The Ramifications of Not Following the Online Trends in the Middle East

January 25, 2012 0 Comments

As Egypt celebrates the one year mark of the start of their uprising, others in the Middle East and around the world are thinking about the ramifications about not paying attention to the Arab Spring and the uptick in online users in and around the Middle East. In the beginning of 2010, there were a small percentage of Middle Easterners on the internet and using social media platforms, but as the year progressed, that number grew exponentially. With such explosive growth, global and regional companies should take a look at their digital marketing processes for the Middle East.

As this region increases its online presence, companies should be paying attention to how they respond to online marketing and come up with a solid plan to reach these users. Arab users tend to respond to social media marketing along with targeted paid search marketing. Both Facebook and Twitter are household names in the Middle East, and that will just continue to grow as the platforms are used to fuel uprisings and vent about issues. There are some global companies that have taken this as an opportunity to market to the arab users on the social media platforms, but this opportunity should not be just left to the large companies. There are many smaller companies that can use social media marketing to reach a new, relatively untapped market.

Courtesy of ArabCrunch.com

While social media is a large part of the Arab world, companies should not forget about marketing on search engines in the Middle East. Search engine marketing in the Middle East can be a lucrative plan if researched and executed correctly. Understanding Arab users is important to succeeding with paid search marketing, as using the same plan that a company uses in other locations around the world will not work. The Middle East search world is different from other locations because it is relatively new with regard to online services and ecommerce companies.

The ramifications of not following these explosive upswings in Arab users could cause your company or website to fall behind others that jump on the opportunity. Businesses succeed by following trends and getting ahead of the curve. If your business is looking at expanding internationally, then creating a plan to introduce your company in the Middle East should be high on the list.

How to Increase Business By Going Mobile

September 28, 2011 0 Comments

This is a guest post. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

If you are a business owner in the 21st century then you understand the importance of being online. If you don’t have a website or aren’t on Facebook and other social networking sites, then there is a good chance that you aren’t drawing the business needed to remain successful. But this isn’t new information, and most responsible business owners are online.

However, very few have begun to take advantage of going mobile.

These days many consumers are finding information about the businesses they are interested in through their smartphones or app-enabled prepaid phone plans. If they are out-and-about, consumers aren’t going to run home to check out where to go on their laptop; instead, they are going to go to site’s such as FourSquare or Urbanspoon to find a highly recommended place to go to. If your place of business happens to pop up, they are going to then go and check out your website. And if your website doesn’t pull up, or takes several minutes to load, you can guarantee that they are going to click on your competitor before you can grab their attention.

So what do you do to make sure that your business is accessible as possible? Easy. Make your site mobile friendly. To make your site more mobile friendly, consider the following:

Watch Your Code

When creating your site, make sure that all the code has the proper PHPs in place so that your site can be accessed easily from any browser. Smartphones are very particular about browsers and it can be tricky to know which users will have what browsers. By having more universally accepted code that is heavy in CSS, your website will be more easily accessible through any browser, allowing smartphone users the ability to upload your site regardless of their browsing preference.

Reduce Flash Usage

Really you should abandon the use of Flash altogether as it is definitely on its way out. The archaic Flash just isn’t worth the hassle anymore, and it makes it nearly impossible to upload your site within a reasonable time on a smartphone.

Rethink Design

Because of the use of mobile technology, traditional site design has had to minimize itself. Big pictures, moving objects, and numerous tabs and pages are no longer a necessity, or even a desired quality. When trying to cater to a mobile audience, reduce your site’s design. Keep it clean and simple to navigate so that it will more easily download on a smart phone.

Nearly 80 percent of all consumers already turn to the web before giving a business their patronage, and a large amount of those consumers do so using a mobile phone. Don’t let your business get overlooked simply because it won’t easily upload onto a smart phone’s browser. Integrate clean design and the proper code into your site, and you will have a noticeable increase in business in no time.

Keep Your Customers’ Attention with On Hold Marketing

August 21, 2011 0 Comments

Creating a marketing plan for every part of your business can be a daunting process, but it is well worth it in the end. You need to make sure that you are marketing to your customers at every point in your business. Not taking the time to effectively market to your customers can slowly start to hurt your business. As your setup your marketing plan, make sure to not overlook one aspect that is left out by many companies, marketing messages. Some of the most effective marketing messages are delivered when a customer is on hold during a call to your business.

On hold advertising is a great way to communicate with your customers while they wait on hold for your company representatives. There are many services out there that will provide you with solutions to create hold music, but many of them just use generic music to keep your customers’ attention. The best way to keep your customer is provide with custom on hold marketing messages about upcoming sales or general business information. This shows your customer that you are a professional business that wants to make sure that each customer is up to date with your information. The advantage to on hold advertising is that you will capture each and every customer that is on hold when calling your business. Each one will hear custom messages that could potentially convert them into a sale. When you use general on hold music, you have no chance of pushing quality marketing messages.

If you are interested in creating custom on hold marketing messages, then check out the services of EarGlue. This company provides on hold marketing services for companies wishing to capture all customers when they are on hold. They provides services like some other companies out there, but with a better twist. EarGlue uses state of the art digital on hold equipment that allows businesses to change and update their on hold marketing messages. Other services will create the messages for you and then send you the file via mail. EarGlue will create the message, but then update your equipment digitally. This allows you to change your on hold marketing message to reflect new sales or updated information. This service alone gives your company a clear advantage over competition that use general on hold music to interact with their customers.

It is a company’s responsibility to take all of the appropriate marketing channels in order to effectively succeed. There are many companies that forget to market to their customers that are on hold when calling in. Most customers will be placed on hold when calling in, so it becomes a perfect opportunity to market to them. Providing sales or exclusive benefits will keep the customers attention and hopefully convert them into a sale. This is the main reason for marketing in the first place. If your company is using on hold music, but would rather take advantage of a great opportunity, then make sure you check out the services from companies like EarGlue. Adding custom on hold messaging to your overall marketing mix can really pay off if done correctly.

General Guidelines for Direct Advertising on Websites

July 23, 2011 0 Comments

This is a guest post by Charles. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

One of the best ways of monetizing a site is through direct advertising. Direct advertising has many advantages, as well as disadvantages.

Advantages of Direct Advertising

More money – By selling your own ads, you cut out middlemen, thus increasing your earning potential.
Independence – It is true that large advertising networks have more credibility and have access to more advertisers. However, if you have a popular site and look in the right places, you should be able to find advertisers as easily as the large networks.
Flexibility – Direct advertising will give you more control over how and where the ads will get displayed, thus avoiding intrusive advertising.
Credibility – Having direct advertisers and sponsors on your blog could enhance your credibility. If recognized companies are willing to be associated with your site, this can indicate that your site is professional and has quality content.

Disadvantages of Direct Advertising

Time consuming – Direct advertising requires time for optimizing your site for ads, identifying potential advertisers, engaging in negotiations and handling administrative issues (e.g. tracking statistics, making payments, delivering reports etc.)
Many requirements – To make money from direct advertising, you will need to fulfill many requirements. For instance, you will need a popular blog, professional design, and special software.
Instability – Unless you get long term deals, you will end up looking for new advertisers every other month. This is unlike advertising networks, where all the work is done for you.

Where to Find Advertisers

Once you have established you direct advertising program, you then need to start looking for advertisers. The following are some places where you can find advertisers:

People linking to your articles or sites – If a company agrees to link to your site or articles, it might also be willing to consider advertising on your website. Make sure you monitor all the incoming links.

People leaving emails/comments – A person who leaves a comment or email could be someone who would be interested in advertising on your site. Contact them and discuss the possibilities. This is a tactic that has been effective in getting advertisers for my blog which features ediet discounts and weight watchers coupons.

AdWords advertisers – Many companies don’t know the benefits of advertising online. If a company is already advertising on Google AdWords, it might be interested in exploring other online advertising options.

Other advertising networks – Though Google Adwords is the largest online advertising network, there are several others that may be helpful. Check companies which are advertising on BlogAds, AdBrite, Text-Link-Ads, SponsoredReviews, etc.

Banner advertisers on related websites – Look at popular sites in your niche and find out which companies have ads there. If you offer them a good deal, they are likely to be interested.

Charles is a technology lover and often writes about internet marketing and social media. He also writes about coupon deals at discount blogs that share weight watchers discounts and ediet coupons. Currently, he is writing for a coupon site which offers promotional code for weight watchers monthly pass and ediets coupon.

Google Partner Search Update

May 11, 2011 0 Comments

Google has provided me with an email about their new Partner search feature that are allowed for all Certified Partners. This search is really just an easier way for advertisers to find you or your company. Obviously, this only applies to people or companies that provide adwords assistance to advertisers and that are certified by Google. This change allows advertisers to put a lead out and have partners respond based on their skill sets. This could make it easier for partners to find qualified work directly from Google. Below is the email that was sent to all Search Partners.

We are excited to tell you about new lead management functionality in Google Partner Search (https://adwords.google.com/professionals/search/) that allows advertisers looking for account management support to initiate contact with certified partners by filling out a lead form, and for certified partners to easily review and respond to leads. We made this change in response to both advertiser and certified partner feedback that they’d like to see improvements to the lead management process, as well as the request process for inquiring clients.

Access to lead management will be available to current Google Certified Partners who have opted in to Google Partner Search. To obtain a listing on Google Partner Search partners (https://adwords.google.com/professionals/search/) must meet the following criteria:

1. Become a Google Certified Partner (https://adwords.google.com/support/select/professionals/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=18572) (GCP)
2. Have created a complete company profile
3. Have opted in to Google Partner Search

If you’re are already a Certified Partner and would like to update your profile or opt-in to Google Partner Search please follow these simple instructions:

1. Sign into your account and visit the Company Profile page (https://adwords.google.com/professionals/account/?pli=1).
2. From your company profile page, you can update your company description and service information, and verify that everything is correct. Remember, these fields will be used in your public profile page and lack of service information may mean your company might not be found in the results page.
3. To opt in to the search results, visit ‘My Company’ and choose ‘Profile’. Under ‘Profile visibility’, select ‘enabled’ next to ‘Appear in Partner search’.
4. Finally, if you have multiple geo locations you may want to create an international profile for each location

As only administrators will receive email notifications and access to lead management page, please assign suitable employees as administrators in ‘Account Access’ page to manage leads.

For more information on these, and other features of the Google Certification Program and Google Partner Search, please visit the program Help Center (https://adwords.google.com/support/select/professionals/?hl=en_US).

Many thanks,

Google Partner Search Team

iMark Interactive