I suppose they haven’t gotten to know J all that well yet.

Introducing Daniel, our newest website designer.

He began just after the Holidays (does CEO Jim Thomas have this secret knack of hiring people when they’re already expecting presents?)

Daniel likes us so much, he travels an hour and half every day — to work with us lovely, crazy, creative people. Which is good, obviously; we wanted another awesome web designer to add to our already awesome team. He has several years of experience in graphic design and website design, including running his own company, Nextmark Design.

We’ve thrown him small clients to large clients, from simple to extravagant, and he has continued to impress time after time. Each challenge he has conquered, and each test he has surpassed, all with a smile on his face too. That’s more than we can say about a lot of folks.

But it’s true, “I have a passion for making beautiful user-friendly designs that help my clients succeed on the web.” And he shares that passion with the rest of us. Perhaps that drive and dedication to success and great design is exactly what convinced Jim to offer him the position. And we’re glad he did.

Fun Facts about Daniel:

Daniel Acree

• He is originally from Bremo Bluff, Virginia. » Heard of it? Neither have I. Sounds like a poker game if you ask me. Daniel himself says “it’s about an hour and half from Key Web Concepts… or any other semblance of civilization.”
• He’s a musician.  » Eh, most creative people have multiple talents, it’s just something we were born with. (ahem)  – But seriously, he is extremely gifted in creating original music and performing with his band, The Acree Brothers – his band was 1 of 3 finalists to compete  in LA at the National U Rock Battle of the Bands. Right on!
• When he’s not being creative at the office or in the studio, you can find Daniel playing family-man at his home with his lovely wife, Christan.

  Welcome to the team Daniel, you’ve already proven to be a valuable asset and we are happy to have you join us.

  PS – it was Jim’s idea to sit you next to J.

  

  Backstreets Back ?

  Oh, and Anthony wants to know if you’re a backstreet boy?

  Now let’s go meet The Intern!

Google Says Content Must Change, and Must Change Regularly

I hate to say “I told you so,” so I won’t. But I will remind you: Content is King.

Google and it’s ever-changing ways. How do we keep up?
I will tell you how, ninja style. Stay ahead of the game and a step behind “The Google”.

(The Google: An important and demanding, yet, very valuable search engine on the Internet that controls a large majority of the traffic to your site, or lack there of – “The Google Knows Best”).

I know it’s frustrating when you think you’re ahead in your SEO tactics, then The Google throws another curveball. Entreprenuear.com headlines this change with: “New Google Search Update Could Spell More Trouble for Business Websites”. Now do we have your attention?

Google Demands Content Updates, standard SEO does not cut it

The Google reminds us once again that content means everything. With the ever-changing SEO guidelines that google seems to spit out every other quarter, it challenges businesses to stay on their toes. Then there’s the debate on whether Google penalizes those websites that don’t update their content on a consistent basis or not. On the web-waves now it’s either

* Update your content regularly because Google only favors fresh, updated content

OR

* Unless your constantly covering current and recent events, regular content updates are not necessary.

Search Engine Watch points out that many webmasters/publishers struggle with creating new and engaging content as regulary as Google demands it.  Search Engine Watch also warns  to remember, though, that quality, evergreen content can hold its value for years; keep the topic and immediacy of searches in mind when creating new content.

One thing we also need to keep in mind when battling The Google is that your product, in the end, is bought by the consumer – a human being, not a search engine. Yes, you must attract those google web crawlers to your site by keywords and relevant content, but those sneaky crawlers are smarter than you think. If it’s stuffed with keywords and not readable by a real person, they will know and it will find you, then shut you down.

This new update is basically a newsflash screaming “FRESH content is FAVORED”, but it’s only actually detrimental to those businesses that are challenged to to produce timely content, specifically referring to

* recent events
* hot topics
* recurring events
* topics with frequently updated information

So keep this in mind when updating your content, Google is taking a stab at another tool that in the end is geared towards giving the end-user the most accurate result for their search, google recognizes when the topic and immediacy of the search matters most.

SearchEnginewatch.com says  “If you don’t update your business website very often, you may want to rethink your online strategy.” That’s a pretty bold statement, stating that this change is expected to affect as much as 35 percent of all searches on Google.

Create a Blog

This is key.
This is actually your golden ticket to get google’s spider to crawl on your web. Blogs are constantly changing, so link it with a wordpress site and it’s automatically embedded in your site and therefore counts as content management. UPDATE your blog — it’s a win win, you’re with the times and Google likes you.

* Unique
* High-quality
* Relevent
* Useful
* Helpful
* Informative
* Current
* Create content with value that your audience can’t help but want to seek it out
* Make “sharing” your content/blog/article easy

Add to this content. Maintain this content. And continue to nourish to this blog!

Visitors trust sites when they can go to it and recognize that the site is useful and established, and of course up-to-date.
Blogs are effective in the sense that a lot of common businesses have no other way to produce new and fresh content that can be frequently updated. Just keep your posts short and informative on a specific topic, this could be news about your business, a new product, a new employee, anything new for that matter.

The SEO updates with meta tags and keywords is just NOT enough anymore says google, content content content.

May I remind you – CONTENT IS KING!

Now, don’t try and rush into developing new content, Google is smarter than you think. Trust us, we’re the professionals. Those google spies will catch you and significantly devalue your ranking if they find:

* copied content
* spun articles
* fabrications
* keyword stuffed content

Now back to driving traffic to your site, back to SEO tips. Staying up to date on these search engine trends can be exhausting, (you heard it here first)  it’s frustrating to figure out when Google is going to change it’s mind again or if THIS time, the rules are here to stay.

A lot of copywriters these days not only are content writers, but SEO specialists as well. (Hi, remember me?)

What I mean by this- is a new term hitting the “web waves” called a content strategist. I won’t bother filling this blog with technical terms on what a “content strategist” is by dictionary definition; BUT, I will do my best to clearly explain why you need one. 

It’s one thing to know how to write, it’s another thing to know how to write in a marketable way that makes people want to take action.

I like to call a content strategist a “word ninja”. I will defend your site against spam, skillfully and effectively promote your business, slash pages of useless stuff (if necessary), and use my special powers (SEO skills) to lure your target audience to your site. A word ninja rises above enemy lines (competition) proving to visitors of your site they came to the right place to find what they were looking for. And maybe I’ll throw a few ninja stars in there to boost the traffic too. Ninja stars = shurikens = what I call your social media outlets.

CONTENT IS KING: My ultimate goal with every client is to make them MONEY. Money can’t come if awareness is absent. How do you make your company known? By drawing people to your website and keeping them there. I know a bunch of SEO (search engine optimization) tricks to tell the web crawlers that your site is the one that viewer is looking for. (The Word Ninja’s Mission)

You would be surprised how important it is that the right words come across in the right way when compiling the content for your site.  If it’s not done right, your business could suffer. This is why hiring a copywriter could very well mean the difference between success and failure. Word ninja’s often work alone on their mission, but they train (prep/brainstorm) with other ninjas (web designers<– I like to call them web wizards) all working together toward same goal – ultimate success of assigned mission.

Some businesses don’t realize that you can’t simply create a website and think that’s good enough. Just because you’re on the World Wide Web doesn’t mean that your potential customers are going to find you. A copywriter ensures they will.  We know the right words to use and how to use them with an advantage to your business in a very marketable way. We drive traffic to your site through back links, social media, keywords, and… content, content, content. Did I mention CONTENT? Ninja style.

Personally, I like to really get to know the company inside and out. I want to know all about you, why you’re doing what you do, where you’re from, who is your client base, how big is your staff, what do you want from your website, what do your clients want from you? No matter what kind of industry I am working with, language is a key element. Words are what drive interest in any business, and ultimately words are what drive people to your site.  We work closely with the clients and pick out– sometimes the smallest thing you may mention– and turn it into an entire marketing campaign, maybe even a slogan or logo.

Hopefully you get the idea of why it is important for you and your business to focus on content. Keep up to date with blogs for continued advice and links to tools that will help your business and drive sales to your website.

Til next time………..
NiNjA exiT —-

]]> http://www.keywebconcepts.com/blog/2011/09/content-is-king-hire-a-word-ninja/feed/ 0 http://www.keywebconcepts.com/blog/2011/09/new-addition-to-the-keyweb-team/ http://www.keywebconcepts.com/blog/2011/09/new-addition-to-the-keyweb-team/#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:42:55 +0000 Erin http://www.keywebconcepts.com/blog/?p=1107 Hey there, my name is Erin and I am very excited to join the KeyWeb team as their copywriter.

The welcome I received here is just what I needed to assure me I made the right choice in coming on board. To top it off, I received the phone call from our company president, Jim Thomas, on my birthday! (talk about a “happy birthday”)

@ebthatswho

Little background on me:

I am a Mass Comm graduate from VCU with a concentration in Public Relations, and a minor in Marketing and Business. I have worked for production companies in the past as an Account Executive, and have over 5 years experience in PR and Marketing.

I am also the Co-Director of Marketing and Public Relations for RVA Fashion Week and have been since 2008. My experience with account management and campaigns will prove that I am the right person to meet our clients needs, and help continue the success of all projects that come through our door.

I am very appreciative of this opportunity and look forward to many days to come! I hope to contribute more to our blog and post some interesting as well as fun information for business and for leisure.

Let’s start with a nice little blog about the “dying press release” , still debatable? (figured this was specifically appropriate coming from me)

See you soon!

PS- Go Redskins!

]]> http://www.keywebconcepts.com/blog/2011/09/new-addition-to-the-keyweb-team/feed/ 1 http://www.keywebconcepts.com/blog/2011/08/8-twitter-resources-for-businesses/ http://www.keywebconcepts.com/blog/2011/08/8-twitter-resources-for-businesses/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:50:53 +0000 Shannon Sullivan http://www.keywebconcepts.com/blog/?p=1081

Just getting started with Twitter? Befuddled by the difference between a tweet and a direct message? Had it up to *here* with hashtags?

These resources will help you learn the lingo and find out how to use Twitter to boost your business.

1. Twitter for Business

Twitter has created a resource guide completely devoted to helping businesses learn how to use Twitter. It covers every aspect of Twitter, with sections about nailing the basics (Twitter lingo/glossary; best practices; how to manage Twitter on the go) and optimizing your Twitter presence (growing your community; case studies; resources/widgets; API integration), as well as using the Twitter advertising platform (promoted tweets; promoted trends; promoted accounts).

2. Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book

Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book is chock full of helpful how-to’s and tutorials. It breaks down retweets and hashtags and customizing your profile. It also explores tips for brands and executives on Twitter. The guide will walk you through sharing videos, music and images; you can also get tips and best practices for managing your Twitter account from desktop and mobile devices, and for making the information more digestable (i.e., using filtering, creating groups).

3. 140 characters conference

According to the #140conf website, “the #140conf events provide a platform for the worldwide twitter community to: listen, connect, share and engage with each other, while collectively exploring the effects of the emerging real-time internet on business.”

In addition to a live tweet stream, you can also follow news about the event and read the blog to stay abreast of all the latest developments with Twitter, and how those changes and trends could impact your business.

4. Social Fresh: Twitter Marketing Training

Social Fresh has compiled a robust list of articles, from a variety of sources, to help you get started with Twitter. The articles are organized around the following topics:

• Why Use Twitter?
• How To Create An Account And Get Started
• Twitter Branding: Your Avatar and Background
• How To Get More Followers
• Twitter Strategy
• Twitter Chats 101
• Twitter For Customer Service
• Twitter Advertising
• Twitter Retweets
• Scheduling Tweets
• Twitter For Events
• Great Examples

5. AllTwitter

This “unofficial” resource for everything Twitter covers a broad range of topics, from statistics and announcements about the platform to industry-specific recommendations for Twitter accounts to follow.

6. Tony Hsieh

The CEO of Zappos.com, and Twitter evangelist(!), has put together a “just starting out” guide to help beginners navigate the waters of Twitter. It’s wonderfully warm, and feels like your closest friend is helping you out. It really makes Twitter less intimidating.

7. CIO.com

CIO.com has put together the following resource, Twitter: How to Get Started Guide for Business People, in order to help business people gain a better understanding of why Twitter is valuable, and how to get started using Twitter.

8. SEOmoz.org

SEOmoz is a fabulous voice in the search engine optimization (SEO) space; their blog is full of fantastic (understatement) insights and analysis of optimization/online marketing trends. Their posts about Twitter highlight the intersection of SEO and social media.

What are your go-to resources when it comes to Twitter?

But where do you get started? How can a business use social media?  What are the benefits? What are the best practices?

With the recent launch of Facebook For Business, I decided to round up some of my top picks for tips, tricks and advice for using Facebook for your business.

1. Facebook For Business

Straight from the horse’s mouth – a great place to start to get insight into using Facebook to market your business. The Facebook For Business center compiles a bunch of great information from setting up a Facebook Page or creating a Facebook ad campaign to using the Facebook platform to add a social layer to your website.

2. Mashable

Mashable is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to social news coverage. Looking for up to the minute updates, as well as a great store of articles covering the basics? Check out Mashable’s Facebook Guide Book.

3. HubSpot

HubSpot is a big name in internet marketing research. Their Facebook For Business Marketing Hub has everything you need to know (and more) about creating your Facebook presence–and taking it to the next level.

4. All Facebook

AllFacebook.com is an “unofficial Facebook resource” with posts covering a wide range of topics, including how-to’s, updates about Facebook scams and analyses of the most popular Pages and apps.

5. Inside Facebook

Inside Facebook professes to “tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.” They have a robust article archive brimming with insights, data and advice.

6. Social Fresh

Social Fresh takes a fresh look at using social media for business. Check out their various articles about using Facebook for your business; they also have their own list of  Facebook marketing and training resources.

7. Social Media Examiner

Social Media Examiner is your guide to the social media “jungle,” offering up how to advice, reviews, case studies, videos, interviews and other resources to help your business make the most of Facebook.

8. Kiss Metrics

Kiss Metrics is all about analytics. The Kiss Metrics blog is a hotbed of data, and there are some great Facebook resources here. Take a look at their beginner’s guide to Facebook marketing, or check out this sweet infographic about the science of social timing.

What resources do you use to stay on top of your Facebook game?

Do you have any tips for using HootSuite and programs like that? I’m not as familiar with them as I’d like to be, and I hear they make social media much easier. Thanks!

Let’s dive in! But first things first:

Hoot-what?!? What’s HootSuite?

HootSuite is an example of a social media dashboard.

social media dashboards: tools that allow you to manage all of your social media activities from a single location.

Rather than having to access Facebook and update your Page, and then log into LinkedIn and post an update after that, you can monitor and update your various social media profiles from a central place.

Social media dashboards can be online programs or a desktop application that you download, and many also have apps that you can use on your mobile devices.

What are some other social media dashboards?

There are TONS of social media dashboards out there. This list is not, by any means, all-inclusive, but it does give you a taste of what’s available:

• TweetDeck (recently acquired by Twitter!)
• Seesmic
• SocialOomph
• Ping.fm
• Radian6
• SpredFast
• MediaFunnel
• Unilyzer
• Netvibes
• Trackur

Why use a social media dashboard?

Social media dashboards offer users a variety of benefits:

Save Time

Your time is valuable! A social media dashboard can make social media management less time consuming.

After you’ve set up your various profiles in your dashboard of choice, you can access and check on your social media activity from one location. Just one. You can sign in and get to work…rather than signing into site after site after site.

Ping.fm allows you to manage your social networks from one place.

Monitor Trends

Social media dashboards enable you to easily track what topics are important to you and to your online networking sphere. Whether you’re monitoring brand mentions or you want to stay on top of industry developments, social media dashboards have the tools to help you do that.

Check out how TweetDeck lets you “follow topics in real-time with saved searches.”

TweetDeck lets you track topics that are relevant to your business or industry, and are being discussed on social networking sites.

Share Responsibilities

Ever feel like you don’t have enough time to handle your company’s social media account(s) on your own? A dashboard can help you tackle the workload and spread it out over different people.

With a tool like CoTweet, you can let multiple employees contribute to and manage your social media profiles. Plus, you can assign tasks (and note their completion) to keep your workflow moving and organized.

You can assign--and respond to--different tasks using a social media dashboard like CoTweet.

Track Metrics

So you’re Tweeting. You post updates to your Facebook Page. But what of it? Are people clicking your links? Are customers interacting with your brand? Do they like one type of content (say, photos) better than another type (text-only posts)?

Social media dashboards can be a great way to track data and see what results you’re getting across different social channels. And, depending on the service you pick, you can also generate reports that you can share with your co-workers.  With numbers in tow, you can really evaluate your social media activities and see what you do that makes people tick–or what areas you need to work on.

HootSuite offers tools that give you an in-depth look at the numbers.

There are so many dashboards to choose from! How do I know which one to use?

Part of selecting a social media dashboard comes down to personal preference. You may have to try on a couple sites for size before you find “The One.” Experiment. See what site has the user interface that you prefer. Try an online service; take a desktop app for a drive. You’ve got to like and be comfortable with the provider you choose before you make a long-term commitment.

Budget can be a deal breaker too. If you’re a small business with little to no funds for social media, you probably don’t want to sign up for an enterprise-level (read: super expensive) social dashboard. Or you may want to explore dashboards with tiered pricing options so you can pick the plan that’s right for you.

Seek other users’ opinions too! Check out online reviews to get an idea of what’s available and what works better for your particular situation. VentureBeat published an article on 4 “must-have” social media dashboards; Social Media Examiner also has various articles, blog posts and tutorials on the different dashboards that are out there. What better way to find out how something works than seeing what the community has to say?

♪ Wah Wah Wah ♪

Houston, We Have A Problem.

Since Sunday, I’ve been plagued by the worst thing you can imagine: a lifeless Internet connection (okay, well, I’m exaggerating a bit, but the situation really is inconvenient).

My Internet service provider happens to be Comcast.  Due to previous experiences with Comcast customer service, I was a little agitated by the prospect of getting the runaround again.  I’ve been hung up on and flat out lied to; call me crazy, but those kinds of actions don’t make me very eager to give Comcast a ring.

Rather than take a shot in the dark with the dreaded customer service hotline, I decided to try something different.  I whipped out my phone and embarked on a quest to get my Internet back, social media style.

Social Media: Better Customer Service?

As Twitter and other similar sites have grown in popularity, many companies (Comcast included) have started using social media to improve customer support.  Comcast has been big on Twitter.  @ComcastCares is their main customer service hub, with other team members like @ComcastMelissa and @ComcastWill providing backup.

Though I knew I had a new channel to be heard through, part of me was still leery. Would anyone even respond? And how responsive would he or she be?

Listen Up!

Well, here goes nothing. I took to Twitter and fired off my first missive, complete with the hashtag #comcastsucks (I was feeling crabby).

Supposedly, the problem was fixed late Sunday night/early Monday morning. It was 8, 9 o’clock on Monday night. I missed that boat apparently. Not okay. [Side note: my cable went out Monday night too.]

I also decided to call out Comcast directly.

There. I told them.  Would someone help me?

Someone Is Listening!

@ComcastWill noticed my Tweets.  And answered me.

But he was not curt or dodgy.  @ComcastWill was extremely polite.  In his series of 140 character messages, I received better service than I’ve ever gotten on the phone.

I wasn’t the only person @ComcastWill was patient with.  A bunch of angry customers have flocked to Twitter over the course of the past few days, and each one has been treated with respect (even the people who were more colorful with their descriptions of Comcast’s shortcomings).

Cautiously Optimistic So Far.

I’ll admit it: I got a pleasant surprise. And some faith in Comcast has been restored.  Comcast is taking customer complaints seriously and is actually using Twitter as a tool to listen to and address problems (no lip service here, it seems).  Well done, guys and gals.  Well done. *Thumbs up*

We did manage to get my cable fixed.  Internet is still MIA, but I was told that a solution is actively being sought.  While I didn’t get an immediate fix for the Internet, I do appreciate that the Comcast representative was upfront with me.

Takeaway: If a company makes a true commitment, it can use social media to deliver real results and answers.

Have you ever used social media to solve a problem? Did that work out?

**Disclaimer: This is completely and entirely a personal experience that I have elected to share and reflect on. I am speaking only for myself, not for my workplace or any of my co-workers.**

No One My Age Uses Facebook

While perusing the comScore Data Mine, I came across this great infographic about Facebook visitor demographics. Though most people tend to think that teenagers dominate the popular social networking site, your typical Facebook visitor is actually older than that.

Teens In Minority; Facebook Users Getting Older

• 25 – 34 year olds make up the biggest percentage of Facebook users! They come in at almost 21% of total visitors.
• The second largest group of people on Facebook are in the 35-44 age bracket.
• 18 – 24 year olds account for 17.9% of Facebook users.
• Visitors age 55+ come in at 13.1% of all Facebook visitors.
• Only 10.1% of Facebook visitors are between the ages of 12 and 17.

So, what does this all mean?

Facebook isn’t just for kids; you don’t have to be a teen movie idol or pop start heartthrob or some other teen-centric entity to have a successful presence on this popular networking hub.  There is the potential for your business to find its audience on Facebook.  The “age” of Facebook doesn’t have to be a deterrent.

Previously, Facebook posted in its Developer Blog that tabs (the different areas in or sections of your Page) would be getting smaller and that “Boxes” would be phased out entirely. However, the exact date for the change, as well as specific dimensions, were not available at the time.

The momentum has been building slowly over the months, and now the time for change is near.

Facebook announced August 23 as the official “launch” date for the changes. Tabs will now be 520 pixels wide, instead of 760 pixels. “Boxes” will not longer be displayed on the Wall tab or in its own “Boxes” tab.

Page Admins will have the chance to get ready for the tab width reduction. You can preview your custom tabs in 520 pixels so you can see what modifications need to be made. Page tabs will automatically be resized starting the week of August 23.

Do You Need to Check Your Page?

Facebook is allowing Page Admins to preview their custom content in the new Tab width.

The process is pretty simple. Just log in to Facebook and go to the Page(s) you are the Admin for. At the top of the screen, you’ll see this message from Facebook:

Preview Your New Page Layout

To make your Page easier to browse, we’re simplifying a couple things: 1. Boxes are going away (including the Boxes tab); 2. All custom tabs will be narrower (520 pixels). This is your chance to preview your Page and make edits as needed before the new layout goes public on August 23.

You’ll be able to click around and note what changes are needed to preserve the formatting. Make sure to implement those changes ahead of the August 23 deadline!

Shannon
Director of Internet Marketing
www.facebook.com/keywebconcepts
twitter.com/keywebconcepts