Email is instantaneous but easily ignored, or worse, redirected to the junk folder. SMS marketing has the benefit of transmitting the message straight into your customers’ pockets, but can be logistically painful unless you have the right tools. That’s where services which enable you to send SMS to mobile phones via your computer come in. Many businesses of all sizes are now utilising bulk text messaging to grab their customers’ attention. Unlike emails, which may remain unread for days, marketing messages delivered straight to a mobile phone are generally viewed as soon as they Continue Reading

Anyone actively spending their advertising budget on digital marketing can tell you how important it is to continuously optimize your landing pages to deliver more qualified leads and sales. Testing creative ad copy in your Google search engine advertising (PPC) helps to improve your visitor clickthru rate, but if your page doesn't convert that visitor into a lead once they reach there, you've just spent valuable ad dollars for nothing. Google search engine advertising is a direct response form of advertising–you're reaching a potential customer at the moment they are very interested in your product or ready to buy–versus a brand awareness medium like display (banner) advertising that builds preference over time. For that reason, it's far more critical that your PPC landing page converts Continue Reading

Building a community on Twitter is as much by choice as it is by chance. The people who follow you are likely a healthy mix of robots and people, hopefully more towards the latter. When you are tweeting and retweeting your own content on Twitter, there are social signals that show up in search results. If enough social signals are prevalent, Google decides that this content should show up in search (lucky you). But it seems for Google to deem these social signals as relevant, there must be enough tweets and retweets of your content from authoritative users. According to Rand Fishkin, social signals are the number one more important social factor for search engine rankings. For Twitter, the search engine importance relies on the authority of your community, where Facebook relies on sheer Continue Reading

What does your “About Us” page actually say about your company? Is it a boring sales pitch for your small business? What many businesses fail at is their "About Us” page, and one of the most common ways they fail is not taking a chance to expose their true colors. If your business just has an “About Us” page because everyone else does, then you probably should verse yourself in how to write remarkable “About Us” pages. Opportunities for Your Business This page holds a lot of opportunity for your small business. There are a wide variety of people who will check out your “About Us” page after landing on your home page. For instance, here at Resource Nation, about 6% of our traffic clicks on the “About Us” page from our home page. This gives you great opportunity to Continue Reading