Public Relations and Marketing Blog

What Businesses Should Know About Facebook Timeline

Facebook has rolled out significant changes and improvements to how users view and interact with businesses with the new Facebook Timeline. With Facebook Timeline, Facebook pages have an entirely new design and businesses can enjoy more control over what content is front and center, and what content is hidden on their page. In this article, … Continue reading “What Businesses Should Know About Facebook Timeline”

Facebook Timeline

Facebook has rolled out significant changes and improvements to how users view and interact with businesses with the new Facebook Timeline. With Facebook Timeline, Facebook pages have an entirely new design and businesses can enjoy more control over what content is front and center, and what content is hidden on their page. In this article, you’ll find an overview of brand new Timeline features such as the cover photo, apps, direct messaging, the activity log and more.

Choose a Cover — The most visible change in Facebook Timeline is the cover photo. The Timeline cover displays an 851×315-pixel banner across the top of the fan page, making multimedia a stronger element than ever before. Since the cover image is very large, it’s essential to choose a cover photo that is eye-catching and reflective of your organization. For example, a restaurant may want to display a popular menu item while a retail store may feature a popular product. It’s important to keep in mind that covers are not permitted to display any calls to action, references to pricing, contact information, a Web address or text such as “like this page” or “visit our website.” It’s essential to focus on the image and choose a photo that entices users to scroll down to learn more about your business. For details about cover photo guidelines and restrictions, please click here.

Complete Your About Section — Directly under your cover photo, two key metrics will be visible: your number of likes and the number of “people talking about this.” Under these metrics, you’ll find your About section. This section is where you can include a brief description of your business and contact information. To the right, you’ll see photos, pages that you have liked and any custom landing tabs. As the following paragraph will explain, any custom landing tabs that you have previously installed will be completely reformatted. Facebook has removed the ability to set one of these tabs up as the default image when a user arrives at your page.

Apps — Perhaps the biggest change to this new format is that default landing tabs, or customized tabs that non-fans would see first instead of the wall, are no longer allowed. With Timeline, users will always see the main page first and they will have to click through to view custom apps. In this section, you can add your custom pages, contests, promotions, coupons or media. However, these will not get the same amount of exposure as they did on traditional Facebook pages. Since these tabs will no longer be the first thing users see when they visit your page, they may not be as powerful or engaging.

Direct Messages with Fans — This new feature is a huge advantage for businesses. For the first time, Facebook users can send private messages to the owner, or Admins, of a business page. With the old layout, the only way fans could communicate with business pages was publicly, through the page’s wall. By making it possible to communicate with business owners through private messages, businesses can handle any complaints or personal matters out of the public eye, making this a better experience for both parties.

Share, Star and Hide Stories — One of the major features of Timeline is that businesses have more power than ever to share, “star” and hide stories surrounding their fan page. For example, by “starring” posts, you can choose which updates you want to drive the most traffic to and highlight historical or successful posts by you and your fans. On the other hand, you can hide or delete posts that are embarrassing, out of date or negative. Users can monitor all of these updates in Timeline’s new activity log.

Activity Log — Your activity log will be an organized list of your posts and activity, from the current date back to the very beginning of your page’s history. Through your activity log, you can control what information goes on your Timeline and what information you’d prefer to hide. You can also mark certain posts as spam and hide posts from appearing on your Timeline, but that you’d still like to store in your activity log. For more information about the features of Timeline’s activity log, click here.

How Should I Begin — To switch to Facebook Timeline, visit the Timeline for Pages preview manager, where you can walk yourself through the features discussed in this article. When you’re comfortable with how Timeline works, click the “Publish Now” button at the top of your page to show your new design to the public. If you prefer to wait until March 30th, Timeline will automatically become publicly visible and you will have to adjust your page at this time.

To find out more about Facebook Timeline, visit Facebook’s Timeline: A New Kind of Profile.

For more information, please contact The Public Relations and Marketing Group at (631) 207-1057 or johnzaher@theprmg.com. You can also visit our blog for more valuable articles, advertising spotlights and more.

Advertise with Special Parent LI’s April Edition

By advertising in Special Parent LI’s April edition, your business will be featured in the most informative, professional and useful resource for parents of children with special needs. Special Parent is a biannual magazine dedicated to all families of children with special needs. This magazine includes professional editorial, a directory of resource providers, a calendar … Continue reading “Advertise with Special Parent LI’s April Edition”

By advertising in Special Parent LI’s April edition, your business will be featured in the most informative, professional and useful resource for parents of children with special needs. Special Parent is a biannual magazine dedicated to all families of children with special needs. This magazine includes professional editorial, a directory of resource providers, a calendar of events and a guide to support groups that will reach over 100,000 families.

Special Parent will also be distributing this issue directly to families and professionals at popular events this April. By advertising in this issue, your business will receive extra exposure at the following events:

  • April 8th “Sensitive Bunny: Easter Celebration for Children with Sensory Integration Disorders” at Apply Day Camp
  • April 22nd “All Kids Fair” Nassau County
  • April 22nd “EJ Foundation’s Jigsaw Race” Suffolk County
  • April 27th and 28th “Behavioral Approach to Language Assessment and Intervention for Children with Autism” – Marion K Salomon and Associates Conference – Suffolk County

We would recommend this opportunity for organizations who work with children with special needs. The rate for a ¼ page ad is $495, $795 for a half page and $1,395 for a full page. Please note that the deadline for this advertising opportunity is Wednesday, March 28.

If your business is interested in placing an ad, please contact The Public Relations and Marketing Group at (631) 207-1057 or johnzaher@theprmg.com.

How to Choose the Right Keywords

5 Tips for Making the Most Out of Your Business’ Keyword Strategy When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), keywords are extremely important. Keywords are the words or short phrases that Internet users type into a search engine when looking for a website, business, service or product. In regards to SEO, search engines use … Continue reading “How to Choose the Right Keywords”

5 Tips for Making the Most Out of Your Business’ Keyword Strategy

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), keywords are extremely important. Keywords are the words or short phrases that Internet users type into a search engine when looking for a website, business, service or product. In regards to SEO, search engines use keywords when analyzing and prioritizing websites. By including strong keywords in the content of your website, the meta tags, ALT tags, your domain name and each individual page name, your search engine rankings will dramatically improve. Apart from SEO purposes, keywords should also be used in blog entries and your Web advertising campaigns. This article will explain how to choose keywords that will boost your business’ online visibility and bring you higher conversion rates.

  1. Know Your Target Audience — Before determining which keywords to use, you must know exactly what your target audience is most interested in. Your keywords should consist of words or phrases that potential customers are most likely to use when searching for your business, service or website. Ask yourself: what would my potential customers most likely enter into a search engine? Once you are familiar with your audience’s needs and mindset, you can begin compiling a list of potential keywords.
  2. Brainstorm — Come up with a list of potential words and phrases that your target audience might use to find your business online. The goal is to show up as high as possible in search engine results when people search using these keywords. Generate a list of words or short phrases that relate to what your website is trying to promote, sell or offer to your target audience. Try to stay away from very popular keywords because the more competition there is for a keyword, the harder it is to rank high for it. You can narrow your keyword phrases by adding a location or town. Also, rather than repeating the same keyword over and over again in your Web copy, it’s best to use the keyword’s synonyms. This way, your content will be more interesting for readers and Google won’t mark you as a keyword abuser.
  3. Use Keyword Tools — There are plenty of tools on the Web that will help you determine the monthly activity or popularity of potential keywords. For example, try using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. This useful tool can help you get keyword ideas for your overall list and, more specifically, for your Web advertising campaigns. Through this keyword tool, you can find keywords based on your website’s content and also identify negative keywords. Here are several other keyword tools available on the Web:
  4. Keep an Eye on Your Competition — By taking a look at your competitors’ meta tags, you can see which keywords they are using and get an idea of which words and phrases are most common in your industry. By using programs such as Web CEO, you can measure how well you, and your competitors, come up in search engines and, essentially, how easily potential customers are able to find your website. You can also try entering one of your desired keywords into a popular search engine to see which websites show up the highest for this word. While you are aiming for keywords that your target audience is most likely to use, you also want keywords that don’t have as much competition. If you can find a balance of strong keywords and less competition, you will have a better conversion rate.
  5. Adapt When Necessary — Over time, keep track of words and search phrases to determine which keywords you should keep and which you should remove. If you find that some of these words are no longer relevant, opt for different ones and monitor what works and what doesn’t.

For more information on keywords, please read our article, “On-Page Optimization and Keywords.” You can also contact The Public Relations and Marketing Group at (631) 207-1057 or johnzaher@theprmg.com. You can also visit our blog for more valuable articles, advertising spotlights and more.

What You Need to Know About SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is absolutely critical to modern marketing. With millions of new Web pages flooding the Internet every day, search engines are forced to sift through the clutter and develop a ranking system to prioritize websites. In the most basic sense, SEO is everything that helps your business get ranked higher and receive … Continue reading “What You Need to Know About SEO”

SEO-Pre-Production

Search engine optimization (SEO) is absolutely critical to modern marketing. With millions of new Web pages flooding the Internet every day, search engines are forced to sift through the clutter and develop a ranking system to prioritize websites. In the most basic sense, SEO is everything that helps your business get ranked higher and receive optimal exposure from these search engines. This is so important because your position on organic search engine results correlates with the number of leads generated by your website. For those who are new to SEO, this article will explain the most important factors that affect these rankings.

  1. Content — Compelling content is perhaps the most important and influential factor of search engine optimization. Every Web page you create should contain unique content that is fresh and relevant to your industry and keywords. Strong content is quickly picked up by the major search engines and pushed to the top of the search results. When writing your Web copy, see if you’ve answered the needs of your customers or clients. What kind of content are they looking for? Depending on your industry, you may offer guidebooks, downloads, a FAQ section, multimedia and other pages that are of value to your audience. It’s also important to ask yourself (even if your content meets the needs of your audience): What makes your website stand out from those of similar organizations? The more valuable and unique your website, the more traffic it will receive. For more information on the importance of content and how you can create better content, please see our article, “Why Quality Content Reigns Supreme.”
  1. Your Web Page Must be Crawlable — In order to build traffic, your website must allow search engines to easily “crawl,” or access and index, the information on your site. If your content cannot be crawled, it won’t be ranked or indexed by search engines. To ensure that your website is crawlable, use search engine-friendly CSS code, include a simple and clean navigation, use text links and incorporate a keyword-rich URL structure. Once your website has been fully optimized, crawled and indexed, it will be much easier to attract organic traffic from Google and other major search engines.
  1. On-page SEO — On-page SEO refers to all of the production requirements on the specific individual pages you are trying to rank. When developing your Web presence, make sure that every page is fully optimized since it’s possible that individual pages of your website will rank higher than your homepage. Start out with a strong, well-thought-out design, incorporate a frequent updating strategy and pick a domain name with potential keywords in it. It’s also important to name your individual Web pages using keywords. For example: www.yourcompany.com/keyword1-keyword2.html. Use proper programming and avoid “black hat” methods to prevent blacklisting by Google and other search engines. These black hat methods include repeating the keyword in your content too often, having duplicate websites and registering many domains and interlinking them all. For more in-depth information on on-page optimization tips and techniques, please see our article, “On-Page Optimization and Keywords.”
  1. Relevance — Your website and individual Web pages must be a close match to the term that is being searched. To boost your site’s relevance in the eyes of popular search engines, make sure that every title, header, link, graphic name and page on your website is somehow relevant and connected to your subject and desired keywords.
  1. Off-page SEO — Off-page SEO refers to the external aspects which attribute to rankings, or everything that happens off your website that builds traffic and leads to higher search engine ranking. The most important factors to consider are the external pages linking to your website and the level of authority these pages have. For example, submitting your website to popular Web directories and social bookmarking websites that have high authority will benefit your overall SEO. For more detailed information about off-page optimization and long-term strategies to improve your SEO, please read our article, “No, We Can’t Get You Those Results Overnight.” An important factor of off-page optimization is the level of authority given to your Web page. The more authority your Web page has, the more likely it will rank high for certain keywords. To maximize your authority, secure as many backlinks as possible from as many high-authority sites as possible. Since authority is an aspect of link-building, you can build authority on the Web by utilizing off-page optimization methods such as submitting your site to Web directories, using social bookmarking websites, blogging regularly and other techniques to engage users with your content and drive traffic and legitimate backlinks to your website.
  2. Link Building — Link building is critical to enhancing your SEO and attracting people to your website. Backlinks are so important to SEO because some major search engines, such as Google, will give more credit to websites that have a high number of quality backlinks. This doesn’t mean buying links or using link farms — backlinks should only be coming from credible sources. For example, backlinks from websites such as Google, YouTube and free submission websites are given more authority and link value. The four major factors that affect link value are:
    • Whether It Is a No-Follow or Do-Follow Link — Focus on obtaining do-follow links, which contain a special HTML Markup that notifies the major search engines to follow the destination inside the link. Always avoid link farms since these can actually hurt your search engine ranking.
    • The Authority of the Page Your Link Appears On — The higher the authority of the page your link appears on, the more SEO credit your backlink will hold.
    • The Number of Other Links on the Page Linking to You — The more links on one page, the less SEO credit each link possesses.
    • The Anchor Text of a Link — Links that have desired keywords in the anchor text (the clickable text in a hyperlink) are the most valuable to you, in terms of ranking for those keywords.

For more information, please contact The Public Relations and Marketing Group at (631) 207-1057 or johnzaher@theprmg.com. You can also visit our blog for more valuable articles, advertising spotlights and more.

Advertise at the Best Attended Disability Events of the Year with Able Newspaper

Able is a newspaper that features products and news that pertains to people with disabilities, including a calendar of events, columns written by various experts and a variety of informative articles. The newspaper is mailed to a specific population that includes disabled individuals, their families, involved professionals, volunteers and other interested parties. It is also … Continue reading “Advertise at the Best Attended Disability Events of the Year with Able Newspaper”

Able is a newspaper that features products and news that pertains to people with disabilities, including a calendar of events, columns written by various experts and a variety of informative articles. The newspaper is mailed to a specific population that includes disabled individuals, their families, involved professionals, volunteers and other interested parties. It is also distributed to key locations that are frequented by this population. By advertising your business in the April, May and June issues, your advertisement will be distributed at the following events:

  • April:
    • YAI’s Annual Conference — This annual conference on intellectual and developmental disabilities attracts an annual attendance of more than 3,000 people.
    • Adapted Sports, Recreation and Living Expo at Helen Hayes Hospital — This event will showcase an array of adapted sports and recreation opportunities, along with products and services designed to meet the needs of individuals with physical disabilities, senior citizens and caregivers.
    • JFK Health System Career Options Day — This event will focus on the latest career information for people with disabilities and the general public as well.
  • May:
    • The Abilities Expo — The Show of Assisted Living Products and Services. This Expo is the #1 showcase of products, services and technology for people with disabilities.
  • June:
    • Empire State Games for the Physically Challenged — This event is an Olympic-style competition for disabled youngsters. More than 15,000 professionals, parents, teachers, coaches and disabled adults are expected to attend.

By advertising in these issues of Able Newspaper, your ad will be seen and taken home by thousands of people with disabilities, their families and other professionals. You will also receive a free editorial in Able’s annual product and service guide. Don’t miss this opportunity to have thousands of additional readers see your ad and receive double the space at no extra cost to you.

These editions of Able Newspaper will also be distributed at many other showcases and new events are added every day. If your business is interested in placing an ad, please contact The Public Relations and Marketing Group at (631) 207-1057 or johnzaher@theprmg.com.

Advertise Your Business in The Jewish Press Passover Supplement

The Jewish Press, America’s largest independent Jewish weekly newspaper, will publish its pre-Passover holiday’s “Where to Go” guide in its March 30, 2012 edition. More than 96,000 copies will be distributed nationally, including to the 85,000 Jewish families who live in the New York metro area. By advertising your business in this special edition, you … Continue reading “Advertise Your Business in The Jewish Press Passover Supplement”

The Jewish Press, America’s largest independent Jewish weekly newspaper, will publish its pre-Passover holiday’s “Where to Go” guide in its March 30, 2012 edition. More than 96,000 copies will be distributed nationally, including to the 85,000 Jewish families who live in the New York metro area. By advertising your business in this special edition, you can reach the families of 150,000 Jewish youngsters (grades K-12) from more than 200 Yeshiva Day Schools who will be looking for fun and entertainment during their vacation time. By advertising in this guide, your ad can reach an interested audience during a time when other attendance may be running low.

If your business is interested in advertising with The Jewish Press, please contact The Public Relations and Marketing Group at (631) 207-1057 or johnzaher@theprmg.com.

What’s Happening at PRMG

  • Menus were designed for The Village Raw Bar and Piccolo Mondo Ristorante.
  • Advertisements were created for LAXWORX, Bens Deli, Briscoe, Crasche and Star Island Shark Tournament.
  • Mailers were created for Dreamland Amusements.
  • A Brochure was created for Star Island Shark Tournament.

Contact Us

For more information about our services or to find out how we can help you attain your marketing goals, click here to email us, or call:
Toll Free: 855-PRMG-123 .: Phone: 631-207-1057

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