The Media Zoo News

What Does Your Website Look Like on the iPhone, iPad or Smartphone?

2011-02-23T10:11:00.002-05:00

Improving your website visitor’s experience through effective website design that works cross-platform and on a wide range of Internet devices, smartphones, iPhones and iPads.

Businesses today need to think about how their customers will use their website and respond to their customer’s needs.

Get your site converted for mobile devices and smartphonesNo one would argue that their prospects are checking them out online before doing business with them. The problem (and opportunity) is they are viewing your website through multiple devices and formats.

You would think that by now there would be more universal standards for website design, but actually it’s grown tougher each year.

For example, have you looked at your website using an iPhone, iPad or smartphone? What about through different website browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Explorer? And then there are different versions of the web browsers, plug-ins, add-ons, and widgets. Let’s explore smartphone website designs and why it’s important for your business…

To read the rest of the article click here.

To learn more about how the Media Zoo can convert your site to a smartphone site, visit The Media Zoo.

How awful landing pages can kill email campaigns

2011-01-04T09:55:00.001-05:00

SilverPop did a study recently called, “Eight Seconds to Capture Attention: Silverpop’s Landing Page Report” that analyzed the email campaigns of 150 top online companies. What they found were excellently executed email campaigns that promised results, only to have poor conversion because of an ill-planned landing page. Uninterested prospects quickly took their business elsewhere.
Even the large companies need to concentrate on their landing page and consider it part of the whole project. Take some of the work used on making the email part look fabulous and transfer it to make the landing page equally as brilliant.
So what exactly was examined in this study?
• Use of readable URLs
PRIMARY FINDING: B2B companies were less likely to use readable URLs than B2C firms. A clear, unforgettable URL makes good sense, though probably not as important in a PPC campaign.
• Repetition of email promotional copy
PRIMARY FINDING: Almost half of the landing pages neglected to replicate the email’s call-to-action.
• Primary conversion goals
PRIMARY FINDING: 60% of companies utilize landing pages in order to sell their products or services. Other goals include branding, education and lead generation.
• Location of the landing page
PRIMARY FINDING: 17% of email marketing campaigns, mostly B2C, dropped receivers at the firm’s home page instead of their own exclusive campaign landing page.
• Whether the design of the page matched the email and/or website
PRIMARY FINDING: Over 1 in 3 landing pages neglected to copy the look, feel, and tone of the original email.
• Landing page design
PRIMARY FINDING: 25% of the landing pages used a 2-column format, while only 36% used the suggested one-column format.
• Placement of the key call-to-action
PRIMARY FINDING: 90% of landing pages had their main call-to-action above the fold. However, only 11% had further calls-to-action adjoining to the below-the-fold copy, in those cases where the copy continued past the normal fold.

How your client's brain becomes your ally

2010-12-31T10:16:00.001-05:00

How would you like to have a hidden friend at work behind the scenes persuading your perfect client that you are the right person to choose for the job? It is possible. If you want to capture, hold, and influence the attention of your prospect’s brain, you need to learn the power of consistency.
It is easy to purposefully mess yourself up without meaning to. Many bloggers feel the need to liven things up, to constantly reinvent themselves because they get bored of their message so they conclude that prospective clients must be also. But it is not necessary to shake things up.
Right about the time that you are getting bored with your content, your prospects are just getting used to it. They’re starting to hear what you say and understand it. If you change it, especially if the message is a good fit for you and them, you are risking losing the attention that you’ve gained so far. You want their brain on your side, and by changing, you risk confusing it.
The brain remembers persistently repeated messages.
The brain simply cannot let everything in or pay attention to everything. But it figured that anything repeated constantly must be important, so it will hold on to that information.
For the same reason, consistent and emotionally-driven messages are also remembered.
This is not new information to advertisers. With the power of repitition and consistency, a commercial from our childhood will stick in our heads while we forget the name of our third grade teacher.
Experts say that it takes at least 7 to 9 impressions for direct mail to make an impact on you. For an ad to even make it to your conscious awareness, it would take up to 56 repititions. So then it’s obvious that ads have to be incessantly repeated, no matter how brilliant and likable, and it would seem that the ad would get boring after so much repitition. But it’s not. It’s just starting to make an impact.
The brain likes to organize things.
It believes that things that have something in common should be grouped together. It tries to organize the information and group things together. This is why it is important to be consistent. You want your client’s brains to recognize the messages that you are releasing and group them together. They will then have a specific “container” in their brain for your messages that is steadily growing. These consistent messages will convey that you have something important to say. Simply because there is so many of them, they will automatically become more influential.
The brain also likes to link things.
Your brain stores existing knowledge in the subconscious, but whenever new information is processed, it links this new knowledge with the exsisting, moving it from the conscious mind so that it will pay attention faster to any information it is accustomed to.
For example, think of a company with an easily recognized logo. As soon as your brain sees the familiar image of the logo, it thinks: This is something I’ve seen before. I’ll take it into account and store it with my already large collection on this company.
That is why branding is so important and why companies work so hard on it. If the branding is inconsistent, your brain will not link the information together. Since these messages will end up in different compartments in your brain, they will become less influential.
It is important to know your brand and be sure that your messages stick with it to hold the attention of your potential client’s mind.
The brain values reliability.
Familiar things are comforting to us. It is the reason that you will frequent a restaurant, even though it’s not your favorite food. You know what they serve, there’s no suprises in what you’ll receive. Since it’s familiar, your brain interprets it as safe, and that’s what it wants.
Reliability develops a trust with your audience, and it takes time to build. But there is one thing you can do to help move it along. When you start to get bored with your message and want to liven things up a bit, don’t. To your clients, it’s just starting to work.
Being reliable and consistent is one of the best tools for growing your business- achieved simply by making a friend out of the human mind.

Secrets for Successful YouTube Marketing, Tips 8-15

2010-12-23T08:10:00.000-05:00

8. For making your YouTube video
stand out from the crowd and demand attention, your video must be very catchy, humorous or controversial.

9. In every video you create, add a message and then your advertisement. So that when people watch it, they get impressed through the message and likely to share with everyone. So, your video gets viral.

10. Don’t promote your product simply by words, that won’t be effective. Promote your product with live demonstration so that when they finish watching the video, they also remind of your product and not an empty mind.

11. Add friends – Adding friends is a powerful way to gain exposure on YouTube.

12. For a successful YouTube marketing, you need to have a proper channel with some customizations. So that it can get you more subscribers and also enough YouTube following.

13. When choosing the account type on YouTube, remember your target audience, niche you’re in and then choose a account to signup YouTube.

14. Categorize your videos by assigning suitable tags, titles etc. So that when people search for particular tags or titles, your video will come up in the search results

15. You should use YouTube like your blog, use the comments system in a effective way and build relationship.

Secrets for Successful YouTube Marketing, Tips 1-7

2010-12-22T09:48:00.000-05:00

1. The amount of videos which you upload – The problem that many companies face is, they upload the videos and wait for the customer to come to them. Use facebook and twitter to promote your videos, once your video gets some reach, then don’t leave it idle. Leaving it idle will make your customers think you’re dead. Upload new energetic live videos on a regular basis. This will make your potential customer know you are still around and not just another company that went bust.

2. Put yourself into the shoes of the customer – You need to make the videos live and energetic so that customer should come back again to watch it. So think if you were in their shoes for making the videos more viral.

3. Make sure you upload quality content and keep your channel fresh, so that visitors don’t get disappointed and will come back again. Therefore following the above 3 steps will create a huge YouTube followers.

4. Now you have uploaded quality content by placing yourself into the shoes of the customer, now the questions is how will the customer know that you have launched the new video, more important is how to drive traffic to your YouTube video?

5. Sharing is important. Whenever you upload a new video on YouTube, share it with friends and all the contacts from your address book. The more clicks, you get more attention and thereby you can reach more customers.

6. A quicker way is to create a company profile and add friends on Facebook, interact with them. Make them forget it is company’s profile and be friendly.

7. Promoting the video on social networking sites, make sure you’re on all the social networking sites, forums etc. Make sure you build community which you’re interested in.

Tips 8-15 to follow tomorrow.

Google Maps has replaced the Yellow Pages

2010-12-20T09:19:00.000-05:00

Google Local Maps is where prospects will find your business. The Yellow Pages used to be the standard in local business advertising. This is not the case anymore.

People often find themselves traveling in a new city or in a part of town that they don't know well. With Smart Phones, GPS, and iPads, today's consumer wants to know where you are, NOW. This means that they have access to and are probably using Google local maps on a daily basis. When is the last time you traveled, pulled over to a phone booth and read their local Yellow Pages to find the Thai food you're craving? That is where the local feature of Google Maps comes into play.

Google Maps is a game changer. The ability to instantly see your current location on the map is only the beginning. The search feature is an amazingly powerful tool for whatever your target market is seeking. Today's consumer wants precision and they want to know right away where they are going. There is no more guessing as to where something is or hoping you stumble across it as you walk or drive along.

It's essential to be "findable" on Google and Google Maps. If you're not there, you run the serious risk of not surviving. Today's information superhighway is akin to the Interstate systems that replaced small two lane highways years ago. When the larger road bypassed a small town, many of the businesses in the small town did not survive. The Yellow Pages has become the two lane highway.

Not appearing on Google Maps will mean that you don't exist to many customers. Their sole source of information may very well be Google Maps and you need to be there if you expect to attract their hard-earned dollars.

If you want more sales and to grow your business locally, be sure to visit our Miami SEO site. We offer Miami Search Engine Optimization services that will keep you competitive and earn you new customers.

Mistakes that will kill your business

2010-12-16T09:20:00.000-05:00

It is important to be aware of issues that will kill off your business. It could be factors such as when you’re taking things to seriously when you just want it as a hobby, or when you’re simply tired of it, or even when you are terrified of success or failure. There are also plain errors which luckily can be fixed. Watch out for, and repair, these warning signs to build a healthy business.

1. A bad attitude
If you have a bad attitude about your business, everyone else will too, and vice-versa. Every contact you have whether they are a visitor to your website, in person, or on Twitter and Facebook will know how you view your company. How do you know if you have a bad attitude?
• If there are long lapses between your posting.
• If you haven’t released a new product or service in the last six months.
• If you blame poor business on difficult customers.
• If you complain about how complicated business is and how all the successful people must’ve had contacts in the correct places.
• If you’re astonished that after six months you are not both rich and famous because you anticipated being an overnight success.

2. Marketing not to a niche, but to a demographic.
A fantastic definition of a niche is “a group of people with a common problem who assemble together”. So what is not a niche? Small business owners, copywriters, freelancers, work at home parents, women over 40, or men after retirement are not niches but demographics that people commonly market to. If they share a common problem, then they are considered a niche. The solution is to examine the problem in you niche so that you can solve it and figure out where your niche assembles so that you can market specifically to them. It is ironic to learn that your marketing will be more successful the narrower your niche is. Scrutinize your current marketing plan, figure out if you’re are in fact targeting a niche or a demographic and then narrow down your message to a common interior problem that you can solve exclusively.

3. Appearing to be a tightwad.
It is simple to set up business online these days. Start off with a Wordpress.com or Blogger site, pick up some clip art graphics, outsource a logo and website header to the lowest bidder, get free business cards from site like Vistaprint, and compose a quick newsletter list from your Outlook. This may sound like a good idea, but instead you just come off looking shameful. The impression you are then giving to visitors and potential clients is that you have no money, are unprofessional, and cheap. If you must pinch pennies, there are some things that you can do for free or low-cost that will not grab notice, but you’re website is not one of them. Of course you do not need to bankrupt yourself creating a website, just be sure that it has an organized, professional look, is simply to navigate and creates a web presence that makes you appear worth your cost.

4. Neglecting to secure visitor details.
You have a customer visit your site, who then looks around, reads a few articles, then leaves. They like the site and would definitely come back, but never do because they lose the url or simply get too busy. Then they’re lost forever. By not securing visitor details, such as a name and email address, they’re losing customers. Set up a way for them to keep in touch, offering an incentive, such as an ebook or valuable free report, in exchange for details. MailChimp is free up to 500 subscribers if money is tight in the beginning and you can build your newsletter up from there. By losing one visitor you aren’t losing just one potential customer, you are also losing all the referrals that they could have given to you, and once they leave, they’re gone forever.

5. Neglecting to plan long term.
It’s easy to think that business plans are for large business, and for when your need to visit the bank for capital, but this is incorrect. By not planning you’ll impulsively buy the next great marketing technique and jump from one idea to the next and then question why nothing works out for you. How will you know when you’re reached what you’ve been aiming for without a solid plan? It is not necessary to have pages upon pages of incomprehensible financial projections, budgets and legal jargon, but at the very least you need to know what the goals for your business are, who you are marketing to, and what makes you unique from every other business out there. If you do not have a plan, you will not have a business.

6. All learning, no action.
Information is great; ebooks, courses, videos and many other teaching methods can help you get started, but only if you make use of what you have learned. Don’t procrastinate, saying that you’ll take action once you’ve finished this online marketing course, or finished the 128 books that you bought, or listened to the 76 teleseminars. You’ll learn more in your first year of business from just doing, putting yourself out there and running your business is the best teacher. Information is wonderful, but it is nothing without action.

Decorate your website for the holidays

2010-12-15T08:55:00.003-05:00

We decorate our homes for the holidays. We decorate our offices and stores, too. But the question is: are you also decorating your online place of business, i.e., your website?

Every year businesses have tried to do something to acknowledge the Holiday season. We've seen holiday images in posts, some add ”Christmas lights” along the top of the site or sidebar while others have created special holiday messages and holiday-themed articles.

But this year we recommend taking a page out of Google’s book and actually decorate the logo. Google does this for major (and not so major) holidays each year. Here are two Google Holiday logos from years past:

Yahoo also has a history of decorating its logo. Here is a Yahoo Christmas logo from 2006:

You may ask yourself, with all the projects planned for this year, why would I feel compelled to decorate the website, of all things? One answer to this question comes from no less an authority than Jakob Nielsen, the website usability guru. On the topic of decorating websites for holidays, Nielsen notes:

There are two main reasons for websites to recognize holidays and special events, and both reasons fall under the same general category: To respect users as human beings, rather than simply as “eyeballs” or a source of e-commerce transactions. Commemorating special events is a way for websites to connect to users and be seen as welcoming environments, rather than places focused solely on money grubbing.

More specifically, the first reason for a website to commemorate a holiday or special occasion is to appear current and up-to-date. Major holidays and special events are important to users, and they constantly see these special days reflected in the physical decor of their surroundings. A website that doesn’t reflect what’s currently topical and important to users will feel out of touch. Worse, it might feel stale, and users might think it’s outdated in other respects as well.

The second reason for a website to feature holiday or event decorations is to increase joy of use. Even simple ornamentations like a Christmas wreath, a Valentine’s heart, or a soccer ball can create a small moment of happiness for users as they’re reminded of the greater happiness the holiday or special occasion brings. A user might be engaged in the dreary task of researching “enterprise solutions,” for example, and be reminded that it’s Christmas and a happy time of year.

We also recommend adding a video holiday greeter, email andy@themediazoo.com for more details.

Why no one is reading your newsletter.

2010-12-14T09:17:00.001-05:00

If your newsletter isn’t getting the reaction you’re hoping for, there could be several thousand reasons why. Most of these reasons stem from a common problem: the readers just don’t like the content. And this could be because you are making one of these five mistakes.

1.Your newsletter isn’t helpful.
This is huge. There are people who will sign up for a newsletter in a specific subject they are interested in hoping to read useful articles, but instead will receive nothing but promotional junk. Of course you should already know that endless self-promotion does not sit well with readers and you should never make every newsletter into a pitch. The content must be helpful or subscribers will not read it. Yet it is difficult to not lapse into self promotion. The author will sit down with the intention of writing something helpful but instead opt for the easier route of promotional ideas rather than writing another article. The default becomes self-promotion since it was easier, and the author may not see it as being unhelpful to their readers, but the readers will certainly view it that way.

2.Your voice isn’t persuasive.
Voice counts for a lot, though it isn’t everything. Putting someone’s feelings down on paper does not come across the same way as speaking to them in person would. The tone gets lost in writing. Artists, singers, and even writers have signature voices. You need to make your own voice genuine. A great way to find you voice is to call a friend on Skype. Have them ask you questions about subjects you’ll be writing about in the newsletter, and then just speak naturally, transcribing every word you say. Though it may be a tedious way to write, it will sound natural and attractive to readers. Plus, it’s faster than pouring your heart into a newsletter that takes days to write, only to have no one be interested in reading it because it lacks voice. However, voice does matter, but tone is not everything.
3.You’re not telling stories.
As humans, we love hearing stories from an early age. So why do we think that a newsletter full of perfectly ordered and structured articles will be engaging? Tell stories about your experiences in your industry and the clients you’ve come across. Everyone likes a good story full of color and drama. Plus, just like any great childhood tale, you can end with a moral lesson. Enlighten your readers on what you learned from the situation presented and display what others could learn also.
4.You have an unenthusiastic call to action.
Let us say you have a lesson to fill this week. Your newsletter is going to ask readers to write back or comment. If you need that customer to reply, you have to ask them to, not trust that they will. Be clear in what you want them to do, simply saying “Please respond” is indistinct. State plainly what you want your customers to do, such as adding a “click here” link with a reason why you want them to click through. If you want personal commentary, add a link with “just click to reply to email me back”. If you want them to purchase something, make it apparent. Most people hope that their readers will respond on their own when in fact many do not because they’re not clear in how you want them to reply. Give them a little bump in the right direction, but make sure you’re not a stranger to them; otherwise all of this is pointless.

5.You’re not consistent.
If someone wants to tune into the evening news, they know that all they have to do is switch on the television at 6pm. No matter where you are, most likely the same old news will be playing. It’s consistent. Great deals of newsletters are not. A publishing schedule is very important. Guarantee to your readers that they will have a newsletter from you once a month, or once a week- whatever it may be. Newsletters are doing your dirty work for you so they cannot take a vacation or have sick days. You cannot send newsletters out to clients whenever you feel like and hope to have a positive response. Your newsletter will be a stranger to them. The replies are directly related to the frequency that they go out. If you mess this point up, the other four tips won’t even matter.

So, in conclusion:
• Your newsletter has to be functional and not full of self-promotion.
• Tone is important. Record yourself talking if you need to in order to capture your own unique voice.
• Use stories if you are having trouble with structure.
• Do not be feeble about promotion- give a clear message on what you want your customers to do.
• If you do not want your readers to overlook who you are, make sure you have consistency with your newsletters.
Newsletters are hard work, but unless you are getting the response you want, there is no point in writing them. Try and steer clear of these five mistakes when constructing your newsletter and you should be on your way to great responses.

Getting paid for your time

2010-12-09T11:23:00.002-05:00

Everyone has those moments that they look back on and get that dreaded feeling in the pit of their stomach. I was meeting a potential client about her interior design website and some changes that needed to be made. It all seemed to be going brilliantly since she was open to my ideas and was ready to revamp her website. Thinking that I had found my next job began to plan out the proposal silently. But then the worst happened. The words… “I’d love to pick your brain, how about we go out to lunch sometime?”
All of a sudden I didn’t know what to do. Speechless and embarrassed I began to stutter the first excuse that came to my head, “I’ll check my calendar and get back to you.” After all, it’s really no fun to have your brain picked through, even though you see it frequently in any business. Then you find yourself become resentful, thinking with each new client, “They probably just want free help, they won’t hire you.”
But is this really supportive for obtaining new clients?
There is a way to reverse this, for those who have been in similar situations. Handling these circumstances with poise and without aggravation is imperative to turning the freebie wishes into paying clients. It might sound intimidating, but it is important to set boundaries within your business to clarify what you’re willing to do for free and what must be paid for. Getting paid for your time is important, and that must be emphasized. It’s not beyond your reach to do, and we’re here to help.

1. Take complete accountability
Do not be upset at the prospect for asking, this is vital. It helps to see the situation through their eyes. If given the choice between getting a favorite electronic for free or paying for the same electronic, of course you would pick the free item. It also wouldn’t be likely that you consider the company who is not getting paid for the sale. There is no reason to. Everyone likes things for free. Blame cannot be placed on the potential client for asking for free service when in fact they would be impractical for paying for something they could have gotten for free. It’s simply logical.

Don’t overlook the subtle compliment that is being presented, also. The person asking for your time already views you as someone who can offer helpful instruction; you should be appreciative of the praise. Since they are already partially “sold” on you, because they would be asking you for more if they weren’t, view them as someone who will be a future client or a basis of referrals as opposed to a scrounger trying to attain free labor.

2. Be sure that what you are offering is apparent.
If you haven’t given potential clients anything to buy, of course they’re going to ask for free work. While I was doing web design, I was not presenting enduring support packages. Clients were charged per-project which was considered done when the project was signed off on. However, it was inevitable that I would be contacted once the project was “finished” with small changes- insignificant things that would probably take 5-10 minutes of my time. It seemed that writing up an invoice for these tiny requests was just unreasonable, but all these started to seriously take up my time. Clients were paying once for the project, and then getting this revision service for free; I started to feel like I was being taken advantage of. Of course hindsight shows they were not in fact taking advantage of me, but assuming that since I had no charge for extra support, that is service was free. The blame therefore did not fall onto the client, but squarely onto me. It is essential to provide a definite offer that clients can purchase, removing the ambiguity of what is free and what needs to be paid for.

3. Come to a decision on what will be given away for free.
Content marketing is helpful here since you can give plenty of priceless free resources like your blog or newsletter. Introductory phone calls may also be suitable, as well as hosting live group sessions for people who are interested in working with you. Whatever you do offer, though, make sure it is clear. It is not required to offer services for free; you can get hired without free consults if you are doing a fantastic job of constructing relationships through your content marketing.

4. Do not presume that all they want is free counsel.
Everyone loves getting things for free. Just because they ask to “pick our brains” does not mean that they are unwilling to pay, it means they are hoping that they will not have to. You are trying to run a business which means you are exchanging your time for money. Treating them as a prospective client when they are articulating interest in learning from you is important. Take the lead and steer them down the path of being a customer instead of leading down the free path.

5. Be self-assured in your reply.
If someone asked to take you to lunch or coffee to “pick your brain” here’s a simple way to respond: I’m happy to hear that you’re interested in pursuing this. My next step is a one hour consultation. Would you like me to tell you how that works? Observe that you are requesting permission and handing lead to the client. You are also giving a clear service offering. There’s no need to explain why you’re charging because we’ve already established that your time is valuable. Get used to responding as such, even if you’re not used to thinking in that way yet. If they are interested in hearing more about the consult, wonderful, you can sign a new client. However, some will recant, saying that money is tight. If this happens, a good response would be, “I understand, you have my card so just give me a call when you are ready. My blog has many helpful articles and general advice that you can use until you are ready to initiate this project.” Do not falter or discount, you want to be firm and show respect for your business and you’ll see that the client will share that respect.

6. Stand strong and the freebie requests will stop
If you observe the people at the top, they seem to struggle with this topic less, though they get the most leads. Why is that? Being plain and secure in what you propose offers natural progression towards paying for your time. If you want to be the expert who always gets paid for their time, be clear and confident in what you are offering and be flattered by those freebie requests.

Google changing the game.

2010-12-08T10:32:00.004-05:00

Doing business online can be tough, especially when Google plays games with the business owners. Regular users typically feel that the “see who survives after we change all the rules” game is an enjoyable and satisfying experience, but it leaves the business owners frustrated. However, Instant Previews was recently debuted by Google in their latest version. Floating your cursor over links in your search results now enables a swift snapshot of that website. The rule that says any visitor to your site will decide within three seconds whether to stay or not is now obsolete. Users can now see a snapshot of your site before they even click on it and can decide in 0.3 seconds whether or not to continue on. Does your site pass the new 0.3 second rule? If not, let’s repair it.

With Instant Preview, the pop up window is simply too small to allow users to read your content and then decide whether or not to click through for a visit. What they will be looking for in the minuscule box is how well the page is designed. Since users now don’t even have to leave Google to get a preview of your page, you need to make sure that the content that they are seeing is pertinent. Since you will now essentially have a magnifying glass analyzing your website and presenting users only your headlines and possibly the subheads, you will need to clear the clutter. Here’s how:

Get rid of the mess.
First, examine how many social media icons, ads, sidebar entries and sign up boxes are on your site and if they are taking up space that could be put to better use in advertising or enhancing your site. These items may be important, but not enough to be a priority on your page. Decide what you want to take precedence and emphasize this content. Move the important information towards the top, make it bigger, and use bright colors. The ads and such can be moved down the page where they aren’t as distracting. Make them smaller and use subtle colors.

Consistently modify, simplify, and execute.
You don’t want your site to look contemptible.
• Look at your header. Does it feature cheap clip art?
• Does your website employ the use of many different colors without visible visual branding?
• How many typefaces are being used? If it’s more than a few, then it will need to be fixed.
A custom header for your page can be created easily using a nice, intelligible typeface over a background downloaded from photo sharing sites, many of which are free or relatively inexpensive. Image editing software will also be needed, which you can also attain for free. Without hiring an expensive designer, you can have a low-to-no cost distinctive header for your website which will make you noticeable.
Do not go overboard on color schemes, two main colors should do it, however black and grey text does not count towards this number. Be sure to make these two colors priority to emphasize your visual brand; any other colors should be subtle and secondary.
Also choose only two typefaces to utilize. Your message will be more comprehensible and easier to capture in a glimpse if you’ve consistently used only two typefaces.
It is also possible to use a premium Wordpress theme to mimic these expert design elements without the expense of a designer or your time.

Headlines are very important.
A fantastic headline is an invaluable tool to get people to your site in that instant they see the snapshot on Google. Be sure that your subheads also tell a convincing tale. The subheads can also often be read from the preview and must allure the reader to click through to your site to learn more.

Make your content readable.
Instant Preview does not offer your readers individual sentences. However, they can see how your paragraphs have been formatted. Long paragraphs and sentences can be difficult to wade though and can be daunting to the reader. Use short paragraphs, strong subheads, and plenty of white space so as to not make your content appear painful to read.

Clean up your content.
Content is everything. But, it must be presented properly. Content inside of an unattractive website will not attract searchers to click through and read. Revamp your website to make it visually appealing inside of the Google Instant Preview. Another bonus to this cleanup is it will also make your website look great on the tiny screens of mobile devices.

Small Business Internet Marketing Tips 6-10

2010-11-30T11:33:00.001-05:00

6. Check out your competition. Visit your competitors’ websites. Do searches for keywords related to your business. Find out what others in your vertical are doing and saying. This is a great way to get ideas and take stock of your own company’s online marketing efforts.

7. Repeat after me – “I have an ugly baby.” A lot of business owners love their websites, but the first step to improving your website is to admit that it has some deficiencies. No website is perfect, and every website can use improvement. If you have a website, you have an ugly baby [sorry]. Just how ugly your website is, however, is open to discussion.

8. Start blogging. Every business, and we mean every business, has something to gain by blogging and absolutely nothing to loose. The list of benefits is long, but here’s a short list of reasons small businesses should blog.

9. Post online video. Video is still a little cutting-edge for some, but the benefits can’t be understated. Online video is the wave of the future, and every business needs to have something on YouTube, Metacafe, etc. If you’re concerned about expense here, keep in mind there are some low-budget options that won’t damage your brand while still providing concrete benefits.

10. Contact us. We can help your small business rise above the rest. Contact us so we can discuss your business and your basic goals – our initial consultation is free of charge.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

5 Small Business Internet Marketing Tips

2010-11-29T10:03:00.002-05:00

1. What is the goal of your website? Ultimately, it should be to drive more business, but how exactly will it do that? Start with one goal – such as increasing the number of phone calls – and branch out from there. It’s important to set goals, but it’s just as important to come up with a system for measuring those goals.

2. Evaluate your website’s content – Content is King. What does your website say? Is the content unique and useful? Will people learn anything when they visit your site? When was the last time you added new content? Does your website have content worth reading? Does your content match your business goals?

3. The title tag. Visit your website. Look at the very top of your browser window. What do you see? Does it describe the page you’re looking at? Is it a unique description? Does it contain the keywords you want people to associate with that page of your website? If you’re a local business, does it contain your key local search keywords? If you can’t answer ‘yes’ to all these questions, check out this article all about title tags.

4. Call tracking and analytics. You can’t improve upon what you can’t measure. Analytics provide a tremendous amount of incredibly useful data, such as where your website visitors come from, how long they stay, and what they do on your site. Google analytics is free and pretty darn good, and we recommend it. We also recommend you make sure you can track every lead that’s generated by your website.

5. Take advantage of free local business directories. There are a few great local business directories that are completely free. Get your business listed in each of the directories below and you’ll see a boost in website visitors and hopefully a boost in business too.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

5-8 Email Marketing Tips

2010-11-29T10:03:00.001-05:00

5. Tell a Story
In All Marketers Are Liars, Godin emphasizes the importance of storytelling as a successful marketing strategy. Email offers the opportunity to tell the story in continuous installments.

“Email marketers don’t have a prayer to tell a story,” Godin says, “unless they tell it in advance, in another medium, before they get permission. Otherwise, it quickly becomes spam. The best email marketing starts with a foundation, like Amazon, and uses the email to drip the story, to have it gradually unfold.”

Too much email marketing, Burke opines, is one-off offers written as if recipients “like to run home at the end of the day and turn on Home Shopping Network so they can be targeted 24×7 by commercials.”

A well-crafted newsletter should be more than just a summary of your resume or company history. For instance, each issue of Sant’s Messages That Matter offers a free tip or strategy on how to make business proposals sing. “We focus on providing specific content, messages of a page or so about the kinds of things we’re good at,” Sant says.

6. Let Readers Drive Design
As there’s no such thing as guaranteed delivery in the email business, design is especially important. Because filters often block logos, graphics, and Flash animation, they can determine whether or not a customer or prospect even sees your message. “Filters are getting extremely thorough in what they’re filtering out,” Burke says. “If you’re not careful, those filters can filter out legitimate email.”

He recommends using flat text with hyperlinks to your Web site. “It’s text so it’ll go through,” Burke says. “You can put all of the graphics in the world on your Web site and once they click through to your Web site you’re better able to capture their identity and their information for future follow up.”

Many companies offer both plain and rich text email editions, giving customers the option of registering for the html edition on their Web sites. In those editions, design becomes especially important. But Ogilvy has found that email requires something different than traditional creative marketing design: Its studies have shown that users are most likely to respond to images and copy to the left of an image.

“We have seen increases up to 75 percent in response rates by moving the call to action button up next to an image instead of below the image, or by literally changing a link to a button so it stands out more prominently in the text,” Mullen says.

She has also found that the use of industry-, company-, and brand-specific words and phrases enhances the response. For instance, the word advice generates a high response for companies considered to be the thought leaders of their industry, but companies with consumer products, such as Apple with its iPod, will generate a better response using words like new or sleek.

7. Have an Exit Strategy
People who gave you their email address did so because they wanted to hear from you. But that can change and often does.

“If they stop responding,” Mullen says, “chances are it’s for one of two reasons: either they’re not interested in your content anymore or they’re no longer getting your emails.

“In either case we recommend that you define a set number of non-response messages [after which you] stop sending them emails. It sends a negative brand message and it doesn’t do anything to help reestablish your relationship with them,” Mullen says.

That number differs by industry. Travel companies, for instance, cannot predict when their customers will be traveling and looking for discounts on rooms and airfares, so their horizon is much longer–as long as several years.

On the other hand, a high-tech B2B company is probably only going to want specific information on wireless security when it’s addressing the problem internally. After the problem is solved, continued mailings about wireless security are likely to irritate. Devising a successful exit strategy is much like determining a successful formula for content: Know your industry.

8. Best Practices–Know what you want
The key to maintaining a set of successful best practices is to know what you want from them and be prepared to rewrite them as your business needs change. Mullen suggests starting with a good awareness of what you want your best practices to achieve.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

9 Ways Video Promotes your Business

2010-11-29T10:02:00.001-05:00

If you own a business and have a website, then you’ve likely considered video marketing. Once you learn and are determined to implement video, the next step is to decide how to use videos to promote your business. Here are just a few examples:

1. Testimonials – Ask your customers or clients to give you quick 1-minute videos of their feedback. You can also interview them about your business for a more structured testimonial.

2. Product Demos – One of the biggest drawbacks to buying online is that you can’t actually test the product. Bypass that objection and demonstrate your product on video to help increase sales.

3. Case Studies – If you’re involved in some kind of before-and-after (website design, fitness, SEO, etc.) case studies are an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise. Seeing an example helps the potential customer understand exactly what impact your service or product can have on their business.

4. Product Reviews– Video brings an added element to product reviews, particularly if you’re reviewing a physical product. But hearing you talk about a book or piece of software is effective too.

5. Education – Use video to educate your market on the use of your products. Lead them towards the sale by answering their most frequently asked questions and objections.

6. Entertainment – People love to be entertained! If you can entertain in your video and combine that with a call to action, you’ll have a winning combination.

7. Webinars – If you provide webinars or other video presentations to your market, capture them via video and offer a replay to generate leads or even sell as a product.

8. Commercial – Done correctly (meaning compelling with a clear call to action), commercials for your product or service can be very effective.

9. Business Overview – One of the first things many people look for is who they are buying from and what they stand for. Let your potential customers learn about you and your business through a business overview.

As you can see from the list above, there are many ways to use video to promote your business. Just creating video is not the only step to effective marketing. You must craft a video that responds to the wants and needs of your market. They are looking for solutions to problems and questions. It’s your job to figure out how to use a video to solve issues, answer questions, provide the right solutions and lead them to the next step.

Learn more at The Media Zoo – Video.

1-4 Email Marketing Tips

2010-11-29T10:01:00.000-05:00

1. Get Permission
“Email is one of the most powerful and yet one of the most dangerous mediums of communications
we have,” says Jim Cecil, president of Nurture Marketing, a customer loyalty consultancy in Seattle. “Virtually everyone uses it and in business-to-business marketing everyone you want to reach has access to email. It’s also very inexpensive and it can easily be built into existing marketing systems. But of all media, it is the one where it’s most critical that you have explicit permission.”

Without permission you not only risk losing customer goodwill and inviting CAN-SPAM penalties, you could end up blacklisted by ISPs that refuse all mail coming from your domain if spamming complaints have been lodged against you.

Permission is not difficult to get. Offer something of value–a coupon or promise of special discounts, a whitepaper or informational newsletter–in exchange for the customer agreeing to receive your messages and, often, to provide valuable personal information and preferences. Sign-up can be done on a Web site or on paper forms distributed at trade shows and conventions or by traditional mail, resellers, and affiliated organizations in a business network.

2. Build a Targeted Mailing List
“The very best way to get permission is to have your best customers and your biggest fans ask their friends to sign up,” Godin says. It results in a self-screened database of prospects who are probably interested in your offering.

That is how Tom Sant built a mailing list that now numbers 35,000 for his newsletter, “Messages That Matter.” According to Sant, author of Persuasive Business Proposals and Giants of Sales, “We simply began by following up with people we met at trade shows or on sales calls and asked them, ‘Would you like to get a tip from us every few weeks about how to do your proposals better?’ We made it clear that people shouldn’t be getting this if they didn’t want to.”

Sant includes a Subscribe link in his mailing so new readers have a means of signing up when their friends forward it to them. His mailing list “just grew organically,” he says, “because people would pass it around. We created an entire network of people who were getting these messages. It’s very effective and it’s enabled us to strengthen our position as thought leaders or recognized experts in the field.”

3. Work with a Clean, Targeted Database
Jack Burke, author of Creating Customer Connections, advises that you should work with the cleanest permission-based list you can find that is targeted to your industry and your offering. Many companies have this information in CRM, SFA, and contact management databases. But there are places to prospect if you don’t.

“A good place to look is with traditional, established data merchants for your industry,” Burke says. In the insurance industry, for instance, Programbusiness.com allows its members to send broadcast emails to its database of some 50,000 targeted subscribers and members have the opportunity of selecting subsets of addresses categorized by insurance type such as commercial, health, life, and auto.

Coregistration services Web sites, such as www.listopt.com or www.optionsmedia.com, can help. Coregistration simply means you offer your e-zine and email promotions through a registration form that appears on multiple sites. You should, however, do some research to ensure they will reach your targeted demographic and the lists are maintained.

“Too many companies, large and small, are under the illusion that they have the email addresses of their clients,” Burke says. “If you actually go in and audit their client databases, you’ll find they’re lucky to have 20 to 25 percent–and what they do have is often out of date.”

4. Adopt a Strategy of Persistence
It takes time to build customer relationships. “They used to say it takes something like 7.3 impacts to make an impression with an ad, and that was long before the Internet. I believe today it’s approaching 20 imprints before it makes an impression,” Burke says. “So if you aren’t touching your clients in some way at least once a month, chances are they’re going to find somebody else to do business with.”

Successful email marketing, Godin says, “starts with a foundation and uses the email to drip the story, to have it gradually unfold.” That foundation requires an entrance strategy to greet new prospects and set up expectations for the relationship.

“After the customer has registered for future emails, downloaded your whitepaper, or entered your sweepstakes, there often is nothing to enhance that relationship. Companies need to think about what should happen next,” says Jeanniey Mullen, partner and director of email marketing at OgilvyOne Worldwide.

Ogilvy’s research shows the first three emails are the most critical. Mullen advises there should be an introductory message in which customers accept an invitation and give permission for future communications, followed by a second that sets up customers’ expectations by explaining future benefits (discounts, coupons, or high-value informational newsletters). The third should begin to deliver on their expectations by sending the promised newsletter, whitepaper, or discount offering.

Stay tuned tomorrow for tips 5-8!

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

3 Basic Business SEO Tips

2010-11-29T10:00:00.002-05:00

The problem is, that most small business sites don’t have what it takes to rank well in search engines. This guide will help you with the basics.
The most BASIC 3 rules of SEO?

1) Use a keyword researcher tool like Wordtracker or Google Keyword Estimator

Find what keywords are being searched for. Then create pages that specifically target those. How?

2) Use the keywords in your title tags. And once or twice in the body of your page.

Each keyword you’re targeting should have its own page specifically targeted at that keyword. Avoid repeating the word in a non-sensical format as this produces poor results.

3) Then get people to link to you!

The hardest part is getting people to link to you. That is a major topic in and of itself. FUll profile links often work better than one liner “link farm” links.

Learn more at The Media Zoo – SEO.

3 Tips for a Great Homepage

2010-11-29T10:00:00.001-05:00

1. Keep Your Visitors Awake

Many sites waste valuable space on their home pages with either a “welcome message from our CEO!” or an interminable mission statement – sometimes both. Most often, that’s about as interesting as reading the tax code, so visitors nod off before the page even finishes loading. Unless he’s just been indicted, few visitors are interested in a company’s CEO. Give him his own vanity page and bury it deep in the site.

But your mission statement can be useful in one respect. Use it to distill your Web site’s purpose into a single compelling statement that contains important keywords. Then feature that one-liner prominently on your home page. For instance, MarsupialWorld.com might say: “The World’s Largest Selection of Marsupial Statues!” – a phrase that’s sure to entice any collector of kangaroo or opossum art.

Use that one statement to pique visitors’ interest and encourage them to scan the rest of your home page to see exactly what you have to offer.

2. Make It Short And Simple

Visitors want useful information that is served up quickly in usable, scannable chunks. Don’t expect them to scroll down through 3 or 4 screens to find out about your products. Instead, try to fit your entire home page on a single screen.

Be succinct: you’re writing for the Web. Visitors have different expectations when they read online than they do when reading printed materials. It’s also more tiring to read online, so make it easy for visitors to find the information they want:

* Bulleted items: People often scan these first and ignore text in paragraph form, so include your most important points in bullet lists. You can even create custom bullets for more emphasis.

* Clearly defined sections: Use color, header tags, or horizontal rules to structure your page into sections.

* Columns: These are easier to scan than long lines of text that spread across the whole page.

* Short paragraphs: Make your major point early in the paragraph because people often won’t read the entire text.

Use these techniques to briefly describe what you’re offering and explain why it’s valuable. Then provide links so visitors who want more information can go deeper into the site. Your home page is the appetizer that makes visitors hungry for more.

3. Tell Them Where To Go

An understandable, easy-to-use navigation system is crucial because visitors hate to get lost on a site. Frustrated visitors leave and never come back. Take steps to make sure this doesn’t happen on your site:

* Accessible navigation: Give visitors multiple navigation options to avoid locking out visitors using assistive technologies, PDA’s, or non-graphical browsers. Navigation with image maps or JavaScript menus are fine as long as you always include text navigation as well. Keyboard shortcuts are very useful to visitors who use keyboard navigation instead of a mouse.

* Search function: Visitors love to be able to search a site to find the exact information or product they want. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a coding wizard to include one. Some Web hosts provide them; other free sources include Google, and FreeFind. Learn more about how Web site search tools work at the SearchTools.com site.

* Site map: This is a must for large, complex sites – but it’s often helpful for small sites that cover a variety of topics or whose organizational structure isn’t obvious. By the way, search engine spiders love them because a site map helps them index the entire site.

Your site navigation has to be easy to use. You’re wasting your time tantalizing visitors with exciting copy on your home page if they get lost while trying to learn more.

Learn more at The Media Zoo – Web.

Benefits of Corporate Video

2010-11-29T09:59:00.001-05:00

It is always a good idea to make videos of special occasions as a way of watching them and reminiscing the good times. The videos also leave an impact and help us remember better than the photographs. The same rules apply when promoting a product or a service, or for that matter a company. The most effective way of promoting a company or a service is through the assistance of the media, and more than the audio the video format has more reach. This is probably why many corporations these days are creating videos with the help of media companies to promote their company. Videos are created keeping these things in mind, and the time frame matter a lot when trying to sell the company.

Corporate videos are all about giving the outside world a sneak peek into the company’s operations, what they believe in and what their specialty or focus. If they are able to convey this message to the viewers in an interesting way, they can be sure that new business will come from doing so. The aim of the video is to promote the positive points of the organization while trying to add a bit of life and excitement to the campaign. During the initial stages right after the company has been launched, they normally have a press release when they officially tell the world they have arrived. The videos can be used at this juncture or during meetings with prospective clients to show them what is in store for them if they sign a business deal with the company.

For a corporate video to be effective and have maximum reach, it is best to seek out a Public Relations Company or an Ad Agency. They will bring in their creative expertise, gather information from the company and create a video that will grab the attention of the viewer and help them take back a few words or images that caught their eye. This would be the first step to launching one’s services and products. Video promotion is used largely by Non profit organizations to spread word about their organization and the purpose behind their existence to invite sponsors and others to support their services.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

4 Social Media Myths for Businesses

2010-11-24T10:07:00.001-05:00

Myth #1: Small Businesses Must be on Social Media

A recent study found that 31% of small business owners said they don’t use social media because their customers don’t use it. If that’s the case, find where your customers are and the best way to reach them there.

Warren Sukernek, partner and vice president of strategies at Lift9, said there’s a rush to get on Twitter and launch a blog without a plan. He stressed that spending time up front doing analysis, research, and goal setting will make a social media plan easy to execute.

He recommended first getting active as a lurker on different social media networks to see what’s happening and what people are saying. For example, check out what other companies are doing on Twitter and then assess what you like and don’t like.

Sukernek also pointed out that social media fits more naturally for certain types of businesses, but that doesn’t mean other businesses shouldn’t be on there. It may just take more time to build an audience.

“I wouldn’t dissuade that B2B company from dipping a toe in. It might make sense to dip a toe in a different pool of water,” he said. He suggested that being on an industry-specific forum or LinkedIn might work better in some cases than being on Twitter.

Depending on what the goals are, gathering competitive intelligence might turn out to be what’s most valuable to a business, according to Sukernek.

“It’s hard to put a price tag on that,” he said.

Myth #2: Set It and Forget It

Don’t expect a case of build it and they will come. Sukernek compared it to building a brick-and-mortar store and not putting a sign on the outside.

“You’ve got to promote it,” he said.

Cross promote your web site with the pages you set up on social media sites. Sukernek advised integrating these social media sites into your business’ offline activities. For example, a retailer should list their fan page URL and Twitter name along with its company’s web site.

Time spent on social media efforts depends on the type of business and the goals involved, according to Sukernek. Goals should be distilled down to revenue and key performance metrics.

“Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Set some reasonable, manageable objectives,” he said.

Myth #3: Word of Mouth Presence Isn’t There

Sukernek said small businesses think that if no one is talking specifically about their company on social networks, they don’t need to be there. He disagrees.

“They’re talking about subjects that are germane to the brand,” he said.

On the other hand, what if your small business is being talked about on social media in a bad way? Sukernek said people are probably already doing that, and suggests it’s better for small businesses to be aware of it and address it directly on those platforms.

Myth #4: Social Media is Only for Broadcasting Messages

Treating social media as a one-way communication channel is an approach that’s doomed to fail. Check in with your fans and followers by asking for feedback, responding to questions and comments, and being personable to build relationships with customers.

“It’s conversational. It’s dialogue,” Sukernek said.

Concerns of small businesses on social media aren’t much different than those of large companies. For those businesses that aren’t careful, subscribing to these social media myths can result in some big mistakes.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

Best Way to Measure Video ROI

2010-11-24T10:06:00.002-05:00

Question: What is the best way to measure ROI on an online video campaign?

Answer: Using an analytics platform is an ideal way to track a campaign’s success because it gives marketers real-time intelligence that will allow them to continually optimize the cam-paign and ensure the highest ROI. For example, if you know that the bulk of your Web traffic is coming from ads placed on a particular site, you can increase efforts there and increase overall campaign effectiveness. The most appealing aspect of using analytics software is that it combines data from all sites so that, if advertisers are running a multiplatform campaign, they can assess the entire campaign through one analytics dashboard.

Search engine rankings are also a quick way to gauge an online campaign’s success. Since search engines now crawl and rank sites based on blended content—including images, video and audio—tracking how your ranking for various branded keywords changes over the course of an online video campaign is a great place to start.

Another benchmark of success is the traction video content gets on aggregator sites such as YouTube, MetaCafe and Blinkx. In addition to monitoring how many people watch your video, these sites allow viewers to tag, bookmark, rank and comment on videos. Such feedback is another invaluable way to gauge how video content is being perceived online.

Brand interaction is another effective way to monitor the success of an online video campaign. Several metrics can be used to address brand interaction: Tracking how long viewers watch an advertisement, what percentage of the video clip viewers watch and how often they see an advertisement can provide valuable information to online marketers. For example, if users consistently watch only a small percentage of a video ad, marketers might want to try A/B creative testing or change media placements.

By combining the above data, marketers can have a real idea of how much traction their online video campaign is garnering. The more information, the better off marketers will be.

Learn more at The Media Zoo – Video.

7 Small Business Marketing Tips

2010-11-24T10:06:00.001-05:00

1. Don’t Advertise Like a Big Business
Big businesses advertise to create name recognition and future sales. A small business can’t afford to do that. Instead, design your advertising to produce sales …now. One way to accomplish this is to always include an offer in your advertising – and an easy way for prospective customers to respond to it.

2. Offer a Cheaper Version
Some prospective customers are not willing to pay the asking price for your product or service. Others are more interested in paying a low price than in getting the best quality. You can avoid losing sales to many of these customers by offering a smaller or stripped down version of your product or service at a lower price.

3. Offer a Premium Version
Not all customers are looking for a cheap price. Many are willing to pay a higher price to get a premium product or service. You can boost your average size sale and your total revenue by offering a more comprehensive product or service …or by combining several products or services in a special premium package offer for a higher price.

4. Try Some Unusual Marketing Methods
Look for some unconventional marketing methods your competitors are overlooking. You may discover some highly profitable ways to generate sales and avoid competition. For example, print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. A small ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your website or generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.

5. Trim Your Ads
Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads for the same cost. You may even be surprised to find that some of your short ads generate a better response than their longer versions.

6. Set up Joint Promotions with Other Small Businesses
Contact some non-competing small businesses serving customers in your market. Offer to publicize their products or services to your customers in exchange for their publicizing your services to their customers. This usually produces a large number of sales for a very low cost.

7. Take Advantage of Your Customers
Your customers already know and trust you. It’s easier to get more business from them than to get any business from somebody who never bought from you. Take advantage of this by creating some special deals just for your existing customers …and announce new products and services to them before you announce them to the general market.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

5 E-Commerce Site Tips

2010-11-24T10:05:00.001-05:00

1. Think like a consumer, and put your products in more than one category. The online businesses that make their goods and services easy to find reap rewards in two ways: People purchase more and they experience greater overall satisfaction with the Web site. Consider up sell and cross sell opportunities by offering products that make logical sense together. If you sell paintings and frames, show the frames that best complement the paintings. If you sell a line of products that have a wide range of prices, show the progression from the least expensive to the most expensive. Customers may choose to purchase the higher priced items if they’re presented as options.

2. Keep it simple. Many people cite overly complicated navigation or too many pages in the purchase path as reasons they don’t complete their online sale or abandon their shopping cart. Successful eCommerce sites simplify the checkout process and display clear pricing and shipping information. They also post clear return policies and access to customer service. Putting your brick and mortar store’s phone number in a visible place on your Web site is a good idea. Studies suggest that consumers feel more confident knowing you’re just a phone call away if they have a question or if there’s a problem with their order.

3. A picture really is worth a thousand words, so use photos of your products and go easy on the text. Online usability studies suggest that people do not read; they scan. It’s 25% harder to read on the Web, so keep these guidelines in mind for optimum readability: Headlines should be 8 words or less, shoot for 9-12 words on a line (people don’t want to read across the entire screen), keep sentences short (15-20 words) and try to keep summaries under 30 words and hold paragraphs to 40-70 words. In this way you can maintain compelling product descriptions alongside your product offerings.

4. Market your site once it’s live. It’s not enough to just build a Web site. You need to make an effort to market and promote your Web site to new and existing customers. Collect email addresses on your site to help you keep in touch with customers and consider creating a newsletter. Seek links from other sites that complement yours. Optimize your site’s content for relevance and submit it to the major search engines. With ProStore, you’ve got an incredible built-in marketing opportunity in that you can promote your products to millions of eBay customers. Take advantage of this capability to reach a whole new set of customers.

5. Make payment processing easy. Online shoppers need a way to give you money online. That’s easy these days. You can accept credit card payments with either a PayPal account or an online merchant account. PayPal is ideal for anyone trying out the eCommerce waters since there’s less of an upfront commitment, but you may end up paying more per transaction. If you know from the beginning you’re going to have strong sales and lots of online transactions each month, you may want to consider setting up an online merchant account.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

Why Online Video?

2010-11-24T10:04:00.002-05:00

Video is so powerful because it showcases charisma and communication skills, allowing for transparency, which builds trust. Video is also powerful because it’s demonstrative, clearly depicting procedures, techniques or visual information such as charts and graphs. A web page is inferior because it can take a lot of text to explain a proceedure or concept where if you just show it in a video, it’s quick and easy, plus it is retained longer because it’s visual. Images stick better than words. Besides, it takes effort to read. Customers and prospects would much rather you spoon feed the information to them via multimedia. Listed below are the benefits of online video.

- Increase sales
- Lead generation
- Makes your website sticky and a repeat destination
- Can be used to educate
- Can be used in directories such as YouTube to drive customers to your website
- Can be used on your website to further qualify leads
- For online sales, video can close the sale
- For complex sales a video can take move prospect closer to closing
- PR vehicle for motion video news and announcements

Learn more at The Media Zoo – Video.

5 Social Media Tips for Businesses

2010-11-24T10:04:00.001-05:00

Here are five tips to optimize your small business’ social networks to attract more customers online. Small business owners and marketers do not have the luxury of lots of free time to monitor social networks, so these tips are intended to help you be as efficient as possible.

#1: Make Your Profiles About More Than Just Your Industry

While you should be demonstrating expertise on your Facebook fan page and your blog, you should also be adding local context to this information. What does the information you are providing mean for your specific region?

If you are selling homes, provide information and links about the local area, as well as the real estate you are offering. As a small business, you are competing against large national news sources, so provide something the big guys can’t afford to give—local perspective.

#2: Offer Value

By far the most important tip to getting value from social media for your business is offering value to the customers you want to interact with. First, make sure your social media presences contain all the information a customer needs to find you on and offline, and provide a clear idea of what your business offers.

Second, define what you’ll be offering your potential customers in return for their attention and time. You can offer promotions or discounts specifically for fans of your Facebook page, for instance.

If you do not have the budget for special offers, make sure the content you are offering is valuable to the potential customers you are trying to reach. Envision the need you are filling for the target customer and serve the customer with useful information related to your business or industry.

#3: Show Consistency

Nothing is more likely to reduce the effectiveness of small business social media outreach than inconsistency and spotty participation. You can’t expect potential customers to revisit your Facebook profile if it is hasn’t been updated in the two weeks since they first visited, or expect them to make a purchase from your Twitter outreach if you only post 2 updates per month.

For example, Naked Pizza, based in New Orleans, messages its followers on Twitter 1 to 15 times per day. It is now receiving 20 percent of its total revenue from these interactions.

#4: Diversify and Connect

It takes some time investment on the front end, but reaching out on multiple social platforms—then connecting the different presences with the same themes and message—is crucial to reaching the most possible customers on social networks. You don’t want to replicate the same message on every platform, either. Though services like ping.fm are great for simplifying content posting, try to add something unique to each social media presence you maintain.

#5: Be Competitive

Observe your competition and their social media activity. If your business is the only one in your industry and region interacting on social networks, congrats, you’re ahead of the curve. But more likely than not, your competitors are experimenting on social networks, too. Observe what they are doing to grow their base. Which tactics are working? Which are not? This is exactly what you’d do in a competitive assessment offline, looking for ways to improve your process by evaluating your competitors.

Remember to stay persistent, as it takes time to establish robust presences on social media sites. If you act on these five tips in your social media outreach, you will leverage your time effectively, and see improved results from promoting your small business on social networks.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

Top 10 YouTube Tips for Businesses

2010-11-23T10:53:00.000-05:00

1. Create and Customize Your Channel

First things first, customizing your channel is well worth the time it will take to set it up. You should add your company’s branding, customize the colors to compliment your company’s look, and add relevant information and links. A channel setup also offers YouTube users the option to subscribe to your content via the click of one button and the option to search just your uploaded content. The channel structure also allows you to highlight just uploads, playlists, favorites or all.

2. Add Subtitles

Since March 2010 auto-captioning has been available to all YouTube users, so there’s no technical excuse not to. Doing so adds captions for the hundreds of millions of hearing impaired folk across the world, ensuring your content is accessible to anyone who’d like to watch it. It’s an easy enough process that uses voice recognition, the results of which can be (and frankly need to be) edited for accuracy.

3. Don’t Overuse Annotations

A recent “improvement” from YouTube is the ability to add comments that display over the top of the footage. Don’t be tempted to go down this route, the annotations look unprofessional, are a distraction to viewers and depending how overused they are, can be a downright annoyance. Sure, you want to grab people’s attention and make an immediate impression, but your video content and other info you’ve added to the site should be enough to not have to rely on extraneous text.

4. Act To Remove Offensive Comments

While you can’t stop trolls from adding nasty comments to your videos or channel, you have the power to delete offensive or spammy remarks from the worst offenders. Taking advantage of this option requires good judgment. It’s obviously not a great idea to instantly remove any negative or critical comments, especially relevant ones, but you can certainly remove any spam or comments that use offensive language. If challenged over the removal make a simple statement to the effect that such comments will not be tolerated. If you’re getting seriously spammed or abused by a particular person, you can also block that user, but this should be a last resort. There are also options open to you to moderate comments before they go live, so you can nip any nasties in the bud before they are posted.

5. Engage With the YouTube Community

Don’t be a YouTube island. After all, it’s a social platform, so be sure to check out other content on the site, favorite appropriate videos and make suitable YouTube “friends.” If you really can’t, or don’t want to associate your company with other companies or individuals, then think wider. Why not look at content or channels that cover your local area, or that are for a good cause that you/your company supports. As well as engaging with other users, be sure to keep up to date with YouTube’s own news. The site goes through some fairly major changes from time to time and adds new features on a regular basis, so it’s well worth following the official YouTube blog, at the very least, to be kept up to date with site and community news.

6. Organize Your Content

Be sure to organize your content to be viewer-friendly rather than just offer a linear stream of video uploads. Create playlists to group relevant videos together, or lump older content into time-related (March 2010, Spring 2010, etc) folders if that’s more relevant to your organization. Remember that YouTube offers users the option to embed entire playlists (in addition to individual videos) into external sites, so give the creation of them, their titles and description, some decent thought.

7. Don’t Overlook Tags

As with many other sites, YouTube’s content is organized on a tag word basis. It’s more than worth taking the time to add the correct tags to your videos. The beauty of a tag word system is that it works on the basis of logic, but also on the more-the-merrier principle as you can’t know what search terms people will use. Really try and brainstorm around the tags you’re adding. For example, if your company offers dog products add “puppy,” “pooch,” “mutt,” “hound,” etc, too. As far as categories go, YouTube offers around 15 to choose from. Obviously try to use the most relevant, but don’t be afraid to experiment if your content could fall into one or the other, but be sure to monitor how the different videos perform so you can make an educated decision about categories in the future.

8. Promote Your YouTube Videos Elsewhere

Don’t assume viewers will come to you, or automatically think to look you up on YouTube. Every time you post a video that’s relevant for general sharing, blog about it, tweet it or add it to your Facebook (Facebook) Page. The last two actions are easy through YouTube’s account settings that automatically publishes news of a new video if you’ve linked up the social services. While YouTube is due to retire its “Link to Blog (blog)” option from the account settings soon, it’s easy enough to embed the relevant video in a blog post using HTML and will help push users towards your video content. In addition, don’t shy away from allowing embedding of your videos on other sites — the more views the better.

9. Use YouTube’s Free Analytics Tools

YouTube offers every user free analytics data via the “Insight” button on every uploaded video. This free-to-view info should not be overlooked as it can offer you some valuable info on not only views stats, but demographics, community, and the most useful — “discovery” data — info on how users came across the video, including the popular links they followed to get there. The tools are there – be sure to use them.

10. Don’t Neglect Your Channel

There are so many neglected YouTube channels, even from social, or web 2.0 firms that you’d think would realize the value in an up-to-date video resource for their company. While we’re by no means advocating needlessly creating video content, if you’re looking to go down the YouTube route then don’t let your resolve or enthusiasm for the service dwindle a couple of months in. Even if you have no new content to post, still keep logging in to stay on top of comments, friend requests, add favorites, etc, so as not to relegate your channel to the ranks of the unloved.

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

Video SEO tips

2010-11-23T10:52:00.001-05:00

1. Optimize with keywords.
Just like any type of text-based content, video SEO involves optimizing with target relevant keywords — both for search engines and for user experience. Use keywords in:

File name
Title
Tags
URL
Link text

Beyond that, include a paragraph of optimized text that provides a brief description of the video. Again, the benefits are twofold: You’ll improve the user experience and your search rankings.

2. Distribute videos on video-sharing sites.
In addition to posting videos on your own site, video-sharing sites are effective tools for gaining visibility and additional links. Remember these few points to maximize results:

Don’t forget that videos hosted on YouTube and other video-sharing sites should be optimized for keywords
YouTube channel pages — and those of other video-sharing sites — should be optimized, as well
Use a video distribution service like TubeMogul to deploy your videos to the top sharing sites

3. Implement a linking strategy.
Video is judged by the same linking standards as all other forms of digital content. So building both internal and external links is crucial for video SEO. Ideas for a linking strategy include:

Cross-linking to other videos
Linking to videos from relevant web pages
Linking to videos in blog posts
Tweeting the video
Linking to videos from social media pages
Bookmarking the video

4. Encourage viewers to share your videos.
First thing is first — if you want users to share your videos, you must create content worth sharing. If your video isn’t interesting, relevant, entertaining or informative, users aren’t likely to share it, let alone view it. From there:

Allow and encourage users to comment on the video
Make it easy for users to share your video on You Tube, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace
Offer video content in multiple formats so users can choose the one that best suited to their platform and connectivity speed

5. Re-purpose your videos.
As with text content, the more optimized video, the better. Get creative in order to re-purpose videos across the web:

Embed videos in blog posts
Break up long videos and create multiple shorter ones
Use transcriptions of videos to create blog posts or content for web pages
Take screen shots from videos and post them to Flickr and other image-sharing sites
Turn offline content, such as training videos or videos of a conference keynote speech, into optimized digital assets for your website

Learn more at The Media Zoo.

Landing Page Tips

2010-11-23T10:46:00.001-05:00

5 Landing Page Tips for Higher Conversions:

Simplify your content. Landing page content should be in bullet form, not paragraphs. In addition, it should focus on the benefits of your products/services, not the features. A visitor to your site is already interested, so why sell them on what your offering does? Instead, sell them on how they can benefit from it. Keep it short, simple, and to the point. Remember, this is your opportunity to add value to their experience and keep their eyes on your site instead of the competition’s.
Shorten your lead form. Think about what you truly need from your customers in order to consider them a lead. At this point in the process, do you really need to know their industry or the size of their organization? Or would you be better off simplifying their commitment and only asking for an email address, name, name of company, and a telephone number? The shorter your lead form, the more likely a potential customer is to fill it out.
Use your analytics to drive decisions. Your site analytics package offers a lot of useful data that you can leverage to improve the performance of your landing pages. For instance, do you know the screen resolution that 75% of your top prospects are using? Tapping into this data for current site profiles could tell you exactly that. Moreover, it could help you determine whether visitors can actually see the benefits of your offering or the lead form, and the specific browser types they are using.
Keep the conversion path in mind when using images. The use of images on landing pages can be powerful as they attract the eye and can help keep a user on the page. However, they are not risk free. For example, some images might distract the eye from the conversion path, or sit front and center while pushing a lead form below the fold or off to the side. When considering the using of images, think about driving the user down the path to conversion. You want to be sure that your imagery enhances the experience, and does not detract from the optimal path.
Leverage landing pages for extended user engagement. Beyond driving visitors down a conversion path, think about how you can leverage landing pages to engage the consumer beyond today. For instance, do you have a Facebook fan page, a blog, press releases, a newsletter, or an RSS feed? If so, think about how you can offer such content to visitors so that they continue to engage with your brand beyond the initial lead form. Adding simple links, or teasers for content such as white papers, behind the lead form will allow you to keep your customers engaged throughout the sales process and beyond.

For a FREE CONSULTATION on how to improve your landing page, call The Media Zoo at (954) 229-1933 or click here to learn more.

Top 11 SEO tips

2010-11-23T10:42:00.001-05:00

1. Be bold. Use the tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.

2. Deep linking. Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible. What does it tell a search engine when other web sites are linking to different pages on your site? That you obviously have lots of worthwhile content. What does it tell a search engine that all your links are coming in to the home page? That you have a shallow site of little value, or that your links were generated by automation rather than by the value of your site. Here is an example of deep linking, in this case to my personal happiness workbook.

3. Become a foreigner. Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?

4. Social bookmarking. Make it easy for your visitors to social bookmark your website, creating important links that the search engines value. There are plenty of free social bookmarking widgets available. We offer The Bookmarketer

5. Newsletters. Offer articles to ezine publishers that archive their ezines. The links stay live often for many years in their archives.

6. First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won’t follow additional links to the same page. You can see this in action at the link to the home page on this web site monitoring page

7. Multiple domains. If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?

8. Article exchanges. You’ve heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someone else’s article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links. (More on high quality links in other tips.)

9. Titles for links. Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.

10. Not anchor text. Don’t overdo the anchor text. You don’t want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation – something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name other times, “Gumbo Pudding Pop” occasionally, “Get gumbo pudding pops” as well, “Gumbo-flavored pudding pops” some other times, etc.

11. Site map. A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too. It’s called the navigation bar. See how the second navigation bar at the bottom of Last Minute Florida Villas is like a mini-site map?

Learn more at The Media Zoo – SEO.

Video Benefits

2010-11-23T10:39:00.000-05:00

Create Better Call to Actions

When an actor says to fill out a form, statistics show that 43% more will do this task. If part of your websites sales objective is to get people to your site and then do a specific action plan, adding video will help your customers accomplish this task.

Saving Time in Man Hours

By having a quality video spokesperson answering confusing questions or showing a presentation of a confusing product, time and energy will be saved from having to answer these questions yourself.

What Do Customers See at Your Front Door

Your website is a reflection of your commitment to excellence and the look and feel of your website is no different. By having an informative video welcoming or conveying a strong call to action will let your visitors know you mean business.

You Can Increase Sales by Having Strong Call to Actions

Did you know that video is the best way for customers to identify with the branding of your company? Why do Coke and McDonald’s still advertise on TV; because it works!

More than Just Text for Testimonials

Testimonials look great on paper, but when someone sees a real person giving testimonials about a product or service, sales can increase exponentially.

Introduce Your Team

A great way for potential new customers to meet your staff and your office is by having them on your website.

Ask For the Sale

This may be a silly example, but if you were to ask people to follow you and started walking around the building, many people would follow you, simply because you asked them to. You always have to ask for the sale. Your script should have the actor ask for you, every time.

Video simply increases sales, builds rapport, and establishes trust.

Learn more at The Media Zoo – Video.

Why Website Videos?

2010-11-23T10:37:00.000-05:00

Using Website Videos is an easy, innovative way to promote your business, improve customer relations, and increase sales. What does your business offer you customers and prospects when they visit your website? Is there just a wealth of text? What is the first impression a customer receives of your business?

With a Website Video, professionally produced and customized, tell your customers what you want them to hear about your business. Think of your Video Spokesperson as an extra sales person who requires no sales training or supervision, does not expect commissions, company benefits or vacations; and delivers perfect presentations every time.

Of the people viewing marketing-orientated videos, over half will take some sort of action after viewing a video…including 12% who will actually buy the product being offered. To put this into perspective, typically only .5% to 2% of visitors

to a “text only” web site will end up purchasing a service or product.

65% of online surfers will view video advertisements to the end

(less than 20% read “text only” sites to completion).

68% of people who watch website videos, will in turn, forward links for these

videos onto their friends…turning them into viral traffic machines.

72% of online surfers are watching web videos every week. By the

year 2011, it’s estimated this number will climb to 87% of web surfers.

An estimated 1 billion dollars will be spent on video ads in this year. By 2011, that number will climb to at least 4.3 billion dollars.

Learn more at The Media Zoo – Video.

2010-05-11T10:37:00.002-04:00

How Videos Will Help Increase YOUR Business?

Google bought You-tube because Live Video introductions on websites have a 43% higher conversion rate (appointments, sales, calls) than those without a video introduction(research conducted by Cormetrics).

How Videos Will Help Increase YOUR Business?

	- Promote your product or service, as well as any special features.
	- Motivate your customers to act.
	- Enhance your company’s image, and talk about your strengths.
	- Relate your mission statement and level of experience of your employees.

Why Website Videos?

	- Tell your customers what you want them to hear about your business. Think of your Video as an extra sales person who requires no sales training or supervision, does not expect commissions, company benefits or vacations; and delivers perfect presentations every time.
	- After viewing marketing-orientated videos, over half will take some sort of action...including 12% who will actually buy the product being offered.
	- 65% of online surfers will view video advertisements to the end (less than 20% read "text only" sites to completion).
	- 68% of people who watch website videos, will in turn, forward links for these videos onto their friends. Turning them into viral traffic machines. - 72% of online surfers are watching web videos every week.

Call and order your video today and start receiving more calls, appointments and sales.

All video orders placed in the month of May will receive a free You-Tube installation, plus other social networks sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo, etc.

Call and place your video order TODAY!

10 Reasons To Have Video For Your Business

2010-04-27T11:28:00.000-04:00

Tuesday April 27th

On-Demand Accessibility
Widely available, low-cost, high-speed Internet connections are available almost anywhere these days. And, with the influx of portable, Internet-ready devices (cell phones, iPods, laptops, etc.) capable of streaming online video content, viewers will soon be able to access video from virtually every corner of the world.
Read up next week for #2

10 Promising Free Web Analytics Tools

2010-04-27T11:26:00.002-04:00

Tuesday April 27th

Web analytics is the process of gathering and analyzing your web content’s data in order to glean meaningful information about how your site is being utilized by your users. There are plenty of Web analytics applications out there, and you probably already know the big guns such as Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, and remote-site services such as Alexa and Compete.

We go off the trodden path and explore a few lesser-known Web analytics options. In this article, you’ll find 10 excellent and free tools and applications to help you gather and analyze data about your web content.

1. Piwik

Go to Live Demonstration of Piwik.

Piwik is an open-source Web analytics application developed using PHP and MySQL. It has a "plugins" system that allows for utmost extensibility and customization. Install only the plugins you need or go overboard and install them all – the choice is up to you. The plugins system, as you can imagine, also opens up possibilities for you to create your own custom extensions. This thing’s lightweight – the download’s only 1.9MB.

2. FireStats

Go to Live Demonstration of FireStats.

FireStats is a simple and straight-forward Web analytics application written in PHP/MySQL. It supports numerous platforms and set-ups including C# sites, Django sites, Drupal, Joomla!, WordPress, and several others. Are you a resourceful developer who needs moar cowbell? FireStats has an excellent API that will assist you in creating your own custom apps or publishing platform components (imagine: displaying the top 10 most downloaded files in your WordPress site) based on your FireStats data.

3. Snoop

Snoop is a desktop-based application that runs on the Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista platforms. It sits nicely on your system status bar/system tray, notifying you with audible sounds whenever something happens. Another outstanding Snoop feature is the Name Tags option which allows you to "tag" visitors for easier identification. So when Joe over at the accounting department visits your site, you’ll instantly know.

4. Yahoo! Web Analytics

Yahoo! Web analytics is Yahoo!’s alternative to the dominant Google Analytics. It’s an enterprise-level, robust web-based third-party solution which makes accessing data easy especially for multiple-user groups. It’s got all the things you’d expect from a comprehensive Web analytics tool such as pretty graphs, custom-designed (and printable) reports, and real-time data tracking.

5. BBClone

Go to Live Demonstration of BBClone.

If you’re looking for a simple, server-side web application that doesn’t rely on third-party services to monitor your data, check out BBClone – a PHP-based server application that gives you a detailed overview of website traffic and visitor data. It supports language localization for 32 languages like English, Chinese, German, and Japanese. It easily integrates with popular publishing platforms like Drupal, WordPress, and Textpattern. Since it’s logfile-based, it doesn’t require you to use a server-side relational database.

6. Woopra

Woopra is a Web analytics application written in Java. It’s split into two parts which includes a desktop application for data analysis/exploration and a web service to monitor website statistics. Woopra has a robust user interface, an intuitive management system that allows you to run it on multiple sites and domains, and even a chat feature so that you can gather non-numerical information by talking to your site users. Woopra is currently in beta and requires you to request for a private beta registration.

7. JAWStats

JAWStats is a server-based Web analytics application that runs with the popular AWStats (in fact, if you’re on a shared hosting plan – AWStats is probably already installed). JAWStats does two things to extend AWStats – it improves performance by reducing server resource usage and improves the user interface a little bit. With that said, you can’t go wrong with just using AWStats either if you’re happy with it.

8. 4Q

A large part of Web analytics deals with number-crunching and numerical data. Raw numbers tells only part of the story and it’s often helpful to perform analytics by way of interacting with actual users. 4Q developer Avinash Kaushik puts it perfectly when he said: "Web analytics is good at the ‘What’. It is not good at the ‘Why’".4Q is a simple surveying application focused on improving your traditional numerical Web analytics by supplementing it with actual user feedback. Check out this YouTube video on how easy it is to set up 4Q.

9. MochiBot

MochiBot is a free Web analytics/tracking tool especially designed for Flash assets. With MochiBot, you can see who’s sharing your Flash content, how many times people view your content, as well as helping you track where your Flash content is to prevent piracy and content theft. Installing MochiBot is a breeze; you simply copy a few lines of ActionScript code in the .FLA files you want to monitor.

10. Grape Web Statistics

Go to Live Demonstration of Grape Web Statistics.

Grape Web Statistics is a simple, open-source application geared towards web developers. It has a clean and usable interface and has an Extensions API to extend and customize your installation. It uses PHP for the backend and you can run it on any operating system that runs PHP.

Let’s talk about it.

What Web analytics software do you use, and why? Do you have any extensive experience in using any of the above application? Share it with all of us in the comments!

Mark Burnett's Branching Out?

2010-04-13T10:51:00.003-04:00

Like many people, the first thing I do when I get to work each day is check my email. There are the usual emails from customers needing me to take action on something, or follow up with them. At The Media Zoo, we've really taken pride in the level of customer service we provide so, I almost always take care of my customers first. After my customers have been taken care of, I move on to the Spam. I do this next because it's quick. Click, click, click, delete, delete, delete. And done! Next, I read any interesting articles that get delivered to my email box. Here's one from Advertising Age that I thought you might enjoy too. It's about Mark Burnett, producer of hit reality show "Survivor", branching out into other avenues. Read it here.

New Website

2009-06-18T15:30:00.003-04:00

Hey everone! We recently re-designed our entire website. I love the fresh new look and the video is fabulous! What do you think? Got any suggestions on how we can make it better? Please leave us a comment and tell us what you think!

Thanks,

Joyce

An Article Worth Reading

2009-04-23T10:09:00.004-04:00

Was just reading a great article and thought I'd just post it here for you all to read. This article comes from Online Video Insider

Hope you enjoy it.

Trends & Predictions: Web Video In The New Year
by Bob Heyman, Monday, December 29, 2008, 10:30 AM

Video ad spending goes up. Yes, Web video ad spending will be up in 2009. Perhaps not as high as the 45% currently predicted by eMarketer (and already revised down from a higher initial number), but spending will grow from this year's rather meager base of $587 million. After all, brand advertisers need to be where the eyeballs are and Web video is undeniably growing. Hulu is likely to be a major beneficiary of this trend, as its professional content is more desirable to advertisers than YouTube-type UGC. Since in 2009, "flat will be the new up" for most media, any growth at all will be good.

Monetizing video search will stay a challenge. In traditional search marketing, advertisers are able to intercept a user who is displaying latent intent to purchase -- enough for a brand or product that search advertising pays off. In video search, it is more likely that the searcher can be intercepted while manifesting an intent to be entertained. Except for entertainment marketers (like movie studios), this is a far less lucrative opportunity. It will take the advertisers and the search engines a while to develop this into a lucrative channel and is likely to be a venue more for brand marketers than direct sellers.

Web shows will continue to be a labor of love. Capital will be scarce for high production value Web-only programming. But that doesn't mean there won't be a plethora of shows. The barrier of entry is low and many have proven that low production values do not impede a good idea from becoming a hit. Lots of talented people have gear, ideas and the motivation to kick start their careers with a "viral" video. Monetizing these efforts will continue to be a challenge and we are likely to witness many permutations of product placement. Web programming featuring John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell has once again proven the value that celebrity has in any media. We can expect many more forays into Web video from TV and movie stars.

It's not just a YouTube world. It's getting harder and harder to stand out in the crowded world of YouTube. Many producers have found it easier to "go viral" by starting on the many video-sharing sites that compete with YouTube, such as Metacafe, Blip, Viddler, etc.

Live video is the next new thing. Justin.tv (11 million visitors in November), Ustream.tv (5.6 million) and Mogulus (2.1 million) are just a few of the fast-growing sites featuring live video feeds. There are also sites like Qik and Kyte that stream live video to cell phones. The medium has already endured a scandal, when a live blogger committed suicide on Justin.tv. While viewership is growing, profits are still elusive. Qik recently laid off five employees and none of the players are yet profitable. But, if you are wondering where the "buzz" is, one answer is live video.

The Media Zoo Video Affiliate Program

2009-02-18T14:50:00.005-05:00

Ride the affiliate video program wave

Affiliate programs on the Internet is one of the hottest trends in the web designing industry, and for good reason. With an Internet video production affiliate program, you can help your company reach new customer satisfaction, and build a name and reputation as a cutting edge web designing company. Affiliate programs can be highly efficient since you generally pay affiliate partners only when you make a sale related to their referral.

TheMediaZoo.com offers a FREE affiliate program that will help you get today’s latest video technologies. We offer complete video services, your clients will see your very own actor box, and we provide you all the necessary forms and marketing materials. All this provided by us FREE, as your silent partner

Many top web designers use affiliate programs on the Internet because it gets results. But before you launch your video affiliate program, it’s important to make sure you have a winning strategy in place and the tools you need to get the best return on your TIME. That’s where TheMediaZoo.com can help. Our affiliate team has the experience and technical expertise to optimize your affiliate video program, seamlessly integrating it into your overall web site design.

Contact TheMediaZoo.com today to find out how we can help your designs improve set up and manage a program for affiliate video on the Internet. Take advantage of our affiliate services today and start building greater brand awareness and market share now.

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Our website videos will empower your website designs so that your clients will get your message. If you really want to improve your website designs and your business, we’re here to help!

Ask about an unobtrusive button called “may I talk” with our waiting video on top. To see an example visit www.webladybug.com

If you are really creative and would like to see one of our award winning sites check out www.americancreative.com/.

Turn your website into the powerful marketing tool you need. Imagine someone pulling up your website and viewing an engaging video that will get your point across. Ask about our web designer special video.

Call us NOW. We'd love to talk to you, extend a special offer, and help you get the power of video on your customers website!

Lower Prices, More Products, and Better Quality!

2008-10-23T14:06:00.000-04:00

We've had such a busy summer full of changes here at The Media Zoo that I haven't had a chance to post an update for a while!

First, I want to share some exciting news with you...We are now shooting in HD! The Media Zoo recently purchased a new Sony PMW-EX1 HD camera! For us, it makes keying so easy! What this means for our clients though is a better quality video with a much cleaner key! Yippee!

In addition to the new camera, we've also been busy updating our actors. Some have moved away but others are taking their place so be sure to check the actor page frequently to see all the fresh new faces! Book one of these fabulous new actors today!

Speaking of new faces...We've hired a new Zoo Crew member. Ben was originally one of our resellers in Jacksonville and he and his girlfriend recently decided to move to
Fort Lauderdale. Ben has become a huge asset to the company and is bringing a wealth of knowledge in the web design world! He's already been busy doing some amazing things! But don't take my word for it. Check them out yourself!

Ben's been very busy making some adjustments to our website by adding more products, and lower prices so check it out and see if you can spot all the changes! Then, give us a call to schedule a shoot for your website video! He's also been busy getting our NEW site ready to launch. Here's a sneak peek....

You can see more at http://www.zoospokesperson.com/. Check it out and let me know what you think of our new look!

That's it for now!

Joyce and The Media Zoo Crew

May

2008-06-05T15:21:00.000-04:00

May was a busy month here at The Media Zoo. We added quite a few fresh faces to our actor page. You might want to hop over there and check out all the new talent!

That's not all we've been doing though! In between shooting videos for new actors we've also been shooting videos for clients.

Now that summer is here and it's travel season, don't make your friends and family get up early to take you to the airport. Before you call on friends that you'll likely owe favors to for driving you to the airport...you may want to check out the Fort Lauderdale Airport Shuttle website and watch the video we just completed for them!

Are you feeling a bit wrinkled? Well, if you've been thinking about sprucing up your look this summer, check out the informative video on The Best Program's website.

Maybe you're just thinking it's time to spruce up your image and save gas with a new, more economical car. Wait! Don't jump the gun! Before you trade that old car in, check out Mobile Car Buyer. They'll pay you cash for your car and even pick it up from your location! How cool is that?

Janeane and I had a great time shooting the video for Nodoro. Dale, the actor they chose, pulled it off without a hitch and left Janeane and I in tears. Now, I'm not going to tell you why or what it's all about...just go here to see it for yourself!

That should give you lots to see for now! Make sure you check the blog often...I'll be updating again very soon!

U.S Department of State Website Winner!

2008-05-24T21:44:00.000-04:00

We recently received word that Pier 2 Pier, one of the websites we produced a video for, won the U.S. Department of State's 2008 Doors to Diplomacy Award! We are excited for Jamie Aquino and the kids of Pier 2 Pier for their accomplishments. The Media Zoo Team would like to extend our congratulations! We are very proud to be part of an amazing website created by Weblady Bug.

Why Advertise With a Website Video During a Recession?

2008-05-09T13:59:00.001-04:00

It seems that one of the first things companies cut from their budget in times of recession is their advertising dollars. This may seem like a logical place to cut expenses however, the opposite is in fact true.

According to Greg Mazurkiewicz, author of Advertising Throughout a Recession, "companies that stop advertising, or sharply cut back their advertising, during a recession are being shortsighted. While they may save money in the short run, they are shooting themselves in the foot for the long run."

Joy Gendusa, author of Does the Economic Slump Mean Small Business Disaster?, says "There is a consequential effect that marketing has on your business 1, 2, 3 years and more down the line if you don't market during a recession. And while the cost of living increases along with inflation and other factors, you will be losing sales and income down the road when you will really need it if you cut back on marketing during times of recession."

The American Association of Advertising Agencies, or AAAA (4A), reports the following findings in a commissioned study, Advertising in a Recession by Bernard Ryan, Jr:

"In 1947, Buchen Advertising tracked advertising dollars vs. sales trends before, during and after the recessions of 1949, 1954, 1958, and 1961. Not only did it find that sales and profits dropped off at companies that cut back on advertising. It also found that after the recession had ended, these same companies continued to lag behind those that had maintained their ad budgets."

Ok, so what does all this mean about advertising in general? Well, in a nutshell, in an article titled Marketing in a Recession, Renee Fellows states: "what research and history have proven is that businesses who are keen to strategic marketing can experience tremendous growth both in brand awareness and profitability during a recession."

Companies can spend thousands of dollars for a 30 second broadcast commercial that runs for a limited time or, for a very reasonable price, they can get a 30 second website video from The Media Zoo. A website video adds impact to your website, making it more personal, and includes your call to action. With a website video, you can have a 24 hour salesperson deliver your message correctly, each and every time. To try a website video on your site for free or just to learn more, visit The Media Zoo.

Media Zoo Actors

2008-04-23T14:47:00.000-04:00

We have updated the look of our actors page. It still needs a little tweaking but overall we are very happy with the new design. In our opinion, it will make a huge difference when trying to choose an actor and view their video! Take a look at our actor page and leave us a comment to let us know what you think!

BCC visits The Media Zoo

2008-04-21T14:03:00.001-04:00

Last Monday, The Media Zoo was proud to have an informative r&d session with six staff members from Broward Community College. They came to get a tour of The Media Zoo studios and find out how we can help them integrate video into their website. Rumor has it that BCC will be completely redesigning their site. As a past and present student, I'm excited to see the new look and The Media Zoo is excited to potentially be a part of it.

Excititng News

2008-04-21T11:18:00.000-04:00

In case you don't know...The State of Florida recently held a contest for a new state song. Jan Hinton, a teacher from Pine Crest School won the contest with her song: "Florida, Where The Sawgrass Meets The Sky." Jan hired The Media Zoo to shoot, produce, and edit a video to go along with the song. Watch the video here and also check out the featured article in the Sun-Sentinel.

Brainstorming

2008-04-11T09:56:00.000-04:00

We've been busy brainstorming here at The Media Zoo this week. We're forming partnerships with multiple companies in the area and around the country. On Wednesday, we met with Bob from Sign-A-Rama and we'll be shooting a video for him today. Yesterday, Vince and I met with Gary from D2F, a multi-channel marketing service. We had a great meeting and are looking forward to forming a fantastic relationship with them.

Biz Expo 2008

2008-03-07T10:43:00.000-05:00

Last night, The Media Zoo participated in the Biz Expo 2008 held at McFatter Technical Institute. We had a huge booth thanks to Yvonne and Vicki the coordinators of the event. We met so many wonderful people from four different Chambers of Commerce including: The Dania Beach Chamber of Commerce, The Davie-Cooper City Chamber, The Greater Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and The Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce. The Media Zoo doesn't monkey around at these types of events...we had a gorilla going around posing for pictures with guests and vendors! The pictures will be posted on our site next week so stop by again and take a look!

New Blog Feature

2008-02-29T13:56:00.000-05:00

We're adding a new feature to our blog. Every so often, I'll post a survey question. Make sure you check back often and post your answer to our question.

Todays survey question: Do you think most people prefer Internet or TV?

2008-02-28T16:01:00.001-05:00

We've had a busy couple weeks here at The Media Zoo. Another one of WebLadybug's clients came in to do a shoot. 3ZTelecom, a calling card company, picked Jodi to be their spokesmodel. She came in one morning along with the guys from 3Z Telecom. They even brought some kind of antennae for cellular towers into the studio!

We've also been very busy working on videos for Icon Website Design and Preferred Print. Those videos aren't up and running yet but they will be very soon!

In addition to those projects, we recently had an opportunity to meet with Zach Hoffman of SEO.cc. Zach is the CEO of a search engine optimization company. We learned a great deal about optimizing our website from him. He has a wealth of information!

I'll have updates about more projects coming soon so stay tuned!

Vince

2008-01-18T09:59:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm going to introduce you to Vince Stott. Let me give you a bit of background. Vince and Paul (also a member of the team) have been running a very successful wedding video business (http://www.abroadwayvideo.com/) for 20 years now. A couple years ago, they started thinking about expanding the business to include more corporate type videos with a concentration on website videos. That dream led them to open The Media Zoo. So, as you may have figured out by now, Vince is one of the owners of The Media Zoo. He is extremely creative and has so many great ideas both for The Media Zoo and A Broadway Video. He is always reading up on the latest business techniques, practices, and strategies.

On a more personal note....Vince is a HUGE Gator fan. One of his cats is even named after the University of Florida's quarterback! This past November, he and Crystal, another vital member of the team finally tied the knot. Crystal surprised Vince at the wedding and brought the University of Florida drum line in at the end of the ceremony. It was quite exciting!

Introduction

2008-01-07T13:21:00.000-05:00

Hi! Joyce here, thanks for reading our blog. Right here is where I'm going to keep you updated on what's going on here at The Media Zoo as well as what's happening in all our lives. My goal is that you will get to know all of us as real people and not just a voice on the other end of the phone or a random person writing a blog.

Ok, so now you know who's writing the blog, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm a single mom of three kids. I had been attending BCC part time for quite a while seeking a degree in multimedia. I kept telling my program director to keep an eye out for video jobs. Well, one day, I walked into her office and she said “Joyce, I have the perfect job for you.” That job was with Vince as a video editor. I was able to work from home and still be available for my kids. My professor was right. The job was perfect! Since that day, we have grown by leaps and bounds with the result being The Media Zoo. I no longer work from home but in an office with the rest of the team and am loving every minute of it.

Speaking of the office, we've all been very busy getting ready for our first web designers meeting. We are planning to hold these networking type gatherings once a month. So, if you happen to be a web designer and you didn't make it to the first seminar, give us a call so we can put you on the invite list for the next one! You'll be able to meet the rest of the team as well as enjoy some good food and get some great information.

Stay tuned because in my next blog entry, I'll introduce you to another member of the team.

The Media Zoo News

What Does Your Website Look Like on the iPhone, iPad or Smartphone?

How awful landing pages can kill email campaigns

How your client's brain becomes your ally

Secrets for Successful YouTube Marketing, Tips 8-15

Secrets for Successful YouTube Marketing, Tips 1-7

Google Maps has replaced the Yellow Pages

Mistakes that will kill your business

Decorate your website for the holidays

Why no one is reading your newsletter.

Getting paid for your time

Google changing the game.

Small Business Internet Marketing Tips 6-10

5 Small Business Internet Marketing Tips

5-8 Email Marketing Tips

9 Ways Video Promotes your Business

1-4 Email Marketing Tips

3 Basic Business SEO Tips

3 Tips for a Great Homepage

Benefits of Corporate Video

4 Social Media Myths for Businesses

Best Way to Measure Video ROI

7 Small Business Marketing Tips

5 E-Commerce Site Tips

Why Online Video?

5 Social Media Tips for Businesses

Top 10 YouTube Tips for Businesses

Video SEO tips

Landing Page Tips

Top 11 SEO tips

Top 7 Reasons for Web Video

Video Benefits

Why Website Videos?

10 Reasons To Have Video For Your Business

10 Promising Free Web Analytics Tools

1. Piwik

2. FireStats

3. Snoop

4. Yahoo! Web Analytics

5. BBClone

6. Woopra

7. JAWStats

8. 4Q

9. MochiBot

10. Grape Web Statistics

Let’s talk about it.

Mark Burnett's Branching Out?

New Website

An Article Worth Reading

The Media Zoo Video Affiliate Program

Lower Prices, More Products, and Better Quality!

May

U.S Department of State Website Winner!

Why Advertise With a Website Video During a Recession?

Media Zoo Actors

BCC visits The Media Zoo

Excititng News

Brainstorming

Biz Expo 2008

New Blog Feature

Vince

Introduction