Archive Page 2

In House Training at Build Direct

Published December 1, 2008 Learn About Social Media 1 Comment
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Rodney and Steve Teaching / pic by @shanegibson

Rodney and Steve Teaching / pic by @shanegibson

Last week Steve Jagger and I completed some in house training at BuildDirect in downtown Vancouver. BuildDirect is an online supplier of building materials. They have everything from siding to ceramic tiles supplying materials to real estate developers and your average home owner.
We spent three days at the BuildDirect office and taught on three topics.
Day 1 - Online Video
Day 2 - Twitter
Day 3 - Facebook / Blogging

What did we take away from the 3 days together?

Observation #1 - In a company like BuildDirect with 50+ employees Social media is everyone’s job. It is not just something that you delegate to the Social Media director. Everyone needs a Digg account. You can all be on Facebook and Twitter is not just for the CEO. Take Zappos as an example, they have a twitter page for all their employees. It serves to give a store with no front door a human face and presence. If you have a team, even if it is a small team, get everyone on your team involved.

Jeff Booth, CEO of BuildDirect Posting to Twitter

Jeff Booth, CEO of BuildDirect Posting to Twitter

Observation #2 - For a company to embrace this social media space, there should be a push from the top down. It was very encouraging to see the co-founders of BuildDirect in all of our sessions. Jeff and Rob were very engaged and often times facilitating the discussion on how this company could use twitter to engage their market. To be successful in social media the leaders of the company must believe strongly in the effort. Simply dipping your toe in to test the waters will not do. I was impressed that the Co-founders were right there leading the charge.

Thanks BuildDirect for having us. We enjoyed the 3 days spent at your office. If you’d like to track BuildDirect’s move into the social media space, you can follow them on twitter at http://twitter.com/builddirect and you can follow their Co-founders Jeff Booth at http://twitter.com/jeffbooth and Rob Banks at http://twitter.com/robertbanks or check out there growing Facebook Fan Page

Facebook Fanpages vs Facebook Groups

Published November 26, 2008 Learn About Social Media , Video Blog 2 Comments
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We had a recent question on our blog about the use of Facebook Fan Pages and Facebook Groups. The choice of what to use is up to you. They are really a matter of determining the purpose for each. Group are generally setup around a cause / topic / event. While Fan Pages might be centered around your company or product. Watch the video below for more information.

Make Keyword Research a Part of Your Routine

Published November 24, 2008 General Internet Marketing , Learn About Google Adwords 0 Comments
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Last week was our Google Adwords Bootcamp and I made a confession to the group. I am a bit of a keyword junky. I usually take some time throughout the week and poke around on different keyword tools just searching for interesting keywords. Whether it is WordTracker or the Google keyword tool - it doesn’t matter - The important thing is that Keyword conversations should always be on your mind.

Why? - because new keywords and keyword combination’s are cropping up all the time. According to the Google Adwords blog, “… 20% of the queries Google receives each day are ones we haven’t seen in at least 90 days, if at all…” New keywords, leads to new customers, leads to more money in your pocket.

Below is a 2min 52sec video below demonstrating the use of the Google Keyword tool. In this video I discover a new keyword that is getting 800+ searches per month which I could add into my campaign.

Twitter Training at the Vancouver Sun

Published November 20, 2008 Learn About Social Media 2 Comments
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Just today, Steve Jagger and I completed our in house training session at the Vancouver Sun. We were invited to come in a give a presentation on Twitter and how writers at the Sun could use this social media tool to connect with people, get feedback, and source stories.
@gillianshaw at the Vancouver Sun TrainingWe had a great time fielding questions, and providing some pointers about how these writers can use this tool. Twitter search is where we spent a good chunk of our time as well as showing the advanced search features on Twitter. One of the great features of the advanced search for these writers is the option to search for a specific topic within a geographic location. So if you write about environmental issues, you can search the word pollution and discover, “What are some the discussions going on - right now - in Vancouver about pollution.”

Many people waste time wondering.. “Is Twitter or Facebook safe?” “How will it work?” “Will it waste my time?” “Should I tweet or not tweet?” Here is the biggest tip from the day. And sorry to burst your bubble but.. it is nothing new - “Just Do It” Jump in there, sign up for an account on twitter and get started. It is fun and only takes about 30 seconds to write something interesting when you only have 140 characters.

If you have questions or comments, drop a comment or you can follow me at http://twitter.com/rodneyb

Links from Facebook to My Website

Published November 18, 2008 Learn About SEO , Learn About Social Media , Video Blog 3 Comments
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I saw this question on the Ubertor Blog and thought I would take a few minutes and answer it here. The question was - “Does Google look favourably upon links from my facebook profile to my website?” The majority of these links are not indexed so they have no impact at all. The links that may matter more are the links from your Fan Pages.

Google Video Chat Demonstration

Published November 14, 2008 General Internet Marketing , Video Blog 2 Comments
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At Reachd we use Google Apps for Your Domain for our email, documents sharing and to create a wiki for our company. We are also a virtual company, working from home, coffee shops, airport lounges, any where there is wireless internet. So we were excited to try out Google’s New Video Chat for Gmail. In the video above, I’m talking with Steve Jagger. Gmail and Google Apps provides a great way to be productive and stay connect with your team.

One real estate agent in Sooke, Tim Ayres, recently gave a presentation on how he uses Gmail to be more productive. Contact Tim and maybe you can get some of his pointers on how he uses Gmail. It is a great tool and free!

Thanks Google for the new Feature.

Adwords Q & A from our Adwords Training

Published November 12, 2008 Learn About Google Adwords 0 Comments
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Last week we hosted our monthly 3 hour Adwords training. At the start of the class I asked everyone to share their Adwords, questions and frustrations. Below are some of the questions that came up along with answers.

Question: “How can I get my ad to show on other websites?”
Answer: This is what is called the “Content Network” By default when you setup a new campaign the content network is enabled. If you want to focus on the content network only, you would setup a “Placement Targeted Campaign” My recommendation is to separate the content network and the search network. Have one campaign focused on the search network (google.com and other search partners) and another campaign for the content network.

Question: “I’ve got a ton of competitors, what should I do?”
Answer: Work harder and smarter than your competition! Obviously is a broad and difficult question. Adwords competition can be difficult because more competitors will drive up the price. Here is what I would recommend. Pay careful attention to your competitor’s ads. You should not be saying the same thing in your ad or making the same offer. Same something unique and focus on your points of difference. Two keyword recommendations when it comes to a more competitive market. Pay careful attention to negative keywords. Negative keywords can eliminate some of the useless click and also improve your click through rate. Secondly, consider some keyword modifiers such as “buy” or “purchase” Add these or other modifiers to your keywords to capture some of the traffic that your competitors may not be targeting.

What are your main Adwords questions or frustrations? Drop a comment below if you have a question or join us next week for the Adwords Bootcamp.

Committed to your Success.

Rodney Bartlett - Lead Instructor
Reachd.com

Coffee Shop Consultation on Novemeber 14th

Published November 7, 2008 General Internet Marketing 0 Comments
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Friday November 14th I will be camping out at a coffee shop called the Raging Bean in Yaletown.

If you have lingering Adwords, SEO, Facebook, or Twitter questions, then book sometime to stop by and see me. You can schedule your time by filling out the form on our website .

No question is off limits and the time will be totally devoted to you, your business and your online strategy.

Currently the day is wide open. I’ve only got one slot booked, so select your time from the list below and secure your spot here.

November 14th One on One Website Consultation in Downtown Vancouver.

  • 9:00 am - 10:00 am - OPEN
  • 10:00 am - 11:00 am - OPEN
  • 11:00 am - 12:00 pm - OPEN
  • 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm - OPEN
  • 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm - TAKEN
  • 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm - OPEN
  • 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - OPEN
  • 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm - OPEN

Committed to Your Success,
Rodney Bartlett - Lead Instructor
http://www.reachd.com

Eye Tracking On Search Engine Results Page

Published November 7, 2008 General Internet Marketing 1 Comment
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Above is a video that I grabbed from YouTube. I actually ran across the video as I was reading this post from Google blog. In the Google post one googler was talking about how they do experiments such as eye tracking and field studies to better understand how visitors interact with their search engine. The video is only 42 seconds and moves very fast.

3 Things that I took away from the video and post.

  1. We make decisions online almost subconsciously. Notice how fast the person moves and clicks around. Very little deliberate thought is given to what to click on. Another reason to pay careful attention to your title tag and meta description
  2. In this 42 second video there was no scrolling that took place. Only the top five results matter.
  3. Your website is never completed. You can always be perfecting it and improving it’s performance. If Google is continually trying to improve their page, then we can all certainly do the same.

Are you testing and tweaking? What element of your site are you currently trying to improve?

ThinkTom.com and Rodney from Reachd.com

Published November 4, 2008 Learn About Online Video , Learn About Social Media , Video Blog 0 Comments
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Tom Everitt of ThinkTom.com invited me to be on his daily video show online. You can watch the video above this post. We talked a bit about Ubertor, Twitter and Linkedin. If you are using linkedin you might have noticed that Linkedin just recently added applications to their site. LinkedIn is an absolute must if you are a B 2 B business. Take some time and setup your LinkedIn profile. You can link with me here

Thanks Tom for having me on the show! I really enjoyed. One tip from my time with Tom. Okay maybe 2 tips
1. Have fun. - Tom is a great example. He has a blast promoting and shooting his videos. No they aren’t perfect (we had one out take today) but he is having a great time. If you are having fun, people will enjoy watching you and will in turn be more likely to share your stuff with others.
2. Secondly - Don’t be afraid to get started. Tom has shot 40 or 50 videos and already he’s had a news story on Broadcast TV here in Vancouver. Why? Because he had an idea, he had some ambition and he took some action on his idea.

What will you do today to make your business better?

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