So there is simply no way to escape it… Text Speak is here.

But wait – don’t flush your phone down the toilet just yet, there is still quite a debate going on about whether it is going to ruin the English language or simply propel it into the 21^st
century.  Think back into our history – I’m sure if Plato happened to be witnessing me writing this blog, he too would look quizzically at how his language has changed into what we freely use today;  and it’s a far cry from the “to be or not to be” the much more recent Shakespeare would recognise. No matter what we do, language is in a constant state of evolution.

We all agree that a funnel can be a useful tool in the kitchen and garage, right?  Without one, how can we direct things in the direction we want them to go?

It turns out that for good online marketing the funnel is a pretty useful tool too.  It’s a great way to visually describe the activities which begin with making customers aware of your brand and products/services online (the wider end of the funnel), to leading them to your website (the middle part of the funnel), to finally making a sale at the narrow end.   A bit like filling a sauce bottle or a jerry can…

The online marketing “sales funnel” works by attracting potential customers using online activities and enticing them to sign up to your mailing list to receive information or to visit your website.  Once you have their contact details you can start building a long-term relationship so when they are ready to purchase they will simply ask you for the sale or you can ask them!

We all recognise that web sites are an integral part of business. As a business owner you invest your hard earned money into creating a stylish and informative site.  Imagine then your surprise if you visit your website only to find it has been defaced and hacked into.

This could be the least of your worries – if your hacker has changed the passwords to your site or added malicious coding, your page could carry a red warning flag which can be harder to get rid of than the hacker!

So who are these hackers, why do they attack sites and how can you protect yourself?

Clever but devious…

Hackers are clever but devious individuals who will attack your sites in different ways:

• Website defacing, a bit like ‘tagging’.

• Editing site pages in order to place spammy links on your site to unscrupulous web pages.
• Changing your trustworthy business site to a trashy site with gambling, pornography, etc. These hackers are known as website hijackers and have bots that scan for ways to breach your website or server. Your site can end up blacklisted with search engines which can create problems for SEO.
• Password and username theft.

Why do they do it?

Most hackers do what they do for one reason – cold, hard cash. Even those with small websites are good pickings for website hackers as most will on-sell the access to your accounts to spammers. Spammers need hosting access from owners who do not know their identity. This way if they are investigated the trail will stop with you.

Criminals also need hosting access in order to set up web pages that look just like a login page or a payment page and can therefore divert your customer’s money and password information towards them.

So how can you protect your website?

Unfortunately you can’t protect your site from hackers with 100% certainty but you can make it harder for them to gain access and easier for you to get your site back up and running after an attack.

• Back up your site regularly – this is an insurance policy for your website should things go wrong and will help you to rebuild your site if required after an attack.
•  Choose a strong password such as those with alpha numeric components and keep it safe.
• Keep your software up to date – some applications require updates to keep up with the latest security concerns.
• Keep your PC virus free by using up to date anti-virus software.

Contact  us for more information, including how to arrange regular website backups.

The letterbox outside your home or businesss used to be your window to the world.  Nowadays there is no need to slip shoes on and pad outside – we’re now tending to simply carry our ‘letterboxes’ with us.

In the past 12 months, the rate at which e-messages are opened on mobiles and smart phones has increased by around 35%…

As a result, people and businesses are now extremely used to receiving news and offers via e-messages direct to their inbox.  And why wouldn’t they?  It’s much more convenient to read, save or delete them at a time which suits them.

From a business perspective it can be a great way to generate sales, leads and keep your brand in touch with your audience.

Newsletters and e-messages containing deals and offers are the most common messages these days and they are received directly by pre-qualified propects – they must be, as you’ve previously earned the use of their email address!

e-Messaging is good because…

• You’ll be using a widely adopted medium that an increasing number of people use for their everyday communication and information
• There’s the possibility of growing your customer list and leads as good e-messaging software allows recipients to share e-messages with friends and through email and social networks
• It is instantaneous to the recipient’s inbox (often kept in their pocket!)

Broader benefits are…

• e-Messaging is significantly cheaper than hard copy mailers & newsletters.
• Sends can be closely tracked to provide invaluable statistics, such as who opens the message, who clicks though to the links in the message, who purchases and who shares the message, etc.
• As your contact list (data) grows through sharing and response, the data can be used for other campaigns such as text and telephone if you wish.

Like any marketing activity, to get the best from an e-message campaign, you must constantly measure, analyse and adjust your campaign, using the wide range of useful statistics most e-messaging software offers.

To find out more about e-messaging for your business, or to enquire about our e-message service, contact us now for more information.

For business owners thinking about the reasons to back-up your data – you only have to look at Christchurch in order to feel a certain sense of panic. The earthquakes over the last 2 years have caused havoc for business owners in the Central City who couldn’t get into their premises to retrieve their computers once the earthquakes hit. Natural disasters are not the only reason to back-up your files, computer crashes and theft are also ways in which you could lose your valuable data at once.

Without a retrievable back-up of your business data, how would you continue to run your business if disaster struck?

Great websites don’t have to cost an arm and a leg…

If you’d prefer not to sell a kidney to afford your much-needed website – we hear you! So we just produce great looking, functional websites that work hard creating leads for your business… and don’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

So how about a site like the ones below,
From Only $999!

Our web design features:

	No clever contracts or balloon payments		You own your site and domain outright
	High-end, Professional designs		Live facebook stream on your site
	Content management system for easy owner-updates		Search optimised for your target market(s)
	Stunning photo galleries		Easy-step blog functionality
	Social media sharing buttons		Only 3-4 weeks delivery!

Ask us about these services that will help make you a top-ranker!

	Mobile-ready sites		Search Optimisation
	Tips on growing your audience online		Setting up a facebook page
	Analytics to track and analyse your traffic		Submission to search engines

We do full e-commerce solutions too!

If it’s a full e-commerce solution you need – No Worries!  We have a number of expert developers that we can recommend or manage for your project.

Many companies naturally choose to use advertising paths to get their message out there.  But in these economically challenging times advertising, whilst effective, can be too costly for some. Some smaller businesses are now asking the question – how do we get more bang for our marketing buck? Well, Public Relations as a Marketing Tool is making a comeback.

Thanks to online distribution sites and social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook, a clever Press Release can be just as effective as an advertising campaign in spreading the word – and relatively cheaper too. In fact, the time it takes to write one will be just about your only cost!

So to get you started, we’ve compiled 10 tips on how to write a Press Release that gets noticed.

 The idea

1. Good Press Releases should announce something newsworthy about your business; this can include an event, a new product or service, accomplishments or financial news.

The Headline

2. Clever, well written headlines are vital with Press Releases, so make it concise, in 3^rd person and able to grab your audience’s attention, e.g. “XY Solar Company Gives You the Power”.

The Press Release

3. The first sentence should be just as compelling as the title; if you grab the attention of a reader with a snappy title then a good first sentence will persuade them to read on further.

4. Summarise the most important information in the first paragraph. This will allow readers to get the main points if they don’t have time to read on.

5. Try to answer the five W’s – who, what when, where, why and how – this will make sure you have all the details covered and avoid irrelevant information.

6. Keep the press release newsworthy, with details that are relevant to your target audience.

Formatting

7. The press release should be between 350 and 500 words with appropriate contact information.

8. Remember to keep trademarks and company names consistent throughout the press release to look professional.

Best Practices

9. Can everything in your press release be substantiated? Make sure there are no outrageous claims that could bring on negative publicity if challenged.

10. Once your Press Release is complete then send it out to the masses! Submit it to online distribution sites such as PRlog and utilise social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to get that news out there and working for your business.

If you’re now a PR convert but need a hand, or you’re just too busy, click here to contact us or call 03 443 6661 to contact the copywriting team at marketelements.

The 5 design elements your logo needs:

There are many theories on good logo design, but let’s stick to what we think are the 5 most important design elements when it comes to brand identities.

Great logos are:

1.  Describable

2.  Memorable

3.  Effective without colour

4.  Scalable, i.e. they work when just a couple of cm in size

5.  Relevant to the industry in question

Points 1 and 2 kind of link together; if you can’t describe what a logo looks like, how will you be able to remember it?  Point 3 is important because colour is secondary to the shape and form.   Point 4 can be a trap for logo designs with fussy details that look good on a trade show banner but are totally lost when used on stationery or in thumbnails, etc.  And point 5 is achieved through careful analysis of the industry, making sure to differentiate from competitors’ identities.

 What about colour?

Many designers make colour the last step of their design process, because if the mark doesn’t work in black only, no amount of colour will save it.

So what about some examples:

Above are some examples of logos that we think illustrate our 5 design points.  Looking at the Nike logo, this ‘swoosh’ as it’s commonly referred to has become one of the most powerful and easily recognised brand logos in the world.  It’s hard to imagine someone struggling to describe the logo once they’d seen it – therefore it’s truly memorable.   Only black is used in this design and the logo is easily recognizable when it’s as small as only 1cm.  And finally, the logo is different to any other in Nike’s industry and evokes a sense movement and maybe even speed – ideal for a logo in the sports industry.   So Well done Nike, why didn’t I think of that…?

For more information or a review of your branding, call us on 03 443 6661 or click here to email us.

We are all too aware of Facebook’s ability to expand your business footprint and connect with your customers. But if you don’t have the man hours to keep checking your business page for new messages or posts what can you do?

1: Facebook Notification Emails

If you have a personal Facebook page you will be aware of the ability to receive email notifications whenever someone messages you or posts on your page. For administrators of business pages you can enable notifications from your business page to be sent to your email address too.

To enable notifications:

• Go to your Business page
• Select Edit page
• Select Manage notifications
• Select Send notifications to…..

(TIP: If this is already selected and you are not receiving emails try de-selecting, then save changes and go back in to re-select.)

This is not without its faults – emails are not sent in real time so you could be waiting a while before receiving your email. Some have found that emails sent have been sporadic too and others do not receive them at all, even though they have ticked all the boxes and enabled the function.

2: Facebook Messenger

Facebook also has another product that is available for Windows called Facebook messenger. Using a small pop up window it allows you to receive and reply to messages and comments on your page in real time. It’s great for making sure that you don’t miss any chances for customer communication on your page while you are working on other areas of your business. The only draw-back to this handy gadget is you do need to be at your desk to see them.

For more info check out www.facebook.com/about/messenger

3: Facebook Pages Manager (iPhone)

For iPhone users Facebook Pages Manager could be the perfect option if you’re out of the office. It allows you to manage multiple pages and will notify you about any activity on your page. You can also comment and respond to posts but currently you cannot see messages sent to your page although Facebook does mention this will be available in the future. This can be downloaded from the Apple App Store on your iPhone.

4: RSS feeds

Facebook offers RSS feeds of your business page. Basically this is a text update of your page that you can subscribe to and view without having to be logged into Facebook. This will show any notifications of posts, comments or likes to your page but doesn’t show messages.

In order to get started:

• Go to your Business page
• Select Admin panel,
• Next to Notifications, select See all
• Select Get notifications via: RSS

 5: Hyper alerts

This is a non-Facebook created option. It is available as an application on facebook or you can sign up at their website www.hyperalerts.no. It gives you more options for when and how you receive your notification emails such as how often and if you want them grouped together. It won’t however, show messages sent to your page.

So by now you should have some options to keep up communication with your Facebook customers without constantly visiting your page….enjoy the freedom.

The two most important updates from your search optimisation standpoint are the ‘Panda’ and ‘Penguin’.  Panda 1.0 was released in Feb 11 and the latest (3.5) was released in Apr 12.  Penguin was released on 24 April 2012.

PANDA & PENGUIN – WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?

 What Google says about its Panda update:

 “This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites – sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

What Google says about its Penguin update:

“Sites affected by this change might not be easily recognizable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; we believe they are engaging in web-spam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings

WHAT WILL THIS MEAN FOR YOUR WEBSITE’S RANKING?

In short, you need to be concerned with:

• Content – Quality, relevant content
• Searcher behaviour – How many searchers use the back button without looking at any other content (the ‘bounce rate’) versus how many click through to other pages on your site
• Links to your page – Links should be from good quality sites.  Avoid ‘link farms’ or pay for link schemes.
• Social references – Are you active on or linked to social sites?  This metric is growing.  If your Brand is liked this is another signal about your site.
• Clean code – Page load speed, 404 errors, site structure – the technical elements matter as well!

This means that you need to be sure that:  you are writing quality, spell-checked content for your website; you are promoting your website with integrity; and you are avoiding ‘spammy’ techniques designed to affect rank.

WHAT ELSE WILL AFFECT MY RANK?

Personalised search means that whilst we can all perform exactly the same search, Google will offer different results based on our locations, interests and past search behaviours (how many us have a Google profile or Google Account and leave this signed in while we search?).  Tracking rank is not a good gauge of search performance – look at traffic [volumes] to your site to review performance.

WHAT ABOUT GOOGLE PLUS?

Google owns Google Plus and therefore you can assume this means they intend you to use it…  Social signals are becoming more and more important and are now a ranking factor.  Google wants us to participate and Google Analytics now measures social interaction.

SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW?

Confused?  Don’t be.  Here is a strategy to take you forward:

• Schedule a website review  – Ensure your site is loading quickly and that there are no errors, links are relevant and that your site is ship-shape.  If this daunts you or you just don’t have the time – contact us for help!
•  Start a blog on your site  – Create great content (see our tips for creating great content) for your audience – think hard about what’s useful and what will benefit them.
• Announce new posts/blogs on your social media accounts - Don’t just do the “See our blog” and link it – craft a compelling headline that tempts your audience to actually click on the link, e.g. “Find out Why More People Respond to…”
• Brand your social media presence well - Use good imagery designed for the size and space.

If you need a review of your website’s performance or content, or would like help setting up a blog or social media accounts, please contact us now.