Why, When, and How Should You Use Hash Tags?

You’ve seen these: #.

It used to be something just on your phone to press at the end of a message prompt. Now, it is something that is changing how people communicate and search online.

If you plan on marketing online, you need to know about hash tags and why, when, and how they should be used.

Why

First, there is the why of hash tags. They are used to categorize posts on social media sites plus they help to increase your visibility on those sites and in searches. When posts are grouped into categories, they are easier to find later on when someone is searching on microblogging sites like Twitter. Now, these hash tags are also used on other social media platforms, including Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ and Flickr.

When

Hash tags are used to draw attention to a certain subject or topic that has been identified as interest to the target audience and that you can offer some relevant information about. These are often keyword related and can provide a way to better target people on these social media sites.

It is a good idea to use hash tags for specific branding strategies or for a campaign that ties all your social media and marketing efforts together for consistent messaging and brand building. They also work great for contests and other special events.

How

Use hash tags when they add real value. Some people just use them to use them and this accomplishes nothing in terms of your marketing efforts.  Overuse hash tags and you can actually elicit the same response that spam gets. You will be ignored. That’s why it is important to do research before just adding the symbol to any word or phrase just to say you are using hash tags.

Keep the hash tag to only a couple of keywords to help categorize it accurately. There are some people that make long hash tags. These are not effective and difficult to categorize so they also end up being ignored.

Measurement

The results from hash tags can be measured because there are hash tag analytic tools that are now available to help gauge if they are working or not. This is important to the online marketing program because you need to ensure that all efforts provide a return on investment.

Are you ready to add this tactic to your marketing program? Find out how Flyline Search Marketing can help!

What Makes Social Media Platforms Such Effective Viral Marketing Tools?

You may hear a lot about Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest – in fact, you may even use them in your personal life – but these are tools that you need to consider using for your small business. Here’s why.

These social media sites are designed solely for the purpose of expansion and continually adding to your social circle to find more people who share your interests and that can exchange information with you and vice versa. With this rapid expansion, your messages about your brand will travel faster than any other type of communication platform.

You want your followers to tell their friends, subscribers, followers and connections about your business, but they cannot do that if you do not also have a presence on these social media platforms. And, if you are on these sites, you must know what interests them enough to decide that they must share it and pass it on for that viral effect.

Another advantage to social media sites like Multiply, MySpace, Yfrog, Flickr and Pinterest is that they are specifically designed for disseminating information to the largest groups of people. These particular social media tools are also favored by search engines, which often feature information from these sites in their search engine results.

While you don’t have to be on every social media platform that is out there, it is important to have a comprehensive strategy as part of your marketing efforts. 

The problem is that you may not know which ones work best for your type of business or you simply do not have the time to update the content as regularly as it needs to be in order to garner attention and have your followers, subscribers, and fans share that information.

That’s why you need a social media marketing partner like Flyline Search Marketing who has the expertise to know what works as well as the team of professionals who can create, post, manage, monitor and track the content and responses for you. 

Our social media services have proven to be affordable and effective, generating results that include more in-store and web traffic, increased sales, and enhanced brand recognition.

If you are ready to start building the buzz about your business, Flyline can help. We have worked with all types of businesses, including florists, gyms and fitness centers, and auto dealerships, with significant quantitative improvements in their business and brand. Contact us now to learn more!

Why it’s Important to Have an Experienced Internet Marketing Consultant

While you can, as a small business owner, learn some of the online marketing tactics available, you can’t know them all. Sure, you can create a Facebook page and open a Twitter account. Maybe you can put some website content together and with the help of a prepackaged website design get a website up.

However, do you know how to get that website noticed? Do you have the time to regularly update your website and social media sites, including on a daily basis? Would you know what type of keywords you need for a search engine to consider ranking you higher?

Sometimes, you just can’t do it all let alone know it all. That’s when you could really use the help of specialists so you can focus on what you know – your product or service – while the specialist takes care of the rest.

That’s where a company like Flyline Search Marketing can help. Our team consists of different types of marketing specialists who love helping businesses like yours. Already, they have made a difference for a wide range of companies, including florists, auto dealerships, gyms and fitness centers, postal centers, property management companies, law firms and more.

Our team of specialists includes:

• SEO specialists who understand how to create specialized list of keywords that help you rank better with the search engines and stay up to date on the changing rules associated with keywords and SEO practices;
• Website designers and developers who can craft clean, functional, and easy to use websites that reflect your business, brand, and information you want to share with potential customers;
• Google AdWords experts that have been certified by Google and can create relevant campaigns that help your business get noticed as well as develop remarketing programs to keep your business top of mind;
• Social media specialists who know the ins and outs of all platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube;
• Content writers who are experienced in the industries we serve and have worked in agencies, providing them with excellent writing skills geared toward marketing, social media, and public relations so that they can create website content, articles, blogs posts, social media content and press releases; and
• Marketing specialists that understand how to quantify results and read the analytics in order to make changes to your Internet Marketing program or add to messaging that has yielded the greatest results.
  

Are you ready to find out what an experience Internet Marketing consultant company can do for you? Contact us now and let’s get started!

Turnkey Twitter Services Management Solution for Florists

While many florists used to think a social media platform like Twitter was just for big businesses or celebrities, more florists are now realizing the power that it can hold in reaching and engaging their target audience in a new way.

The Challenges of Tweeting

Despite recognizing the value, many florists are not entirely sure how to use Twitter, what to talk about, and how to get the maximum benefit from it. There is also the concern over time limitations when trying to focus on day-to-day business activities.

Even though the posts are 140 characters or less, florists may not be sure what to do let alone how to connect this platform to any other Internet Marketing strategies that could help them or that they are already using.

Forming a Twitter Partnership

As a florist, this is when you could use the expertise and resources of an Internet Marketing firm like Flyline Search Marketing who also understands the florist business, industry, and target audience, especially after continuing to work with six well-known florists around the country.  

Twitter Case Study: Veldkamp’s Flowers

To help you understand how Flyline Search Marketing can assist you with growing your traffic, revenue, and brand recognition, let’s look at one of Flyline’s current clients, Veldkamp’s Flowers, a family owned and operated flower shop located in Denver, Colorado.

Flyline provides them with a turnkey Twitter services management solution. Check out their Twitter site at https://twitter.com/veldkamps to see what they tweet and re-tweet about. The Denver florist has already realized the value of using Twitter as a solution for connecting with current and prospective customers in a new way that their traditional marketing efforts could not accomplish.

As part of their ongoing Internet Marketing contract, Flyline provides the Denver florist with a number of Twitter services. This includes putting together daily tweets that are themed appropriately to the season or holiday time-frame as well as those that may highlight current promotions, new products, or tips on flower and plant care.

Each tweet is professionally written to highlight key concepts and keywords. These tweets are designed to generate buzz around the Denver florist as well as enhance its brand attributes in the minds of its target audience. The tweets also focus on building natural, in-bound links deep into the client’s website.

Are you ready to see how Twitter can help your flower shop build business? Contact us now to learn more!

Social Media Marketing Builds Brand Awareness and More!

Social media marketing is more than just having an account on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn or Pinterest. 

It is a way to connect with more customers and potential customers where they like to engage with others, get information, and consult with their friends about where to shop. 

Some customers are even using social media platforms to do some of their shopping.

Affordable, Results-Driven Marketing Programs

Marketing your business through social media platforms does not cost a lot of money but it does produce incredible results when you employ a strategy of consistent content and regular engagement. 

This targeted marketing program allows you to reach your prospective audience without spending considerable money like you would if you chose to implement traditional marketing initiatives.

Branding and Buzz

Social media is where it’s at. These platforms are where people are talking and the buzz is being created about products and services. Viral posts and sharing of information lead to greater brand awareness. 

The real marketing value of social media comes from not only directing messages to your followers, but also having your brand and content touch their current and future friends and connections.

Our Social Media Marketing Programs

Our Social Media program managers design customized marketing programs that fit each client we serve. This involves evaluating your business, the products you sell, the services you offer and your current marketing strategies. 

Then, we design a social media marketing program that can include a wide range of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Yfrog, Flickr, Multiply, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn and more.

With each social media platform you participate in, you must have regular and relevant content added, so we put this together for you as well as monitor any feedback or comments from your followers. 

The more sites you participate in through our social media program, the more likely you are to be favored by the search engines that regularly index information and move you up to the search query results pages.

If you think this is something that your business can benefit from, then it’s time to contact Flyline Search Marketing and learn more about the type of social media marketing programs we offer our clients and better understand how we can help you achieve your strategic goals and objectives. 

Pinterest –The Next Great and Necessary Advertising Platform

While you may commonly associate Pinterest with a site dedicated to recipes, crafts, decorating ideas and party ideas, it is fast becoming a great tool for businesses to connect with various segments of their target audience.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest says it is a site that helps people collect and organize things they are interested in. Here’s how it works:

• A pin is typically a gift, recipe, design idea, product or quote. If you add the Pin It Button to your website, then it can be used to pin your stuff to Pinterest. Then, other people on Pinterest can re-pin those things or easily visit your website.   
• Boards are used to organize these pins and are arranged by type of item, so then other people can follow those boards where they like the pins. 
• It becomes a great way to find other people who like the same thing as you do and learn about new products or ideas through those people as well as share with them in an authentic and trusting way.

Why Should You Have a Pinterest Account?

As seen in the previous section, you should have a Pinterest account because it is a key way to meet, attract, interact and retain your target audience.

Pinterest even has a number of success stories about how businesses have used Pinterest to grow their customer base and add revenue while further enhancing their brand value.

To help businesses get the most out of Pinterest, the site now offers a number of tools that help a business create its presence there.

These tools include rich pins, pin it button, widget builder and analytics that all help to develop, manage, and track Pinterest success.  

What Can Flyline Do for You?

While it is an incredible tool that is helping many businesses like yours, it is also time-consuming to create and manage. 

That’s why we have added Pinterest to our comprehensive Internet Marketing programs for our customers to help them leverage the power of this very necessary advertising platform.

Our team of knowledgeable social media and online advertising professionals can handle all aspects of a Pinterest business account for you so you can focus on your business. 

This includes adding the pin it button to your website, developing pins and boards, including adding content and images that are search engine optimized, managing the boards and tracking analytics on your behalf.

Ready to learn more about how Pinterest and our other Internet Marketing tactics can help grow your business? Contact us now!

How’s Your Website Traffic?

In a world where consumers now turn to the Internet and their smartphones, your website is the most important marketing vehicle to get in-store and online traffic that will lead to increased revenues. 

However, since the Internet is crowded with websites and consumers often give up on search engines after the first couple of search result pages, it is challenging to know just how you can add more website traffic.

At Flyline Search Marketing, increasing website traffic is our specialty. Here’s an outline of how we have been able to grow traffic for our clients and enjoy a competitive advantage over others in their particular industry. We call that “The Flyline Advantage.”

Google AdWords Program

• Our Google AdWords program offers a robust and highly effective way to increase your website traffic. Here’s what our management team does for you:
• Uses the latest tools and options to generate a steady stream of new business leads.  
• Places your Google ads in the Google Search and Display ad networks in the top ad positions.
• Targets your Google AdWords campaign to the precise audience that fits your product or service.
•  Incorporates the Google remarketing program to keep you at the top of mind for all customers.
• Creates Google Mobile Targeted campaigns to also increase call-in sales conversions.
• Monitors client program performance on a 24/7 basis, deploying Google Analytics on your website and sharing the data with you.
• Adds call tracking and recording for every Google ad.

Website SEO

Another important strategy we employ is search engine optimization, or SEO. Our team of SEO professionals is continually learning the latest updates on the science of SEO and incorporates this new knowledge into your Internet Marketing program with us.

We use SEO strategies, such as meta tags, URL structure, heading tags, site maps, original content and link building, which produce results for our clients, again and again.

Social Media

Another important strategy to build website traffic is the use of social media. Our programs combine many different social media platforms to maximize the return on the investment you make in our Internet Marketing capabilities.

Social media efforts include Facebook page development and management, blog development and content, Twitter account management and regular tweets, LinkedIn profile development and management, Youtube channel development and management, and Pinterest management.

These platforms are integrated with your website so that customers and potential customers can toggle back and forth between them easily and stay current on your latest news, specials, and products and services. This presence across multiple online channels also keeps you at the top of mind of your target audience because they discover you are everywhere with great and valuable information. Regular updates will encourage them to return to your website and tell others about what great information, products, and services you offer, thereby increasing website traffic.

Are you ready to double, triple, or quadruple up on your website traffic? Then it’s time to call us and see how we can put our expertise to work to build your following and business. 

Flyline Search Marketing Creates New Website for HFI Event Services

We’ve been busy building numerous websites in the last few months and we are getting to launch another one for our client, HFI Event Services.

The Georgia-based event planning services was looking to revamp its website to garner more attention in the market as well as integrate it with a number of social media channels.

This blog post provides you with insights into how this company has changed its online presence so you could think about how you might also partner with us to increase traffic, enhance your brand, and generate more business.

About HFI Event Services

The company provides trade show and event development and management services for some of the nation’s largest trade shows and event owners. 

Their services include:

§  Trade Show Development, Budgeting, & Implementation

§  Trade Show Acquisition Plan

§  Marketing & Communications Plan & Implementation & Management

§  Sales Plan & Implementation & Management

§  Conference Development & Implementation

§  Facilitate Committee input and participation

§  Development of Strategic Alliances with other organizations

§  Media Relations Plan & Implementation

§  Feasibility and Competitive Studies

§  Research Studies / Surveys

§  Permanent/Mart Facility showroom development and implementation

§  Organize Pavilion participation in international trade shows

§  Sponsorship Program Development & Implementation

§  Special Events Development & Implementation

§  Exhibit Hall & Conference Center Sales/ Marketing Plan & Implementation

§  On-site Operations and Event Production

§  Facility and Vendor negotiations (union & non-union)

HFI Event Services is owned by Sue McCart. She has years of experience with large and small trade shows, conferences, and public shows, running some of the most prestigious trade shows and events in the country.

The New Website

The new website was built using a new high-tech responsive site design on the Wordpress platform. The responsive website design allows the site to literally morph into a full mobile website when accessed via a smartphone or iOS device like an iPhone or Android. 

The website also can sense if website visitors are using their desktop, laptop, or table device and then adjust accordingly to those screen settings to optimize the viewing experience.  

The website has other enhancements for easier navigation. 

It also has the ability to quickly and effectively deliver regular content updates to keep the website fresh so that customers and potential customers will regularly return to the website and the site will remain positioned in search engines so it can be found easily. 

The content has also been search engine optimized to also help those searching for event services companies find the company quickly and before the competition’s sites.

The Social Media Component

Recognizing the value of social media, the website is now integrated with all the major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and RSS Feed. This helps encourage website visitors to easily add the company to their social media circles with just a click of a button.

Are You Ready to Increase Your Online Presence?

Contact us if you are ready to find out more about our website development and website design services.

The Rundown on Google Places: Making it Easier for Your Customers to Find You

Every day, millions of users search the Internet for local businesses. They are searching for a new place to eat, a trustworthy business to fix up their car, or a place to get their hair done.

Roughly 80% of these people are searching with Google.

As a business owner, you need to ask yourself:  Are you on Google yet? It’s okay if you are not. 

However, in order for your business to thrive and even survive, it is very important for it to have an online presence. 

When you have this online presence, there is no better a place than Google to get the attention you are seeking from your target audience.

Be Seen with Google Places

There are many aspects of Google connected to online advertising opportunities. There is their social media site known as Google+, their hyper-effective Google AdWords pay-per-click (PPC) platform, and their Google Places platform.

What is Google Places? Essentially, it is an updated form of Google Maps that allows for a webpage of sorts to be available to every business in the world. 

This has allowed its capabilities of online advertising to be expanded in what it can deliver for the businesses that use this Google platform.

Thanks to Google Places, participating businesses no longer have to compete for organic placement on search engine results. Other great benefits for businesses like yours include the following:

• Even if your business doesn’t have a website, your Google Places page still allows you a place to display important information for potential customers. This information can be an address, business hours, or a phone number. There is also room to provide additional content to market your business.
• If your business already has a website, then the Google Places page becomes just another great place for extra exposure, which can then lead more people to your website for further information.
• Google Places is a great way to get your business local exposure because it is geared toward connecting you with those closest to you.

Google Places can be easily setup by anyone with a computer and Internet access. Even better, the platform is made available for free use with an optional pay-per-click (PPC) style addition.  

To make best use of this platform and see truly remarkable results, it is important to have the in-depth knowledge and experience of using all of Google’s platforms.

At Flyline Search Marketing, we have specially trained Google AdWord professionals who have extensive knowledge and experience on how Google’s platforms function. 

We highly suggest that any business that is interested in moving forward with Google Places should contact us to learn more about how we can create a customized Internet marketing program that includes Google Places along with various other channels, including SEO, blogs, press releases, PPC and website content and development.