Making a better “About Us” page

Hello Geeks, and many thanks for the great feedback about last months article concerning BLOGS. I know a few of you are jumping in and making your web site a better place. This month we are going to tackle another page of importance on your site.
The “About Us” page.  Sorry for the let down, it’s not a buzz word like BLOG, Facebook, Social Plug-in, eMail Marketing, etc. Most every web site has one, but many webmasters overlook the importance of this page.  How important is the “About Us” page?
You will know this answer if you’ve been checking your web stats.
You see that after the Home page (for many) the most popular page on a site is the “About Us” page. By popular I mean pages with the most page views. This is a page that most people and search engines go to. Let’s consider why.
People
Before people invest time and/or money in your services, they want to learn about the company behind the offering. Your new visitors often know little if anything about your company before they find their way to your site.
Search Engines
Oh the search engines love a well written “About Us” page. It includes all of the W’s:
Who, What, When, Where & Why.
Make sure all your Ws are covered because this is what would be customers will search for to find. I challenge you to update your “About Us” page. I’m confident it will improve your web site and web site traffic. ~:-)
Here is list of content you should include.

What
• What does your company do or offer?
• What is important to your company?
• What makes your company different?
• What makes your company trustworthy?
Examples could include memberships, testimonials, articles, awards, guarantees, etc
Where
• Where is your business located?
• Where is your area of service?
• Where can people purchase your offer?
• Where is your BLOG?
• Where can we connect to your Social Media?
Why
• Why did you create your company?
• Why would someone like to buy from your company?
• Why would someone want to join your team?
Who
• Who is behind your company?
• Who are some key team members?
• Who do you serve?
• Who are you looking to hire?
When
• When was your company founded?
• When are you open?
• When were major milestones reached?
How (The W is the in wrong place, but you get the idea)
• How do you deliver value?
• How do you serve your customers?
• How do you create your products?
• How can you be reached?

If you update your “About Us” page to include the Ws you will help your new visitors and the search engines to get a good picture of your business. Speaking of pictures, I also encourage you to add photos and/or video to this page. Make your business shine.
That’s About it. ~:-) I’d love to hear your results if you take me up on this challenge!
Oscar is the owner and creative director @ omOriginals Marketing! Check out their work and request a free initial consultation @ omOriginals.com or call them at (360)575-9839

Coupons Discount Your Brand.

It’s seems that everyone is offering coupons now.  Look in your mailbox and your eMail inbox. Everyone is having a sale.

I recently made a purchase and the clerk said, “You don’t have a coupon?!”.
She then gave me hers.  Our retailers are training us to expect a discount.  Doesn’t this also say, “our prices are high?”

Here is an interesting article that discuss how coupons could be good for short term results, but how it may hurt you in the long run.

Coupons, Groupons & Cocaine

REMINDER: UPDATES DUE 01.20.11

REMINDER: UPDATES DUE 01.20.11

Greetings!

Happy New Year!

We hope you have had your fill of wonderful celebrations with family & friends…or at least enough to get you through to Martin Luther King Day of Service later this month…

Let’s start 2011 off with a bang!

eCLUB UPDATE!

cowlitzcountybizexpo.com

What’s new in your neck of the woods?

Cowlitz County is revving up for our 1st Cowlitz County Regional Business Expo & we are really excited!

So excited that we have added their logo to our eClub updates with links to important information for businesses in our area that want to “Get Ready to Set Sail!”

As our client, we deliver 3 eMails each month to go to your eMail contacts. This would be a great time to evaluate the content. We can add any marketing information you choose to your eMail templates & messages.

So is there something Refreshingly Different your business is helping with in your community we should tell your eClub audience? Any community events or announcements you want to make?

If you are needing any eClub sign up forms or return envelopes please email us at support@omOriginals.com or give us a call at 360.575.9839.

WEB SITES!

I am sure you were excited to read in Oscar’s last article that something as simple as a Blog Post can help your site get the attention of the Search Engines:

Another way to get the attention of the Search Engines are reciprocal links.

“A reciprocal link is a mutual link between two objects, commonly between two websites to ensure mutual traffic…Reciprocal linking between websites is an important part of the search engine optimization process because Google uses link popularity algorithms (defined as the number of links that led to a particular page and the anchor text of the link) to rank websites for relevancy.” Wikipedia

Good Content + Good Links + High Search Engines Ratings = More Traffic = More Business Leads!

So how do you get reciprocal links? Just ask your distributors, vendors, & related business partners to link to you & then tell us to link to them for you.

Let’s work together to make more business connections so we can build even more relationships in 2011!

If you have any questions we are here to answer them! 360.575.9839 or support@omOriginals.com.

Remember we are here to help! ~:-)

Reminder: Updates Due 12.20.2010

Greetings Friend,

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy New Year! (I hope I didn’t miss another wonderful event this busy month).

With that said, I will keep this message short, since I know we are all very busy!

eMail Marketing! is a great way to reach your clients and remind them that you are here to help. I am happy to know that campaigns have been growing and several of our clients are reaching the 1000 client threshold. We have evaluated this service and created a breakdown that we invite you to look at. Please click on the small flyer to download the actual flyer.

omOriginals Marketing! hopes you have a great holiday season!

Please have your updates and changes to your Web Sites and/or eMail Marketing Campaigns to us by Monday December 20, 2010.

If you have any questions please Contact Us today!

Google is @ it again.

Google is changing the the look of search.  The new “Instant Preview” allows web surfers to take a look @ your website before clicking on it.  I’ve seen them doing this in the past, but now it is official.  I encourage you to do a google search for your web site and see how it looks to you.

If it doesn’t put your best foot forward let us know, we can help.  ~:-) Here are a few links to learn more…

Article from Fast Company.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1701256/googles-instant-preview?partner=best_of_newsletter

Info from Google

http://www.google.com/landing/instantpreviews/

~:-)

Insty Tune & Lube

omOriginals Marketing! would like to present Insty Tune and Lube.

Insty Tune and Lube is another web site that we provide hosting services, web site maintenance and eMail marketing services for.

Insty Tune and Lube is located in Tampa, Florida. They are a family-owned and operated business with 40 years of ASE Certified Technical and Mechanical Expertise. They offer affordable auto service on both foreign and domestic vehicles and offer Tampa, Florida Fast Oil Changes.

Insty Tune and Lube
14783 N. Dale Mabry Hwy.
Tampa, Florida 33618

www.instytunetampa.com

Thank you to our Clients!

Thank you for working with us!

If I stop and count my blessings I have to add our wonderful clients to my long list. You keep me busy, you keep me learning and as we support each other good things are happening for us all.

Saying Thank You is so easy, yet sometimes we forget in all the everyday tasks we undertake to realize that without our clients we have no reason to walk in the door.

So let me say it again! THANK YOU! As you allow us to market toward your success, you are making omOriginals Marketing! a success as well. We couldn’t do it without you.

That being said I would like to ask you 3 questions:

• What can I do to help you succeed that we are not already doing?
• Do you need eClub cards or return envelopes? (We need a couple weeks notice to get them to you so the sooner you tell me the sooner we can produce)
• Depending on the services we provide to you:
  • eMail Marketing - Have you prepared your Coupons/Offers or eMail Marketing Messages? Did you have a special idea in mind for the holidays?
  • Web Site Maintenance - Do you have any web updates we need to get on my work calendar?

Please have your updates and changes to us by Monday November 22, 2010. If you have any questions please Contact Us today!

Time to Kick the Tires

Greetings!

Can you believe it? September is half over! As we begin to think about getting our cars ready for the fall and winter months, we can’t forget to maintain our client base. I am not just talking about you, our valued Web Site Maintenance and eMail Marketing clients, but yours.

“It is not what you know but who you know…”

On the web there is a bit of reality to this statement. I have been to web sites that were well marketed and easily found on search engines that didn’t have a lot of content. I have also been to web sites with amazing content that no one knew about.

In reality the phrase above should be: With the right knowledge and audience your business can flourish online.

There are a couple tricks to being highly rated with Google that are inexpensive and uncomplicated. When you buy a new car you have to drive it or the tires lose air and the engine coughs and sputters when you start it for the first, in a long time, the same goes with your web site; don’t let it just sit there.

If you have invested in a web site then make sure to use it to get you places on the web.  I understand that the basic content: hours, contact information, even your products and services might not change that much, but even a couple paragraphs in a blog entry about your product or services count as checking the oil. If you or your web master don’t maintain your web site it wont travel very far.

Another way to help your rating with Google continue to gain speed is to find a way to get traffic to your web site; You wouldn’t build your store front in a field with no streets.

There are many ways to do this, but one that seems to be getting the attention of your customers is eMail Marketing campaigns that are interesting and relevant. If you have an eMail Marketing campaign, when was the last time you changed your offer? Our most successful clients have themed campaigns they have helped us to design for them that their clients love.

Not sure what to do? We have a client that gives us the coupons he runs in the local newspaper to send out to his clients via eMail. Another client has us eMail his newsletter and put it on his blog, which not only updates his site but brings more clients to his site for the other important resources he offers.

When it comes to marketing your business make sure you are a resource and that you don’t forget to fuel up your web site.

omOriginals Marketing! invites you to take advantage or our complimentary Annual Web Site Review. If we haven’t gotten to your name on the list, please Call, eMail or Find us on Facebook us to schedule yours. It’s good to get out and kick the tires!

New Facebook Places

Your can now share where you are based on your geolocation.
Really Cool to share or Really Scary?  What do you think?

New Facebook Places is available for iPhone and iPod.
http://www.facebook.com/places/

The Death of FB Application Boxes

Fresh from Facebook….

We announced plans last October to remove application boxes and application info sections as well as reduce the width of application tabs to optimize for the new profile and Facebook Pages format. We will be moving forward with these changes the week of August 23, and want to help you understand what to expect.

Based on feedback from developers, we have committed to the following plans to ensure a smooth transition:

* Boxes. We will notify users via messaging in profile boxes and in the Help Center that the “Boxes” tab, boxes on profiles and Pages, and application info sections will be going away.
* Application Tabs. Next week, we will give Page admins the ability to preview their custom tabs in the new 520 pixel width so they can modify their layouts as needed. All profile and Page tabs will be resized automatically beginning the week of August 23.

These updates are designed to simplify navigation for users, reduce complexity for developers, and enable us to build the next generation of tools for growing your business with Facebook. We’ll share more of our plans for the roadmap in the coming weeks.

Fran, a Platform product marketing manager, is busy updating the roadmap.