Do You Know !!!

Thursday, 12 July 2012

What Are Meta Tags ?

Want top search engine rankings? Just add meta tags and your website will magically rise to the top, right? Wrong. Meta tags are one piece in a large algorithmic puzzle that major search engines look at when deciding which results are relevant to show users who have typed in a search query.

While there is still some debate about which meta tags remain useful and important to search engines, meta tags definitely aren't a magic solution to gaining rankings in Google, Bing, Yahoo, or elsewhere – so let's kill that myth right at the outset. However, meta tags help tell search engines and users what your site is about, and when meta tags are implemented incorrectly, the negative impact can be substantial and heartbreaking.

Let's look at what meta tags are, what meta tags matter, and how to avoid mistakes when implementing meta tags on your website.

What Are Meta Tags?

A special HTML tag that provides information about a Web page. Unlike normal HTML tags, meta tags do not affect how the page is displayed. Instead, they provide information such as who created the page, how often it is updated, what the page is about, and which keywords represent the page's content. Many search engines use this information when building their indices.

Here's a code example of meta tags:

<head>
<title>Not a Meta Tag, but required anyway</title>
<meta name="description" content="Awesome Description Here">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8">
</head>

The Title Tag:-

Although the title tag appears in the head block of the page, it isn't actually a meta tag. What's the difference? The title tag is a required page “element” according to the W3C. Meta tags are optional page descriptors.

To learn more about best practices for title tag element, our post “How to Write Title Tags For Search Engine Optimization” tells you everything you need to know.

The Description Meta Tag:-

This is what the description tag looks like:

<meta name="description" content="Awesome Description Here">

Ideally, your description should be no longer than 155 characters (including spaces). However, check the search engine results page (SERP) of choice to confirm this. Some are longer and some are shorter. This is only a rule of thumb, not a definite “best practice” anymore.

The “description” meta tag helps websites in three important ways:

“Description” tells the search engine what your page or site is about.
“Description” helps with click through rates to your site.
“Description” helps with site rankings.

The Keywords Meta Tag:-
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the “keywords” meta tag was a critical element for early search engines. Much like the dinosaurs, this tag is a fossil from ancient search engine times.

The only search engine that looks at the keywords anymore is Microsoft's Bing – and they use it to help detect spam. To avoid hurting your site, your best option is to never add this tag.

Or, if that's too radical for you to stomach, at least make sure you haven't stuffed 300 keywords in the hopes of higher search rankings. It won't work. Sorry.

If you already have keyword meta tags on your website, but they aren't spammy, there's no reason to spend the next week hurriedly taking them out. It's OK to leave them for now – just take them out as you're able, to reduce page weight and load times.

Other Meta Tags:-

There are many other meta tags, but none are really considered useful nowadays.

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

How to think NOT what to think !!!!!

Moishe the Carpenter, returning home with his week’s wages, was accosted by an armed robber on a deserted street.

“Take my money,” said Moishe, “but do me a favour: “Shoot a bullet through my hat otherwise my wife won’t believe I was robbed.”

The robber obliged.

He threw Moishe’s hat into the air and put a bullet through it.

“Let’s make it look as if I ran into a gang of robbers,” said Moishe, “otherwise my wife will call me a coward! Please shoot a number of holes through my coat.”

So the robber shot a number of holes through the carpenter’s coat. “And now…” continued Moishe.

“Sorry,” interrupted the robber. “No more holes. I’m out of bullets.”

“That’s all I wanted to know!” said Moishe.

“Now hand me back my money and some more for the hat and coat that you’ve ruined or I’ll beat you black and blue!”

The robber threw down the money and ran.

Moral:
It's never too late to use our brains to get out of a difficult situation!!

Saturday, 7 July 2012

What colour is your business?

As a small business owner, you have a meaningful understanding of the color of money but how about the color of your business? Learn whether the colors of your business puts your customers in a buying mood or creates the wrong perception of your company.

The Science of Colors

It seems hard to believe that colors can have an impact on our body and mind. However, scientists know colors can influence our body's physiology and mental states.
The power of colors stimulates our nervous system and evokes emotional states. But forget the science, what does the meaning of colors do for your business?

The Meaning of Colors and Your Business

The meaning of colors varies depending on one's culture, race, gender, and even age. So, it isn't just the selection of colors in general but also which colors to use with your target customers.

Colors can be combined to signify meaning to a culture. In the western world, green and red are associated with Christmas, while black and orange represent Halloween.

However, studies suggest some universal meanings:

Blue: Cool blue is perceived as trustworthy, dependable, fiscally responsible and secure. Strongly associated with the sky and sea, blue is serene and universally well-liked. Blue is an especially popular color with financial institutions, as its message of stability inspires trust.

Red: Red activates your pituitary gland, increasing your heart rate and causing you to breathe more rapidly. This visceral response makes red aggressive, energetic, provocative and attention-grabbing. Count on red to evoke a passionate response, albeit not always a favorable one. For example, red can represent danger or indebtedness.

Green: In general, green connotes health, freshness and serenity. However, green's meaning varies with its many shades. Deeper greens are associated with wealth or prestige, while light greens are calming.

Yellow: In every society, yellow is associated with the sun. Thus, it communicates optimism, positivism, light and warmth. Certain shades seem to motivate and stimulate creative thought and energy. The eye sees bright yellows before any other color, making them great for point-of-purchase displays.

Purple: Purple is a color favored by creative types. With its blend of passionate red and tranquil blue, it evokes mystery, sophistication, spirituality and royalty. Lavender evokes nostalgia and sentimentality.

Pink: Pink's message varies by intensity. Hot pinks convey energy, youthfulness, fun and excitement and are recommended for less expensive or trendy products for women or girls. Dusty pinks appear sentimental. Lighter pinks are more romantic.

Orange: Cheerful orange evokes exuberance, fun and vitality. With the drama of red plus the cheer of yellow, orange is viewed as gregarious and often childlike. Research indicates its lighter shades appeal to an upscale market. Peach tones work well with health care, restaurants and beauty salons.

Brown:This earthy color conveys simplicity, durability and stability. It can also elicit a negative response from consumers who relate to it as dirty. Certain shades of brown, like terracotta, can convey an upscale look. From a functional perspective, brown tends to hide dirt, making it a logical choice for some trucking and industrial companies.

Black: Black is serious, bold, powerful and classic. It creates drama and connotes sophistication. Black works well for expensive products, but can also make a product look heavy.

White: White connotes simplicity, cleanliness and purity. The human eye views white as a brilliant color, so it immediately catches the eye in signage. White is often used with infant and health-related products.

All the colors above can be categorized into two basic categories: warm and cold. In general, warm colors, like red and yellow, send an outgoing, energetic message, while cool colors, like blue, are calmer and more reserved. However, brightening a cool color increases its vibrancy and reduces its reserve.

It all depends on the experiences of the observer. Consider your colors and customers to best choose your winning color for your small business.

Friday, 6 July 2012

What is an e-Bulletins ?

What is an e-Bulletins ?
Electronic bulletin boards are communication systems online where one can share, request, or discuss information on just about any topic. While e-mail is a way to converse privately with one or more people over the Internet, electronic bulletin boards are totally public.

They are digital (paper-free) versions of newsletters that can be sent to anyone with an email address,

or linked to from a webpage. An e-bulletin should contain content which is interesting and useful to its
subscribers and it should include fresh news articles, event details and brief features, preferably with
images to illustrate and break up text. Articles should be in plain English, with short sentences and a
maximum of three paragraphs, preferably 100 words or less. Try to stick to the important details and
keep sentences short and snappy, so they grab and hold people’s attention. Bullet points are useful
for simplifying lists.

What can an e-bulletin can do for you?
E-bulletins are a great way of keeping regular contact with your members, service users, partner
organisations and the public. They are a good marketing tool and can inform people of your activities
and let them know what services and help are available to them, as well as what events will be taking
place.

While electronic bulletin boards are often used for educational and recreational purposes, they also can come in handy for small business owners and self employed persons.
e-Bulletin was launched on March 1, 2002 providing a new way to access University news, features, events, notices and pictures. Such has been its success that it will now become the central source for all University news and information.

What is Email Marketing ?

EMAIL MARKETING

Email marketing is fast becoming one of the most widely used and successful forms of marketing communication. Email marketing is a means of marketing whereby a company or individual initiates a marketing communication through the use of email (electronic mail). Email marketing is often referred to as a form of direct marketing as it does not use traditional marketing channels such as television, radio or printed media.

Email marketing is usually initiated either to enhance the relationship with current customers, to make an immediate sale to it's current customers, to acquire new customers or to incorporate advertisements from a third party as part of an agreement.

Now The Question Comes ...
Why does Email Marketing present such a benefit over other more traditional forms of marketing? Why does it drive better returns on investment and customer engagement metrics than other marketing techniques? Why would you invest the time and resources to develop an Email Marketing program at all?

BENEFITS .......

Reduced Time & Effort

Take a moment to think about the time and effort involved in structuring a direct-to-consumer or direct business-to-business campaign using one of the two most common offline direct marketing communications techniques:

Print Postal Mailings
Telesales Campaigns

With email marketing, however, you can turn a marketing communications piece out in typically less than two hours. Using recurring email templates, all you’ll need to do is to approve the copy for the email and any changes to graphics, use easy database list queries and decide to whom you want to send , and then just hit send. Weeks’ of work can be accomplished in just a few hours and by a single employee.

Real-Time Messages

As we talked about above, with a print mailer or telesales campaign, you’ll need to select marketing campaigns and specials that have a “long tail” because of the extended period of time between campaign development and implementation. Because a marketing email can be completed in just a few hours, you can literally send “day-of” messages to help reduce stock or promote a limited time special as needed. You can even send unique real-time messages to customers that arrive on their birthdays or anniversaries. With email marketing, short time frames are your friend, not your enemy.

Personalize Messages

Because print mail campaigns, telesales campaigns and even print, television and radio advertising campaigns must be done in a mostly “one-size-fits-all” format, it’s difficult for you to speak directly to your consumer in a personalized way. However, email marketing presents many dynamic opportunities.

More Frequent Communications

Because email takes less time to create and send than other marketing and advertising channels do, you can communicate with your customers more frequently. Instead of only being able to send them a flyer or catalog once a month or once a quarter, you can easily send them offers once a week. You could, of course, send them email even more frequently than that if their email activity supports making that decision.

Test Marketing Messages

Good marketing always means being able to test things! With email marketing, it becomes incredibly easy to see what graphics, headlines, offers and even colors your users and customers will respond to.

Reduce Overhead Costs

Email marketing can be done at a very low overhead cost! You don’t need a ton of employees, designers, or marketing analysts. You don’t need to pay for printing, postal mailing costs, phone lines, or advertising rates.

Save the Planet with Email Marketing!

It may seem like a minor part of the big picture, but we’re all trying to be more environmentally friendly these days! When you optimize email marketing as your primary customer communication and direct-to-consumer or direct business-to-business marketing method, you’ll help save the planet by reducing the number of trees killed for print marketing pieces. We all want to help save the planet, and making a responsible decision about your marketing tools can help you to do just that while also improving your business’s success.

Those are a lot of measurable benefits of email marketing over other marketing channels! Email marketing is an important part of your marketing mix. However, as you can see, if you’re not incorporating email into your marketing plan, then you’re missing out on a number of benefits that can improve your overall sales and user engagement for a very low overhead cost and, in many cases, a very limited amount of time and effort.

Why it is Imorptant to have eye catching Website Banner ?

The Importance of Having an Eye Catching Website Banner

When it comes to creating a website, the content is not the only item of importance. A website banner is the first thing a reader or buyer sees when they land on your site. So, having an eye catching header is absolutely essential. After all, you want to make a really good first impression right?

If your site has a standard header with no life or personality, chances are you are losing more than you are gaining. Think of your average reader as an 11 year old child. The fact is, that most children are enthused by colors and images more than words. And for many adults this is true as well. Usually by visiting a website or blog, people can get a feel for what the site represents in only a few seconds.
This is the reason why it is even more important to focus on making the right first impression through a custom header graphic.

An eye catching website header is the most effective tool that you can offer potential customers in order to draw them to your site and keep them there for an extended period of time. It will set you apart from the rest and be a vehicle to bringing in more traffic to your site! And that is really what we want in the end – more readers, more subscribers, more clients.
It is a part of internet marketing & one of the most effective marketing tool used in the current age..

Tip -
Why waste that time when you can just outsource to someone who knows the work involved and likely has some shortcuts that you are not aware of. Many people without who try on their own to create a header, and, usually it shows the result. Don’t let this thing happen to you. Make your work professional .. You are better off spending the extra money to have a professional do it for you!!!

Thursday, 5 July 2012

What is Marketing Communication ?

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Marketing communications are essential tools to ensure that you maximise the sales and potential of your business.

What is Marketing Communications?

Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Marketing communications is the "promotion" part of the "Marketing Mix" or the "four Ps": price, place, promotion, and product.

Marketing communications includes whose who participate in advertising, branding, graphic design, direct marketing, branding, packaging, sponsorship marketing, promotion, public relations, sales, sales promotion and internet marketing.
The goal of marketing communications is concerned with the generation of demand for products and services and positioning.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

Marketing communications services include:

LOGO DESIGN

Logo design is an integral part of your marketing communications strategy. Your logo portrays a number of messages about your business in a snapshot.

LEAFLET DESIGN

Leaflet design marketing communications are a great way to deliver a message to your target audience, so it is essential that you communicate in a clear, exciting & professional way.

PDF DESIGN

PDF design marketing communications much like leaflets enable you to deliver a message to your target audience, but with the added benefit of being able to do it directly online or via email communication.

PRESS RELEASES

Exciting and engaging press releases are another important part of your marketing communications strategy.

SPONSORSHIP MARKETING

Sponsorship marketing communications including sponsorship letters and packaging to create a professional image and give you the best chance of achieving a sponsorship package.

EFFECTIVE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Creating effective marketing communications is a careful balancing act between creating a professional image, clearly conveying your message and engaging your target audience.

You should strike the perfect balance in your marketing communications so that you get the very most out of your business.

What is Sponsorship Marketing?

SPONSORSHIP MARKETING

Marketing yourself or your organisation in order obtain sponsorship is an extremely daunting task.

WHAT IS SPONSORSHIP MARKETING?

Sponsorship marketing is the process of using elements of a marketing communications strategy in order to attract support. It is typically done for promotional purposes, to generate publicity, or to obtain access to a wider audience than your budget can afford.

Sponsorship marketing is done financially or through the provision of products or services to support an event, activity, person, or organization where two or more parties benefit from the arrangement. The key to building successful sponsorship programs is to match the correct products or services with the people who want to purchase them.

The person who provides this support is said to be the sponsor and the person who receives this support is said to be the benefactor.

what is sponsorship ?

Sponsorship....

"Supporting an event, activity or organisation by providing money or other resources that is of value to the sponsored event. This is usually in return for advertising space at the event or as part of the publicity for the event."

Sponsorship is the fastest growing form of marketing. It is still very much in its infancy, especially in the trade show arena. With this in mind, you can find unlimited opportunities to broaden your competitive advantage by increasing your credibility, image and prestige in sponsoring events attracting your target market.

Methods of sponsorship include:

Sponsoring a group or team.
Supporting an effort or project.

There are many kinds of sponsorship:

Television and radio programme sponsorship- The increasing fragmentation of television through new digital channels is providing many more opportunities for sponsorship of this kind.
Sports sponsorship- Major sporting events have the advantage of being attended and watched by large numbers of people. They also attract significant media coverage.
Arts sponsorship- Arts events or organisations are not as well attended as sports events but are often regarded as more “worthy” and more in keeping with the image of certain businesses and brands.
Educational sponsorship- This can take several forms from the sponsoring of individual students at college through to the provision of books and computers nationwide using the redemption of product or store-related vouchers .

Sponsorship can deliver increased awareness, brand building and propensity to purchase, it is different to advertising.
Sponsorship will give you plenty of opportunity to represent your individual Company Image .....