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Upcoming Free Webinars

Email Marketing: Setup, Delivery and Best Practices
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 at 2:00 PM CDT
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4845385359732180480

Proven to be one of the most powerful digital marketing tools, Email marketing provides excellent content control, distribution power and data-driven insights to customer behavior. But, effective Email marketing is not as simple as loading lists and clicking send – it’s a strategic blend of technical efficiency, marketing know-how and human resources.

Learn what to do, what not to do and what is needed to establish a professional Email marketing program by attending this 30-minute Webinar hosted by WhyteSpyder.

Register for FREE here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4845385359732180480

Paid Search Advertising: Immediate Exposure with Immediate Results
Tuesday, September 25, 2012 at 2:00 PM CDT
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3353178756049524224

Most businesses are so wrapped up with social media and other digital marketing tools that they often overlook the leader in online marketing: Pay Per Click or Paid Search Advertising. Few advertising mediums can compete with its instant exposure, controlled budgeting and immediate intelligence – a powerful and effective combination every business should implement.

Stop waiting for results from other efforts and discover how you can drive traffic and reap rewards from online advertising.

Register for FREE here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3353178756049524224

Social Media Marketing: Strategy and Focus
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 2:00 PM CDT
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6484465826164909824

Social media marketing is not as simple as it seems. Though the platforms are free, the human resources needed for social media marketing can be intense, especially if your strategy misses the mark – and that happens more time than not.

Whether you are going to start a social media campaign or you are in the middle of one, this 30-minute webinar gives you critical insight that will save you countless hours of human-power.

Register for FREE today: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6484465826164909824

Facebook: Engagement and Advertising
Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 2:00 PM CDT
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8343051694455152128

Facebook continues to dominate the social media scene while also opening its doors for businesses to impress its users. In order to maximize opportunities on Facebook, you must stay abreast with the recent changes and trends in Facebook world.

Attend this free, 30-minute webinar and catch up with latest trends and opportunities within Facebook. Become confident in staying ahead of your competition by utilizing Facebook’s powerful paid advertising platform.

Register today for FREE: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8343051694455152128

Blogging: It’s Purpose and Power
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 2:00 PM CDT
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/829053001908397056

Blogging is not simply an opinion column – it’s a powerful promotional and Website optimization tool that drives traffic, converts and retains visitors. With proper strategy in place, a blog can become the most effective marketing channel you never thought you could have.

Learn how your blog can catapult your business. Learn what the big brands know about the power of blogging and why they continue to rely on its power.

Register free now: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/829053001908397056

Search Engine Optimization: Climbing Rank on Search Engines
Tuesday, January 29, 2012 at 2:00 PM CDT
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/651294957045868288

As one of the most fiercely competitive marketing arenas in today’s world, search engine optimization (SEO) is a complex, time-intensive and risky effort. With hundreds of actions and hundreds of directions to go, you had better do your homework before stepping up to the plate.

Find out why SEO requires such serious effort and if you are ready to play ball. The winners in SEO really do reap massive rewards – but it’s definitely not by luck or mistake.

Register for free today: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/651294957045868288
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On-Demand Free Webinar Archives
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The Truth About Websites
Recorded Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at 1:00 PM CDT

Driving Traffic to Your Website
Recorded Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 2:00 PM CDT

We get a lot of inquiries about search engine optimization (SEO) or Website optimization in order for businesses to drive more traffic to its Website through organic search results. Very few times, however, do folks really understand the depth and expertise required to legitimately drive traffic to a Website through this type of digital marketing. So, in order to clear the clouds a little, there are few things to keep in mind when grasping SEO.

First, it’s not immediate! If you want immediate results to drive traffic and sales, you really need to look at other options such as pay per click advertising (PPC) and email marketing. SEO requires a lot of time and for a long time (like 6 months). You need to be prepared to commit for at least 90 days to 6 months worth of services to see results. This is the reality of SEO and anyone who claims otherwise has a trick up their sleeve – period!

Second, there’s no guarantee. Like most things in the marketing realm, just because you invest in SEO, it doesn’t mean you will climb up the rankings for key terms you desire. If you want guarantee for key terms, you have to pay for them (PPC).

Third, SEO never really ends. Just because you climb up the rankings for key terms in organic search results, doesn’t mean you’ll stay there. You have to keep driving SEO indefinitely. The minute you stop is the minute your competition will win. And, whoever is diligent in continuing efforts wins.

Lastly, SEO is a professional service. It’s a blend of science and human experience. You may have the key terms and climb up the rankings, but you can’t convert a single visitor because your content is terrible for the human brain. Professional SEO writers understand the technology and the way spiders crawl sites, but they also understand how to write, like journalists, for humans. Good SEO drives traffic then converts visitors. I personally think that writers with journalism backgrounds are the best for SEO. They keep information concise, to the point and understand the important factors to get a point across. They also know how to research, how to meet fast deadlines and how to communicate in an interesting way.

Before you dive into the vast space of SEO, you should at least consult with a Website optimization professional like WhyteSpyder. We can discuss your goals and needs and give you an idea of what investment is needed to gain competitive edge. Contact us today at WhyteSpyder.com.

Email marketing comes with its challenges. Before layout, design, content creation, scheduling and database setup, possibly the most important aspect of email marketing is understanding and abiding by sending rules. Unless you understand and follow these rules, the best emails will be delivered to spam folders and will cause your sending ISP to be marked as spam. So what do you do? How do you make sure you get your emails to the client’s inbox? And how do you maintain a good relationship with the ISPs?

Servers act similarly to that of any type of network in that you are only as good as your reputation. There are characteristics that ISPs recognize, therefore marking your sends as spam and blocking them - or may even report you for blacklisting (and this is bad – very bad). It also works the other way. There are good characteristics that ISPs recognize as well that will help you reach your targets. So, it’s really up to each company to decide what its reputation will be, and, you can’t play by your own rules. You have to be “reputable” according to the ISPs rules.

While we won’t attempt to list all the rules and how to follow them here, this entry is the beginning of a blog series that will give you some key insights. At the end of the day, you will realize you need a professional organizati0n such as WhyteSpyder to set up, manage and maintain your relationship and reputation. It’s truly a technical situation that requires years of experience and skill that not everyone has or needs to have. One final point here: don’t just get an email marketing system that charges $10 a month – with cheap cost comes cheap service. Get yourself a good system, then build a good reputation by continually following the rules of good emailing practice, which will be a topic for our next blog entry.

Who are the best web design companies? Who should you hire and how will you be sure you made the right choice?

We (WhyteSpyder) are obviously going to be biased on this topic, but, whether or not you hire us to handle your web design and digital marketing needs, there are some key points that you should consider when hiring a web design company. It really doesn’t matter if you are starting a new site or revamping an existing site, the same rules apply and paying attention to these basics will help you make a smarter business decision.

Budget
Yes, you need to have a budget in mind. Many clients think that stating a budget is a way for design firms to get as much revenue as possible for the job. In some cases, this may be true. However, the best web design firms will be able to provide a more accurate proposal and possibly more benefits when they know your budget. Simply not knowing or mentioning your budget is much more risky on your part as it will increase the chances for your project to go over budget and could also delay production. You should set two budgets, one that is conservative and one that is your maximum allowance. A good web design firm will share your goal for the conservative budget.

Service
Honestly, it’s not as much about all the super-technical skills, programming abilities and wonderful design abilities. Those things matter, but, what matters most is your service. Just as the name implies, and like any other service oriented business, service is critical. From initial meetings, planning, project management, delivery, maintenance and deadlines, service is the cornerstone of the entire web design process. Don’t be fooled by high tech, fast-talking snobs that tell you everything he or she knows (I’ve met many of these people before and service is the last thing in their mind). Bottom line, this is business, and you need a digital firm that listens, researches, plans, communicates and supports you and your business. And finally, service is not something that just your account executive needs to practice, it has to be threaded throughout the entire company in every action.

Experience
Just like service mentioned above, experience in web design has a lot to do with the key leaders of the company. Executives should not all be programmers and software masters, but rather, they should be a mixture of professional leaders with experiences in the web design industry, marketing and business. 50 percent of web design is creative and programming. The other 50 percent is account servicing, marketing planning, agreements, business, accounting, etc (typical business stuff). You should inquire about the key players in the design firm and have a basic understanding of the company’s mission.

Pricing
Web design pricing involves more than just the final dollar amount of the project. It also involves how the company bills for a project and the willingness to work with your needs. Is the company charging per hour, a flat-rate fee, a profit sharing model or a combination of any of these? There is really no right or wrong way, but depending on the scope of work, each model has its positives and negatives. Your web design firm should be willing to discuss different options, find creative solutions with you and have the underlying ambition to partner with you for success. That being said, beware of web designers that make unbelievable deals! Also, you should avoid using family and extended family for your web design needs. I’ve honestly never seen great things come to fruition with these type of deals and, in the end, you get what you pay for.

And yes, here’s our sales pitch: Contact WhyteSpyder today for your free consultation. We follow all the advice we give and we’ll be sure to give you better service than our competitors. We are not successful unless you are successful – and we want success!

It’s always the hardest point to make when I meet with clients: your website needs to have good usability. It seems that almost all clients want to be seen online as sleek or technically impressive. But, time and time again, usability has been proven by data as the most desired purpose for website visitors.

One of the best ways to explain this point is to think of how you behave when you are visiting a company’s website. Do you have an agenda when you visit a website? How much time do you have? How willing are you to travel the site to find what you are looking for? Do you get frustrated when links don’t make sense? For all of these, I’m sure your answer, like almost every visitor for any website, is you do have an agenda, you don’t have much time, you do expect to find what you want clearly and yes, you do get frustrated when you can’t find what you want fast.

At the end of the day, you may have the final decision about your website design, however, in the long run, your visitors will trump your decision as they demand that your website be more usable. So, the ultimate point here is that you have to recognize that your website design is really up to your visitors, and it really doesn’t matter what industry you are in – human beings have a common theme for how they behave online. It’s simply different behavior than with a lot of other forms of marketing. The Web provides a certain value for users everywhere. It’s a simple fact. A website should recognize that value and expand upon the opportunities available.

For a free consultation about website usability, contact WhyteSpyder today.