Archive for July, 2009
Yahoo! and Microsoft Hand in Hand: How this Changes SEO Strategies
Posted by admin in Search Engine Optimization on July 29, 2009
Microsoft and Yahoo! announced today (Wednesday, July 29th) that an agreement has been made to integrate Yahoo! Search engine technology with Microsoft’s new search engine (excuse me, “decision engine”) known as Bing.
The ten-year partnership will deal exclusively with search and search advertising. The two groups will apparently remain independent in certain sectors like news sites and electronic mail services
The partnership is intended to create a new “number 2” in an effort to strike a blow at Google (never really mentioned by name in Steve Ballmer’s video below), the behemoth of search and paid ad revenues.
Fickle Yahoo! has changed search partners before.
1995-Yahoo! directory first to “catalog the web”
1998-Yahoo! uses Alta-Vista and Inktomi for web search
2000-Yahoo! uses Google for web search
2004-Yahoo! kicks Google out, buys Inktomi and develops its own search engine
2009-Yahoo!and Microsoft agree to collaborate on a web search and ad partnership “Bing go!”
Because Marion follows standard SEO practices (cleverly executed) our rankings on Bing remain as strong as they were on MSN.com, if not just a little bit better. And instead of optimizing separately for Google, Yahoo and Bing, we only need to optimize for Google and Bing now.
Decrease Foreign Email Spam
Have you noticed an increase in spam coming from China, Russia or another country that you shouldn’t be getting email from? Well, with just a few simple email setting changes in Outlook, you can reduce this junk mail significantly. Be sure to look at the extension to verify you are getting international spam – .ru, .cn, etc. Just follow these few simple steps to eliminate this problem.
First go to the Actions menu and select Junk Emails. You should then see Junk Email Options. From there, select the International tab and follow the instructions below.
Select Junk Email Options under the Action Menu in Outlook
Select the international extensions that are connected to your spam. Make sure you do not exclude any countries you may receive legitimate email from.
Blocked Top-Level Domain List
Choose the “Blocked Top-Level Domain List” button and click on the country extensions listed in the spam email address. Click OK when done.
Select the Blocked Encodings List for further email protection
Blocked Encodings List
Choose the “Blocked Encodings List” button and click on the languages included in the spam email. Click OK when done.
You should now be free from foreign spam!
www.marion.com
New Web Designs Reflect a Changing Economy
Posted by admin in Brand Building, Brand Positioning, Web Design on July 22, 2009
Check out these new website designs developed by Marion for some of our Houston customers. Note how their business models and positioning are in-sync with the new economy. All are graphically appealing (of course), clear on messaging and easy to navigate.
Turner Bros. Web Home Page Design
“Lifting and Transportation Services for the North America Industrial and Energy Marketing.” Turner Brothers is riding the green wave with Wind Energy Solutions – an uplifting site.
BA Urban Solutions Web Home Page Design
BA Urban Solutions is an REO (Real Estate Owned) Asset Management Company dedicated to “Bringing the Dream of Home Ownership Back to Urban Communities” by making banks and prospective home buyers happy.
Hoffer Furniture Web Home Page Design
Instead of purchasing furniture for a new office in an uncertain economy or to stage an empty home for sale, try “Furniture Rental for Homes and Offices” from a firm “Serving the Greater Houston Area.” Ever heard of the “Hoffer Offer – You Just Can’t Beat It?”
Is your company in-sync with the new economy? Learn more about how The Marion Group can help your company find your brand positioning in this new economy.
Let Marion make the Most of Your Business Sales Leads
Posted by admin in Lead Generation on July 17, 2009
Dealing with warm leads is tough. They are interested in your product or service but are not necessarily ready to do business with you – yet. It could be anywhere from 12 to 18 months down the road before you ever hear from them again, but once they contact you, they’re ready.
In order to keep a warm lead from going cold, it is important to nurture the lead by keeping your name in front of them. This could be in the form of product demos, educational podcasts, white papers, online RFQs, newsletters, etc. After the sales lead is generated, the challenge is nurturing that warm lead, and it seems that there might be something more effective than that old rolodex.
The Marion Group offers a program called TLC for Your ROI™ that allows for business-to-business sales lead tracking and lead capture for inbound calls and sales leads generated from your marketing campaigns through any media – print, online or broadcast. Furthermore, it allows you to determine your return on investment (ROI), and if that particular media outlet is generating sales leads for you.
Here is a simple example: If you place an ad in Magazine A, and it generates 38 sales leads in a month, and you place the same ad in the same position in Magazine B that has the same circulation as Magazine A, and only get 12 sales leads in a month, you can determine that you might be wasting your adverting dollar on Magazine B.
The database gives you an easy and efficient way to keep track of your leads, flag a lead as hot, warm, cold or if they became a customer and generate reports that show your campaign’s progress.
For more information on business sales lead tracking, feel free to contact us at info2@marion.com.
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