| Posted Feb 2 2010 10:59 AM by TJ Furman Recently, in an effort to combat spam and false listings, Google modified the way they are ranking sites within the Google Local results pages. Many of our local customers ask us "How do I get my website to show up on the map? Well, here are a few easy tips that will help increase the chances of being indexed. Posted Sep 14 2009 4:08 PM by TJ Furman Lately, everyone that Marketpath has developed a website for has requested some sort of search engine optimization. Some of these cutsomers know quite a bit about SEO, while others are simply requesting the service because someone told them they needed it. Since there is such a discrepancy in SEO knowledge for our end users, I decided I would list out some of the terminology that is used and describe each part in simple terms. Posted Mar 4 2009 4:01 PM by TJ Furman Although companies continue to cut expenses and scale back during this tough economy, they all know very well that some sort of business must go on. All marketing professionals know (hopefully) that abandoning a marketing campaign completely, due to lack of funds, will spell certain death for a company. However, they must be creative in how they are spending their budgets. Gone are the days of huge upfront fees for websites. Spending tens of thousands of dollars for a site during this economic climate is usually not possible. That's where Software-as-a-Service or (SaaS) comes in... For those of you who are not familiar, SaaS allows companies to subscribe, whether annually or monthly, to a software service that allows them to streamline some process. In Marketpath's case, our software (as a service) makes it easier for marketing professionals to utilize their website in a more cost effective manner. The best part is, the starting cost's for SaaS models is usually much more manageable for a company. By spreading out the payments into a monthly or annual contract, costs are known and upfront and can be accounted for in advance. This is why the SaaS model works very well for Content Management Systems, with a relatively small amount to start and a small monthly or annual fee; your website can become a true marketing tool in a down economy - something we all need. Posted Jan 29 2009 1:57 PM by TJ Furman I just read a blog post on CMSwire that outlined a few of the trends that are going to really drive content management in 2009. Two of these three trends were about Web 2.0 integration and e-commerce integration and how each piece will become an extremely important part of each and every website over the next year. Almost every content management system out there today can help someone effectively manage landing pages, text, pictures, and menu structure (to name a few things), but not every one can help with the two things mentioned above. Having your website, blog, and shopping cart all managed by the same system helps keep things organized and streamlined. Managing products, content, blog posts and comments all from the same interface can help you and your staff save time and money. It is all possible with the right, easy CMS. Be ahead of the curve in 2009, be a trend setter. Make your website work for you. Posted Dec 29 2008 10:27 AM by TJ Furman What have you done for your website lately? Or perhaps I should ask a better question, what has your website done for you lately? In these times of a rough economy, hopefully the answer isn't "nothing." An underutilized, non-producing website is simply a wasted opportunity, and the worst part is, it's a cheap and easy opportunity. Sure, you could dump ten thousand dollars into a beautiful new website, and it might yield some quantifiable results, but what is going to keep people coming back? A fresh message, that's what. Without a simple and cost effective way to keep your website up to date and current, all that money that was spent on your website was, in essence, thrown away. With the right tool, a good content management system, you can turn your website into a wealth of knowledge for your customers and potential clients. No longer do you have to worry about being charged for each and every update. With Marketpath CMS, you have the freedom and the ability to change your site anytime you wish from any PC with internet access. What would you do with all of that power? Hopefully, the answer to that question is "make my website work for me!" Posted Oct 28 2008 10:18 AM by TJ Furman One of the things that can help distinguish your website from your competitors is how often you update your content. We all know this, but yet some of us still find it difficult to make changes. This might be the rationale behind Google putting stock into how recently and how frequently a site is updated. Google prides itself on giving searchers the most relevant information available, which a lot of times will translate into the freshest information available. Google will rank sites that administrators care enough to make changes to higher than their stale counterparts. Now obviously, Google isn't ranking sites soley based on frequency of updates, however it is one piece of the overall equation. In my opinion, it is the easiest piece of the overall SEO equation to put into action. Invest in a good content management system and swap out a picture or two every once in a while, blog about news worthy events, add a landing page that correlates to a new ad campaign. Make your website work for you. It's easy with the right tool. Posted Jul 31 2008 11:37 AM by TJ Furman
This brings me to one question. If the Yankees can part ways with their stadium and the lore that is associated with it, why can't people part ways with their old marketing strategies? Today, people find their information through the web. Even if a piece of mail reaches a potential customer, the piece of mail usually pushes the reader to find our more information about the company on the web. Now it doesn't make much sense to create an identity on a postcard or letter and then send someone to an outdated website. By using a content management system, you can change your website as your marketing changes. Creating an overall brand is the goal isn't it? Posted Jul 28 2008 8:14 AM by TJ Furman As I was sifting through all of the usual news stories on CNN this morning, I came across one that piqued my interest (thanks, Dave). There is a new search engine in town. Started by a couple of ex-Googlers, 'Cuil' has launched in the recent days and has a new, and perhaps better, method for indexing and ranking websites. Cuil's idea is that popularity of a website shouldn't be the dominant factor to whether a site can be found or not. Their philosophy is this: relevant content matters.
If content is in fact becoming king, then it has become very apparent that having a way to manage that content is extremely important. An easy-to-use content management system can take away any frustration that updating a website can cause. No longer does it need to take an hour to make a change, with the right system (Marketpath CMS, hint hint) it can take only a few seconds. If I have said it once, I'll say it again, providing relevant and up to date content can be the difference in driving traffic to your website. Posted Jul 22 2008 12:04 PM by TJ Furman
Exisitng customers aren't using it, because they know what is there...the content hasn't been updated in years. New, potential customers (if they can find your site) see an outdated website and wonder if the company still exists. This isn't the best first impression that a company could be making. It really takes a paradigm shift to realize what you could be missing out on. Everyone knows that when people want information nowadays they turn to the internet. Everything that you need an answer or a service for is right at your fingertips. Potential buyers are looking for sites that make sense, are usable, and the content is up to date. A content management system and a fresh web design are two of the most cost effective ways to spend marketing dollars. Your site is available 24 hours a day to people that are looking for the information you provide. What could be better than that? Its targeted marketing at its finest. When used effectively, web content management can be what seperates you from your competitors. Posted Jul 18 2008 2:29 PM by TJ Furman I was in a meeting with a friend of mine, Jill Harding, last week when she told me a great analogy for keeping a website's content up to date. She asked me the question, 'How many times can you watch the same Seinfeld episode before you just change the channel?' I know that Seinfeld is one of the all-time great shows, but with no new episodes coming out, you know what to expect out of each show.
The same goes for stale content on a web page. Users, and potential clients, will only come back so many times to view the same content before they realize that what they are looking for isn't there. They will find their information somewhere else, leaving your website to become more and more outdated and obsolete, and you are left with your same old customer base. Search engines operate in the same fashion. If they crawl your website every month and realize that nothing has changed, they are less likely to come back and index your website for search. Updating content on a regular basis can remedy this situation and invite the search engine spiders to re-index your site more frequently. Increasing how frequently you update the content can greatly improve your overall web presence and help your website become a source for information for your customers. |
Archive 2010 (1) February (1) Improving Your Google Local Search Ranking 2009 (3) September (1) Basic Search Engine Optimization Terminology March (1) Software as a Service - The perfect ally in a tough economy? January (1) Everything in one place 2008 (6) December (1) A More Effective Website October (1) How Recent and How Often Does Matter July (4) The House that Ruth Built There is a New Player in Search Need a Paradigm Shift? The Re-run Theory Categories ASP Content Management Business CMS Business Content Management Business Website Design CMS CMS Software Content Management News Content Management Software Content Management Solution Content Management System Content Management Tool Easy CMS Easy Content Management Easy Website Maintenance Hosted Content Management Indiana Search Engine Optimization Indiana SEO Indiana Web Development Indiana Website Design Indianapolis Content Management Indianapolis Search Engine Optimization Indianapolis Search Marketing Indianapolis SEO Indianapolis SEO and CMS Indianapolis Web Design Indianapolis Web Software Indianapolis Website Design Indianapolis Website Maintenance Indianapolis Website Marketing Indianpolis search marketing Indy Content Management Indy SEO Indy Web Design Indy Website Design Internet Design Internet Marketing Strategies SaaS CMS Web CMS Web Content Management Web Design Web Maintenance Website CMS What's New CMS |