Posts Tagged ‘Reno’
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
With the plethora of choices in today’s marketing arena, our clients often ask us, “what works?” We have a straightforward answer. It depends. Return on Investment (ROI) in the various marketing venues depends on your business and more specifically, on your customer.
You’ll find when you work with us that one of the first things we’ll do is gather data. We want to know what’s working now, and what’s proving to be a waste of money. We will use this data to find the path ahead and to provide the most relevant and accurate suggestions for your hard earned dollar.
We also pinpoint your potential customer. You’ll hear us talking again and again about who your customer is. We’ll be marketing directly to those customers, both current and potential. Your customers determine the venues we choose to market your company. Your customer, in fact, is king and queen of almost all of the decisions we make – even down to the color of your logo.
The most important thing for you to know about marketing your product in the many available venues is that the whole is greater than the parts. The aggregate solution for you is almost guaranteed to be a highly custom mix of marketing venues.
When we build your brand, we build it like no other.
You’ll find that when we build your brand, it is uniquely yours in look, feel, voice and in choice of venues.
So if you are looking for a cookie-cutter type website, we may not be the choice for you – but if you want to stand out above your competitors, and get the customers you know you can impress – then we are looking to help you build your brand. Call us today at 775.322.3663, or fill out our request form for more information. We look forward to hearing about your brand and your customers.
Tags: brand building, Branding, internet marketing, logo design, Marketing, Reno, reno marketing, Reno Social Media, search engine optimization, Social Media, web design
Posted in In-Bound Links, Online Advertising In Reno, Online Marketing, Social Media, web design | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
Women are in charge of the money more now than ever before – so it’s no surprise that marketers are targeting them specifically. Many sources (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus) purport the differences between the sexes, and the approach from a marketing standpoint has been to speak to the heart of a woman.
Society has repeatedly stereotyped women as the emotional sex and men as the logical sex, but in real life things are never so succinctly divided. However, much research has gone into finding messages that reach women in particular and how to tap into their emotions in order to make the sale. Studies show that women will be engaged more by how a product/service will support their family & relationships (whereas men will connect more with how a product/service gets to a desired end result, and how well it does that), so stories/anecdotes will be more engaging for women (rather than performance stats). Also, how a product/service will help a woman be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, etc., will speak to women more than men (again, the “relationship” piece). This is a gross generalization, of course, but there’s a lot out there that’s been expanded since brain research has shown some clear gender differences. For instance, look at this excerpt from a blog we enjoy(One Woman Marketing):
Women make up just half the population, but they make over 80% of all household purchases. And they’re not just shopping for stereotypically feminine products such as clothing and cosmetics. Women also make:
- 65% of new car purchases
- 91% of travel purchases
- 57% of electronics purchases
- 63% of all purchases made online
Despite their consumer power, most women feel that marketers and advertisers just don’t get them. (91% of women, according to one recent study.)
Angela Shupe’s blog post discusses how consultants Sandie Glass and Laura Wolfram head up a consultants group run by women in order to provide solutions to marketers looking to reach their female audience.
What do you think? Do you have to be a woman in order to reach a woman? Share your comments with us below!
Tags: internet marketing, Marketing, Reno
Posted in Reno Marketing Meanderings | No Comments »
Friday, July 8th, 2011
What Makes a Great Blog?
Several things have to come together to truly wow an audience. According to some gurus in Cindy King’s blog post today “21 Dangerous Blogging Mistakes (and how to fix them)”, there are quite a few things that can make or break your blog.
Blogging Mistakes
We all make them at one time or another. Maybe we were in a hurry and our quality slipped, maybe we were too busy and our frequency dropped. As long as these things we call life happen only once in a while, that is fine. When it becomes par for the course – your blog is in trouble.
Balancing Quality and Quantity
According to Jay Baer (@jaybaer), “balancing the need to be consistently publishing and the need for consistent quality is the key to successful long-term blogging.” We would add that it is important that both your quality and your frequency of posting matches the target audience you have. If you have a company that is in the fast track industry of trading or finances – especially in these times – you might need to post more frequently than someone in a lagging industry field.
Keywords, Keywords, Keywords
We hear it all the time, but the truth is keywords get you found. You cannot have a successful blog when no one is reading it. This is the point that Rich Brooks (@therichbrooks) makes in his contribution to Cindy King’s article. A good blogger understands the “need to write keyword-rich posts with persuasive, compelling titles that will be read, linked to and shared on social media sites”, which increases the idea of being found. It isn’t just about keywords, but also about grabbing attention with a title, AND sharing and linking to social media sites. In this case, you need the whole package – sole focus on one area will leave a gap that cannot be bridged.
Planning
Don’t underestimate the need to schedule yourself the time and focus to really generate an interesting, engaging and informative blog post. As Dag Holmboe (@dagh) states himself, “A good, in-depth blog post takes time to research, write and edit.” What more can we say? This is not a five minute post – you must craft the message and the way it will be delivered.
Cater to Your Audience
It is extremely important, as we discussed earlier, to know your target audience. It is only through knowing them, that you can effectively tailor your content, style, medium, and media to their needs. As Jim Lodico (@jlcommunication) explains, “if it isn’t of value to your audience, your audience won’t read it”. Well put!
Build Community
True engagement is not built overnight – like a community it has to be formed and tended through multiple interactions that consistently reinforce the needs of the community. We completely agree with Carla Dewing (@CarlaDewing), “The fastest way to build a community online is to share information”!! Community is created by giving help (sharing) when those in your community (your target audience) are in need and you have the information (content) that can help them.
For more information and tips on blogging, check out Social Media Examiner online! They have fantastic articles that we use ourselves all the time.
Tags: blog, Reno, reno marketing, Reno SEO Expert, WordPress
Posted in Blog Design, Inspiration, Social Media, WordPress | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
Your company brand tells your story. Your design, colors, and media display your style and your voice in the industry. Your website is often the face of your company – especially in today’s multi-dimensional market; branding requires more than just a logo. Design and functionality are extremely important, but you also need an experienced, caring company to get your brand noticed by the world.
Integris Marketing strives to exceed all your web needs. We specialize in more than just web design, we have the largest selection of services for the small business community, and we understand the journey a small business takes.
We will be blogging with tips and helpful information, weekly, that you can actually use in your daily business life. We are here to help – building success for your business is our business.
If you are interested: more on our Marketing Services.
Tags: graphic design, Local Reno PR, Marketing, Reno
Posted in Online Marketing | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
The Basics for In-Bound Link-Building
Easy enough. It just takes time & planning to manage your approach.
In-Bound Link Building is Important for SEO Success. Whether Your Business is Local (Reno), Regional or International, search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing use this seemingly simple search engine ranking parameter as an indication your website’s relative popularity. This in turn influences the search engines decision in rating your relevance for search queries and ultimately affects your search engine ranking or opportunities for first page display.
In-Bound Link Bottom Line: If you don’t have inbound links and your competitors do, then to put it bluntly, you will not rank as well as them. (Want to learn about the top Search Engine Ranking Factors… then go here >)
Here Are 2 Things To NOT Do For Building In-Bound Links
It all makes sense if you think about it or understand the industry and the sophistication of Search Engine ranking algorhythms (Here is a link to an older March 2007 article but the thrust is a solid foundational concept for this).
It really boils down to 2 things of what not to do for inbound link building:
- Don’t Use Link Farms (See This Wikipedia Page for more information about Link Farms). According to Google, “a site that participates in a link farm may have its search rankings penalized”, and “Links from related sites carry more weight than those from irrelevant sites”.
- Try not to use Off-Topic Links (Relevant On-Topic Links build credibility in the eyes of Search Engines… And yes, they do know.)
Six Basic Strategies for In-Bound Link Building
Anyone and everyone with a website should make some effort to include these 6 Link Building strategies if you are serious about top performance for Search Engine Ranking.
- Make More Content! – Search Engines need content in order to deliver relevant and current results to search queries. Better results from search engines mean more people will use them. This in turn makes them a better platform for advertising dollars (This is America after all). The bottom line is search engines need the new content just as much as you need to generate it, distribute it and have it link back to you. The solution is to write articles, publish them online (on a relevant blog site or an ezine or article website – There are tons of them out there such as articlebase.com).
- Social Media – Serious about in-bound links? Then get serious about social media. There are lots of ways to leverage this. If you don’t know how, take a class, talk to some social media guru, or just dive in. Be conscious of the appropriate linking patterns and partners out there and be careful you don’t spend too much time doing this. It can be a real time sink. Think of it as something to adopt over time and that you will keep up with. It is better to do a little dribble consistently then do a lot and then burn out and drop off the map… especially as far as Search Engines are concerned.
- Relevant Online Directories – Online Directories are a great place for links. That’s what they are for… listing websites. Some are free and some are pay. Do what you can to get in them and have a budget (time and $$$) that makes sense for you. Here are the biggies: DMOZ (can take a while to get listed), Yahoo (Expensive). Some other well known online directories include: Business.com, BestOfTheWeb.com, GoGuides.com and MassiveLinks.com. There are many others that have narrow niche appeal. The best approach is to identify the best ranked ones and then submit your listing to them. Rinse and repeat.
- Online Video – First a quick question… Do you know what the worlds second most used search engine is? If you guessed YouTube you guessed right. So Videos can get you inbound links, visibility and some brand or service awareness. If you get it right it can even go “viral”! There are tons of video sites out there (YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo to name a few). If you do video then distribute them to different sources and watch and compare results and see which ones work best for you. And be sure to have some fun along the way. (Note: Professional Video production can be quite costly. You need to balance quality and budget to get the most bang for your video buck. And don’t forget, there is always the webcam on your local computer approach if you are on a shoestring.)
- Online Classifieds – Yep, this often overlooked little gem will get you inbound links. Think CraigsList.org or any of the other online classifieds (some are free and some are pay). And who knows.. besides the link you get, maybe someone will buy what you are selling!
- Online Press Releases – Huh? That’s right.. you can distribute your own online press releases. (But I recommend hitting your local news outlets first so they can get the “scoop” before it hits the big ol’ web. It’s a professional courtesy thing.) This is a great way to get in-bound links. You can use the paid versions such as as PRweb.com or go for the free ones such as PRlog.com. As with all things online there are lots of options so be sure to compare apples to apples when it comes to getting your press release sent out online.
Hope that helps! This is the basic approach that we offer clients as starting points for their in-bound link building campaign. And if you want to share a reciprocal link with us, just send us a note or give us a call, and we will see what we can do!
Tags: classified advertising, google search, inbound link, internet marketing, internet search engines, link building, link farm, Local SEO, Marketing, Reno, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, search engines, SEO, web search engine
Posted in In-Bound Links, Local SEO, Online Marketing, PR, Reno Marketing Meanderings, SEO, Social Media, Uncategorized, Website Copywriting | No Comments »
Saturday, June 5th, 2010
Hey Reno Businesses… Want a Cool WordPress Blog Design?
Who doesn’t… but what you need to know is that having a “cool blog design” is no longer enough.
An Optimized WordPress Blog Design needs to capture visitors, show value, sell products or services, capture leads and keep up with the latest web technologies.
In the old days of the web… having a website… any website, whether a traditional static website filled with words, or a site of pretty pictures or even Flash animations was enough. It had the “wow” factor… All just because you had the site.
No more… Websites have become a very sophisticated platforms that are an important part of the promotional and marketing effort. The artifacts of yesteryear, such as the notoriously expensive, sales-rep hyped, and ineffective Yellow Page Ads or other less-than-targeted marketing vehicles and publications are becoming increasingly less effective. This is especially true for businesses who are forward thinking in their promotional approach, or have more sophisticated audiences they need to communicate with.
What’s the solution? First let’s look at what a website needs to do and fast-forward to today’s website demands before we decide.
- A website needs to be able to be found by people who are searching for your product or service (Think Search Engine Optimized or Local SEO)
- Once they see your listing on Google (Hopefully first the page of Google or other search engine) it needs to be somewhat compelling in order for people to click on the link
- The website needs to be inviting once they get there and give them relevant options for interaction, sales or sign-ups
- Convey a sense of credibility and sophistication
- Provide a comfortable experience that delivers value
- Has ways for you to engage and track visitors
A tall order for any website no matter how big your budget is. Once you start considering the cost of website design, maintenance, updating and modification, content generation, software upgrades and you have the potential for a hornet’s nest of expense, complexity and less than optimal results.
The coolest, least expensive, most powerful, and highly customizable blog design platform that any business could hope for.
WordPress levels the playing field of the World Wide Web. The technology that WordPress uses, used to cost 10′s of thousands of dollars. But thanks to the WordPress and the Open Source community that supports it, WordPress has made the old expensive web paradigm a thing of the past. The powerful technology that is built into WordPress is free! And the plug-ins that support it… they are free too or are offered at a very low or modest cost.
A well executed WordPress Blog Design is the answer for what small businesses need to succeed on the web whether the need is superior design, uber-optimized SEO, or super-charged local search engine optimization.
In short, a well executed and well designed WordPress Blog embodies what the internet was designed for… optimized search engine results through relevant content generation.
If you need more information about how a WordPress Blog Design can help your business, you can give us a call (775.322.3663). But watch out, we love WordPress, so don’t be surprised if we talk your ear off.
Tags: Blog Design, blog software, content management system, cool blog, Local SEO, Reno, Reno SEO, search engine, selling products, SEO, SEO optimization, web design, web technology, WordPress, wordpress blog, Wordpress blog design
Posted in Blog Design, Local SEO, SEO, Uncategorized, web design, WordPress | No Comments »
Monday, May 31st, 2010
Reno is a Fabulous Place for Marketing and Promotion!
The local Reno Business Climate is great place for getting connected to people as well as potential customers and clients
There are so many talented Reno-based Marketing Professionals here in the Truckee Meadows and Lake Tahoe Area, it is enough to make your head spin! Every day I read about the successes, the insights and the fantastic creative ideas that pour out from this community of local marketing and design professionals. It is truly awe-inspiring, and just like the “Energizer Bunny®”*… It just keeps going!
And with all that professional-marketing-horsepower, there are some things, and themes that just keep coming up over and over that are particularly helpful to local Reno area business owners. And while not every Reno Business is the same, there are certain things that most of them can do to promote themselves locally, that and are tried-and-true marketing and publicity opportunities, and are proven processes that work for the local audience. Why do they work? Because we all live, eat and breath here… right here in this valley and the surrounding mountains. So people we meet become the friends we make and are often the same as the future business partners we engage.
Here are my top 10 Reno Marketing Tips that won’t cost much except for time and maybe some membership or entry fees:
- Networking in Reno Rocks! (This town has so many networking opportunities, it could easily be a full-time job attending them all! Try out the local Sparks Chamber, Reno Sparks Chamber, BizTalk Blender, American Marketing Association Meetings, LeTip, BNI, eWomen, etc… all are great and very active with lots of opportunities for connecting. And there are lots of local trade shows too to attend!)
- Get Involved with Social Media: Share ideas, join the conversation… it can be overwhelming and even addictive, but taken in moderation there is lots to be gained in knowledge and even promotion opportunities.
- Give or Attend Marketing Talks and Classes (or other relevant topics of interest to you)
- Start a Blog (Let the world know about your local Reno business and what you can deliver)
- Write Local Press Releases (Tell the world about your successes)
- Write Local and Relevant Articles (Talk about your area of expertise. Become the “known” local expert… lots of people have!
- Collaborate with other businesses for joint promotions or marketing brainstorming.. heck, you can even start your own Mastermind Marketing Group or Professional Trade Group
- Ask for Referrals (Ask your friends, clients and peers… don’t go overboard, but do ask! Incentive Programs for the referral are a nice touch too.)
- Be Helpful… Whenever you meeting a potential customer or client, offer something. A referral to information, a resource for them, relevant news, a good book or even a place to have lunch. See how you can give before you ask for something. (Pick a local charity, serve on the board, volunteer, donate time and/or money, help plan and coordinate events.)
- Show Up! No one will know of you unless you get out there and get seen. That goes for for any marketing or promotional effort. Hiding under the rock or “being too busy to promote your business” will only bite you in the rear end in the long run and won’t contribute to your success and certainly won’t help people understand how wonderful you are or the expertise you can offer.
Now go forth and market, meet, greet, and enjoy your new friends you will meet along the way!
If you want more marketing tips, local networking tips or even have some tips you want to share… give us a call (775.322.3663) or send us an email… We’d love to hear from you.
(*The “Energizer”, “Energizer Bunny” design, card graphics and shape, and other marks are trademarks of Energizer. <see energizer.com>
Tags: american marketing association, blog, blogging, Business Networking, local marketing, Marketing, marketing professionals, marketing talks, Nevada, PR, professional marketing, promotions, Reno, reno marketing, Reno Networking, reno pr, Reno Promotions, Reno Social Media, reno sparks, reno-sparks chamber, sparks chamber, washoe county, WordPress
Posted in Business Networking, Online Advertising In Reno, Online Marketing, PR, Reno Marketing Meanderings, Social Media, WordPress | No Comments »
Monday, May 31st, 2010
Reno…The “Biggest Little City”… (for Marketing? Web Design? Social Media? Networking? You decide!)
Quite a distinctive moniker don’t you think? It brings up all manner of fun interpretations. And with that, there comes many potential spin-offs for all kinds of industries.
All you have to do is fill in the blank… “Reno: The Biggest Little <fill in the blank>”
And in this Reno-centric mini-blog post about marketing, I am going to list ten of the fun marketing-related phrases I have heard over time. Here goes:
- Reno: The Biggest Little Marketing Metropolis
- Reno: The Biggest Little Social Media Savvy Area
- Reno: The Biggest Little Networking Community
- Reno: The Biggest Little Web Design Town
- Reno: The Biggest Little PR Haven
- Reno: The Biggest Little Copywriting Culture
- Reno: The Biggest Little Promotional City
- Reno: The Biggest Little Traditional Media City
- Reno: Home of the The Biggest Little Advertising Agency (or Agencies since since there are some many per-capita)
- Reno: The Biggest Little Center for SEO & SEM
Reno Has It: Tremendous Marketing, Web Design, Graphic Design Copywriting & Professional Promotion Opportunities… all right here in the “Biggest Little City”
Maybe not all that interesting to some folks… but what I do think it represents, is the idea that this area (Reno, Sparks, Truckee Meadows, Lake Tahoe) has tremendous talent and so many marketing and creative professionals for web design, graphic design, promotion, copywriting and even professional sales, all in a relatively small geographic area.
A real smorgasbord of options for local business no matter their size or budget.
Reno is definitely the place to be if you are looking for lots of options when it comes to finding a professional, or team of professionals, to help promote a business either online or with traditional media.
Reno: The Biggest Little City for Marketing Opportunities (and some of the nicest people you could want to meet).
(A special heart-felt kudos to all the amazing marketing minds and creative souls out there who really do make business sing… It is a wonder to behold all this talent!)
Tags: Local Reno PR, Reno, Reno Advertising Agency, Reno Copywriting, reno marketing, Reno Marketing Opportunities, Reno Networking, Reno Promotions, Reno SEM, Reno SEO, Reno Social Media, Reno Traditional Media, Reno Web Design
Posted in Reno Marketing Meanderings | No Comments »
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
Part 6 of 6 – Reno SEO Expert* Shares Some Phase 1 “Secrets of Local Google Dominance”
It’s Not That Hard If You Understand a Few Basic SEO Ingredients
The Conclusion to the 5 Most Important Tips for the Do-It-Yourself SEO-preneur or Small Business Owner
- For this mini-article, we will look at 5 areas of basic SEO concepts (Conclusion below: ). These are important to business who wants a local, top-performing search engine presence. By faithfully following this approach you will improve your Search Engine Rankings giving you superior Local Search Engine Results.
The final Tips and Summary: Top Ranking Search Engine Results Are What You Want
There are lots of SEO tips and tools to keep everything moving forward for real-world and effective search engine ranking results.
If you can incorporate these basic principles I have outlined in the previous blog posts, build on them over time, consistently implement the strategies (schedule it), and use the Right SEO Technology and you will achieve Dominance in the Local Search Engine Results.
I have seen these principles prove themselves time and again and am amazed at how fast local businesses can get to the first page of Google by following the tips I outlined. Often within 1,2 or 3 months for some basic keywords. Then just use the formula for other keywords and over time you will climb the ranks.
As my final piece of “Great SEO Tips for Small Businesses” I give you the following list of more actionable items.
- Register with local search engines, local directories and social media portals (Think Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Ask, Local.com and TrueLocal and many others. They all want your info so they can give the best results to the people who use their service and so they can sell more advertising!) Also be sure to use Craig’s list, Insdier pages and many other local sales and review directories.
- Put your business name and local terms in you page titles — (not non-descript terms such as “Home page”, “About”, “Welcome” , etc. My example is Integris Marketing | Reno Marketing Firm | Reno Graphic Design
- Now do the same thing with your HI and H2 tags (especially using the local terms)
- Then do the same thing with your body copy (more local terms with the service or product offered)
- Put a Google or Yahoo or Mapquest generated map on your website with your street address… really super for local search results (just go to Google maps
- How’s your InfoUSA listing? Or Dun & Bradstreet? Go check to make sure they are current and have your correct address, web link, etc.
- Local News? Well you can’t compete with local papers or local info or entertainment portals, but you can add local content that is relevant to your business or your favorite causes. If you have a local mailing address where your business lives.. add that too! (On every page is a great way to go)
- I’ve said it before and I will say it again and again.. Add a blog (One that you control on your web domain and where you can 100% control all page content. So stay away from the free blogs…even blogger)
- Get “Local Inbound Links”! Search engines are using this kind of ranking criteria as an ever-more important element in local search results. So get into “legitimate” local directories in every way you can… Make sure they don’t just list your web site but also link with keywords for services you offer if you can.
OK… so that should be enough for most local businesses to cling to the top of the local search results. Want more success? Get your Google, Yahoo and Bing business listings, run some online display ads and you will have 3 or more places where you show up on the first page of Google… not bad for a small business these days, especially considering that over 65% of buyers look for local resources online (and some say the number is as high as 90% of all buyers use online search for local results).
*Reno SEO Expert. A paid professional who can provide measurable results and demonstrate ROI for promised SEO services and also be able to share success stories for past clients they have worked with.
Tags: Reno, Reno SEO Expert, SEO optimization, Sparks, web design, WordPress
Posted in Local SEO, Online Advertising In Reno, Online Marketing, SEO, Social Media, WordPress | No Comments »
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Part 2 of 6 – Reno SEO Expert* Shares Some Phase 1 “Secrets of Local Google Dominance”
It’s Not That Hard If You Understand a Few Basic SEO Ingredients
The 5 Most Important Tips for the Do-It-Yourself SEO-preneur or Small Business Owner
For this mini-article, we will look at 5 areas of basic SEO concepts. These are important to business who wants a local, top-performing search engine presence. By faithfully following this approach you will improve your Search Engine Rankings giving you superior Local Search Engine Results.
Tip 1 of 5) SEO Strategy:
Divide and Conquer and look for the little successes first. In my case, Let’s say I want to get to top rankings for Web Design and Graphic Design. A fairly competitive field for local results becuase these are the people that know what they are doing and have been around a long time. What to do? Look for other things that you offer that local people might be seeking and concentrate on those. For me it was things like Reno Copywriting and Online Marketing Reno and some other niche offerings. Now if I make some content about that (Think text) then it’s easier to get top ranking since there is less competition for those terms.
Once you get some “Google top ranking words or phrases” for your local market associated with your website, you can begin to build on that success. The theory is that once you get some success in Google it is easier to get more becuase Google likes a winner and if you can get on that path then you can build on your successes… one step at a time.
Coming next: “The BEST and LOWEST COST SEO Technology for Small Businesses: WordPress”. Date for next post will be March 8, 2010
*Reno SEO Expert. A paid professional who can provide measurable results and demonstrate ROI for promised SEO services and also be able to share success stories for past clients they have worked with.
Tags: Google Top Ranking, graphic design, Lowest Cost SEO, Marketing Reno, Online Marketing Reno, Reno, Reno Copywriting, Reno SEO Expert, SEO Strategy, web design, Wordpress. Small Business
Posted in Local SEO, Online Marketing, SEO, WordPress | No Comments »
