Welcome to the InfoStream Blog!

Web forums are popping up all over the web for just about every topic of interest.  These venues offer savvy businesses a captive audience in which to market their goods and services.

You may have noticed in a recent web search, that the results took you to a forum where your search topic had been previously discussed.  Forums offer an extensive network of information, and search engines love the rate at which their information in updated, and also how it is archived.  Forum members will often update post daily, if not hourly and seem to embrace the community of people with whom common interest exist.

Forums typically offer a variety of advertising options including banner advertisement and link placement.  Coupled with a simple analytics package and web marketers can easily calculate your ROI.  Another great feature of many web forums is that after your company becomes a paid sponsor, the moderators typically turn a “blind eye” to placing links throughout the forum.  This gives you even more ability the market to this captive audience.

Not members of any online forums… give it a try. You’ll be amazed at the information that exists, and a large group of your target audience all in one venue.

Example of Analytics

Trying to convince people that having a strong web presence is key to the success of their business marketing strategy is often tough, and I am not sure why. One of the many great points of a website is how we are able to track the metrics. When I do monthly reporting I can show each client a wealth of information about their website. I can tell them many different behaviors of the of their visitors on their site, what is their most popular page, did the visit convert into a lead, and how long they stayed on the website just to illustrate a few of the features I can track.

With my monthly reporting, I can also tell my clients what keywords searchers are using to reach their website. Website analytics can also be used to track other traditional marketing areas such as post cards, T.V. and radio. Success of the traditional marketing campaigns can drive potential clients to your website and cause spikes in website traffic. I could go on and on about analytics and how much I love them, and what a great strategic business tool they truly are. As an internet marketing specialist, analytics are my report card to let me know I am capturing relevant traffic. There is no other type of marketing tool that is this inexpensive and track able. I have yet to figure out why so many people are not leveraging this great reporting tool.

Let InfoStream Solutions install analytics on your website. You can either read the reports yourself or we could have an on-going campaign were we would do monthly reporting to discuss ways we could continue to drive traffic to your website. Google Analytics is a great inexpensive marketing reporting tool; if you have not looked into it, I suggest you do.

When you are selling a product or service to an organization its said you should always direct your efforts at a specific person, not just a title.  How do you do that?  You can’t just call the secretary and ask for the HR director’s name right?  Thats where LinkedIn can help.  Head to LinkedIn.com and click advanced search towards the top right.  Here you can type in someone’s title, company and voila! You have a name to prospect.  Now lets say you have a specific product that appeals to a certain title.  For example, you have a product that appeals to Safety Managers.  Click the advanced search, type ‘safety’ into the title and choose a 30 mile range.  Bingo, your new prospecting list.  If you really want to get crazy, check the box for 2nd connection.  This will show you Safety Managers that know one of your friends or colleagues.  For a how to checkout the youtube video.

Building relationships
Blog readers are likely to be your best customers, and knowing them better will help you to find more like them.

Establish prestige and trust
Sharing your expertise through your blog 1) shows your clients that you know what you are talking about and 2) gives them a reference point for all things related to your expertise.

Increase your web site traffic
More content on your site will increase the chance of exposure via search engines.

Linkability for SEO
As well as the direct traffic benefit of leads, links are important in bringing in search visitors. The more linkable your website, the better your search results will be.

Building trust and familiarity
By starting with compelling information and resources, and by encouraging repeat communication, you build familiarity. Over time, this creates a strong bond of trust, making sales so much easier.

Help Branding
This positive attention and these value-based, long-term experiences don’t just create trust. They help to create a stronger, better brand. This leads to word-of-mouth advertising, which is one of the best forms of promotion you can get.

Grow a community
Through discussion, interaction and comments, you can help forge a sense of community that can be strengthened both online and off.

Offer better service
Your blog provides multiple routes for customers and prospects to get in touch.

Many web hosting companies offer free email. However, they don’t come with the calendar and they don’t synchronize with mobile devices or multiple computers. Instead of buying a $3000 Microsoft exchange server consider an $8 a month membership with a FREE version of Microsoft Outlook through www.sherweb.com. It’s a great service and works wonderfully. All the features of Microsoft exchange without the hassle of cost and an it administration. With this service, if you delete or move a email to a folder on your phone, its instantly updates your laptop and computer. If you are serious about email management, consider exchange through sherweb. Trust me, we have done our research and they blow away the competition.

Websites can be expensive. Not to mention depending on your provider, you typically can’t edit them. If you can’t afford a website and need a presence fast, consider creating a Facebook or Linkedin page. The big buzz now is being found on Google. The reason is because 80% of all the searches on the internet are via Google. However, Facebook has OFFICIALLY surpassed Google as the #1 site on the internet. Why wouldn’t you want to be on that website?
Social Media is by far the quickest and easiest way to be found and provide information to the internet. Its easy, fast and best of all FREE!

A client of ours turned us on to 99designs, and in our opinion it’s the Holy Grail of original design and artwork. 99Designs lets you post a brief describing your company and the type of artwork you want. You then select the amount you are willing to pay for a logo or business card. They typically start around $150. Once you submit the brief, talented artists from around the world submit designs to you. Don’t be surprised if for $150 gets you upwards 100 original entries. Where else can you go to get 100 different original creative designs for $150? Now let’s say you find a design you really like but you want to make a few changes. You can communicate with each designer to have them tweak the design. Once you have the design you like, you select the winner and download your logo. Only the designer you picked gets paid. The 99 other designers don’t get a penny. It’s great for the ‘creative inept’ but sucks for the designers who put in the effort. 99Designs.com

Online marketing is more important then ever. There is no reason to be intimidated though. Sure a sophisticated organizational hierachy for presenting your marketing materials would be great but who has the time? Leverage those old marketing flyers, VHS Tapes, presentation videos, scanned post cards or survey results. Google’s search bots will still find them and the more relevant information you have available to the world, the more people will find you.

The referenced article makes several great points:

1. Online proliferation has no borders, throw everything at it you can.

2. They want video. Why read it when you can watch it.

3. Buyers do their homework online. The Internet is the first stop when it comes to gathering info.

4. Access to free information is appreciated.

For more info check out this article: Why Online Marketing Collateral

Selling online is a great way to generate business and create exposure. Unfortunately, it can be rather expensive if you want to sell from your website. First you have to create a website, an ecommerce cart, setup encryption, and get a merchant account. Then you have to lead people to your website through Search Engine Optimization and Adwords advertising.

We recommend that you test the online market first before you make an investment in your website. Their are several established marketing mediums to use that take very little investment to penetrate and they dont require you to advertise. Using these mediums will also alert the millions of people to your company. If you are selling a service, try using Service Magic, or CraigsList. If you are selling a product, setup an eBay store or a Craigslist ad. These are the quickest and easiest ways to sell online. Please remember, they are established marketing mediums. Your listings are guarenteed to be seen, no advertising necessary!

If you have cold feel about selling online, try these options first to make sure online selling will work for you before you make the hefty investment in your website. If you would like more info, email us at Solutions@InfoStream-LLC.com

Customer relationship management systems are typically expensive and complex. Not to mention, businesses usually only use a small percentage of the CRM’s capabilities. The solution? Business Contact Manager from Microsoft. It retrofits into Outlook and builds off your current contact list. It can track contacts, prospects, projects, sales leads, sales opportunities and an online marketing caimpaign. The information can also be shared with the rest of your colleagues and vice versa. I recommend it as the first step if you are intersted in a CRM. Especially since you can pick it up for less than $100. For information, check out the top 10 benefits to try BCM.