While an average of 66% of Americans use the Internet to find local businesses, your organization could benefit from advertising online with CBS Local Pages. CBS delivers an online outlet for local businesses to create a strong presence online via the websites, search engines and mobile devices to drive awareness, interest and engagement in your … Continue reading “Advertise with CBS Local Pages”
While an average of 66% of Americans use the Internet to find local businesses, your organization could benefit from advertising online with CBS Local Pages. CBS delivers an online outlet for local businesses to create a strong presence online via the websites, search engines and mobile devices to drive awareness, interest and engagement in your organization. CBS Local Pages include business information, a message to your customers, reviews, photos, coupons, offers, maps, directions and more. Also, these pages are also very simple to build, track and update over time.
Thanks to CBS’ partnership with CityGrid, your business can reach 300+ unique sites and apps in their network, reaching over 140 million people each month. Plus, CBS Local Pages are fully optimized for search engine optimization. Depending on what industry your organization belongs to, CBS Local Pages will ensure that your listing reaches the right audience. For example, restaurants could have their information distributed to popular websites such as Urban Spoon and MenuPages.com.
Photo sharing websites have taken the Web by storm by offering a new medium for individuals and businesses alike to share multimedia and develop their brand. When used properly, photo sharing can bring a human face and creativity to your organization. These sites also provide essential links back to your website or blog, building traffic … Continue reading “How Photo Sharing Sites Can Help Your Business”
Photo sharing websites have taken the Web by storm by offering a new medium for individuals and businesses alike to share multimedia and develop their brand. When used properly, photo sharing can bring a human face and creativity to your organization. These sites also provide essential links back to your website or blog, building traffic and enhancing your search engine optimization. Best of all, photo sharing sites are completely free and don’t require a huge time commitment.
This article will provide you with an overview of the most popular photo sharing websites:Pinterest, Instagram and Flickr.
Pinterest — With new social media sites popping up left and right, Pinterest has already distinguished itself as a photo sharing powerhouse. It’s already one of the 10 most visited social networking sites, according to a study by Experian Hitwise, with more Web traffic than Tumblr and Google+! Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows users to organize, share and store all of their favorite photos, called “pins,” from the Web. For example, someone may create a board for “Recipes,” “Ideas for the Home” or “Favorite Products.” Users can “follow” others to keep up-to-date with their boards, discover new things and connect with others who have similar interests. They can also “re-pin” someone else’s pin that they want to add to their own boards (similar to Twitter’s “re-tweet” button). With millions of new pins added every week, this social networking site is connecting users from all over the world. Here are several tips for using Pinterest to promote your business:
Don’t Overly Promote Yourself — One thing to keep in mind is that you should not excessively promote yourself on Pinterest. While it’s fine to post a photo of a product or project that you’re proud of, businesses should avoid pure self-promotion. An important part of Pinterest is that it can humanize your business, which is essential to connecting with your audience on a more personal level. Consider creating boards for other content on the Web that you like and want to share with your followers, rather than only your own material. For example, the social media organization Mashable uses Pinterest to categorize “What We’re Loving on the Web.” Instead of including only their own material and self-promotion, they have boards for “Web Humor,” “Infographics” and “Tech and Gadgets.”
What Should I Pin? — Depending on your industry or organization, there are a variety of photos that would be appropriate for a business to add to Pinterest. See below for examples:
Restaurants — Since food is very popular on Pinterest, restaurants would benefit from posting photos of the meals they offer and recipes.
Retailers — Retail stores can post photos of new products, fashion and other services.
Non-profit Organizations — Depending on their field, non-profits could post “behind-the-scenes” photos from the work they do, inspiring pictures or quotes, photos from events and more.
Include Links — When posting a pin, always include a link back to the original page. This way, when users click on the photo, they can be taken to your website, wherever the photo was derived from or wherever you’d like to take them.
How Do I Begin? — To start using Pinterest, create a profile here.
Instagram — Instagram is a real-time photo sharing application, available in the App store. Unfortunately, Instagram is only available on the Apple iPhone or iPod touch for now. While it is not available on desktops just yet, the company does intend to extend Instagram to a website. When you upload a photo to Instagram, you can choose a filter to transform the look and feel of the shot. These filters can instantly convert your mobile photo into a creative, artsy or professional-looking snapshot. For example, you can use filters such as “Toaster,” “Inkwell” and “1977” to customize the look of your photo. When used effectively, Instagram could become a powerful way of attracting, engaging and nourishing a follower base. Here are several tips for how businesses can incorporate Instagram into their social media strategy:
Link Instagram to Your Other Social Media Profiles — The benefits of Instagram are that it is incredibly fast and simple and integrates with other social media platforms. Businesses can easily link Instagram to Facebook, Twitter, Flickrand FourSquare profiles to incorporate multimedia on a regular basis.
Be Creative — As with any photo sharing site, keep in mind that it’s about being interesting and fun, not about pushing products down your audience’s throat. Instagram is unique from other photo sharing sites because of its use of custom photo filters. For example, take a look at how Starbucks has uploaded creative shots of their products using the photo filters here.
What Should I Upload to Instagram? — As with any photo sharing site, it depends on your business and what industry you belong to. For example, if you’re a non-profit organization, you can see how non-profits are using Instagram here. Generally, any business can use Instagram to upload and customize photos from special events, new products and “behind-the-scenes” photos of your business’ work, services or daily activities.
How Do I Begin? — To begin, download the Instagram App here and create your profile.
Flickr — Flickr allows users to submit photos and videos and organize them using tags and “sets,” where other members can browse and interact with each other. Businesses can use Flickr to store and share graphics, photos and videos that are relevant to their business or industry in some way. It’s also not frowned upon to add a personal touch to your business’ Flickr profile by adding a separate set for favorite photos or videos that haven’t been created by your organization. Using Flickr is another great way to incorporate multimedia into your Web, social media and overall marketing strategy. Here are several tips for incorporating Flickr into your business’ social media marketing strategy:
Interact with the Flickr Community — To boost their popularity on the site and increase their level of engagement, businesses can interact with other Flickr users. Comment on other photos you like, add special photos to your “favorites” list and encourage comments. At the minimum, be sure to reply to any and all comments left on your company’s photos.
Join Flickr Groups — Flickr Groups are a great way to interact with your target audiences. Businesses can submit photos and videos to these groups, depending on their posting rules and whether the group is public or private. To begin, search for relevant groups and submit requests to join.
How Do I Begin? — To sign up for Flickr, you’ll need a Yahoo ID. To sign up for Yahoo, click here. Once you have your ID, create a Flickr profile by clicking here and begin posting photos and videos that relate to your business or industry.
This February, the Town Crier and the Long Island Pennysaver will include a special feature on health and wellness. This section will spotlight the latest news, articles and tips for maintaining healthy lifestyles. Last year, the feature was very well received and popular among the medical, health and wellness communities of Nassau and Suffolk County, … Continue reading “Advertise in the Health & Wellness Section of the Town Crier & the Long Island Pennysaver”
This February, the Town Crier and the Long Island Pennysaver will include a special feature on health and wellness. This section will spotlight the latest news, articles and tips for maintaining healthy lifestyles. Last year, the feature was very well received and popular among the medical, health and wellness communities of Nassau and Suffolk County, Long Island.
Businesses can choose from ¼ page, ½ page and full page advertisements. Rates for this opportunity vary, depending on which zone you choose to run your ad in. For example, Zone 1 is distributed in towns such as Dix Hills, Huntington and Cold Spring Harbor.
We would recommend this advertising opportunity for any business or organization in the healthcare or medical field, or any company that is looking to target those interested in health, wellness or overall fitness. If you are interested in advertising in this special section, please contact The Public Relations and Marketing Group at (631) 207-1057 or johnzaher@theprmg.com.
Maintaining an active blog can establish your organization as a leader in your industry, change your website from an online brochure to an interactive hub of information and give your customers a way to engage with you. Because blogs are less formal than a company website, and more interactive, they provide a forum for businesses … Continue reading “Should My Business Have a Blog?”
Maintaining an active blog can establish your organization as a leader in your industry, change your website from an online brochure to an interactive hub of information and give your customers a way to engage with you. Because blogs are less formal than a company website, and more interactive, they provide a forum for businesses to provide useful information, rather than just company promotion, and build their reputation and credibility among customers.
This article will provide you with the benefits of blogging, advice on how to begin blogging and five essential blogging tips for your business.
Benefits of Blogging — Successful blogs can demonstrate your expertise and leadership in your industry, attract the attention of your audience and secure leads for your business. Creating and maintaining a blog for your business will dramatically improve your content creation, boost your reputation and improve your search engine optimization (SEO).
Content Creation — It has never been more important for businesses to generate quality content on a regular basis. The quality of your content is what influences your audience’s decision on whether or not to invest their time into reading your website or blog, and ultimately whether to trust your company and give it their business. Blogs are the perfect venues to distribute and store your content. Your blog should house informative, thought-provoking content that is related to your industry or the problem that your business solves for your audience. Very often, a blog will become your content hub of information. To learn more about the importance of content creation, please read our article, “Why Quality Content Reigns Supreme.”
Build Your Reputation — While your business’ website should focus on the products or services your business offers, your blog should demonstrate your organization’s knowledge and expertise in this area. By providing your audience with valuable content and helpful articles, your business will gain credibility and trust among existing and potential customers.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Benefits — Blogging can dramatically improve your search engine rankings. Search engines place heavy emphasis on new, current and quality content, so blogs are given high authority.
How to Begin Blogging — Before you jump into the blogosphere, it’s important to spend some time researching and browsing through other blogs in your industry. Once you’re comfortable with how blogs work, you should first establish a clear objective and target audience. Ask yourself the following questions: Is my target audience likely to engage in blogs? What content would my audience find most valuable? What type of information, and multimedia, is my audience looking for? To be able to answer these questions, it’s important to be able to put yourself into the mindset of your current or potential customers.
When you’re ready to begin, we recommend incorporating your blog into your main website, instead of giving it its own URL. Especially to those who are new to Web marketing, this is the easiest way to begin. Another factor to consider, when choosing whether or not to incorporate your blog, is that many people don’t have the time to develop content for and market more than one website. Incorporating your blog into your business’ main site will provide it with fresh content, as well as search engine optimization benefits.
The most successful blogs are updated weekly, at least, with fresh and interesting content related to their industry. You may choose to blog about news in your business area, company updates, helpful and “how-to” articles and other content that may be valuable to your audience. Remember to include relevant tags with each entry so that your posts can be easily categorized and found on the Web.
5 Essential Blogging Tips — To make sure your business’ blog is as successful as it can be, follow these five essential tips:
Incorporate Multimedia — It’s essential to add some form of multimedia to each blog entry to make your content interesting and visually appealing. By adding a photo, graphic or video to your post, you’ll appeal to a greater audience, since everyone takes in information differently. Some people are visual learners and will be far more receptive to your blog if it incorporates more than just text.
Add Sharing Icons — Including social media and social bookmarking icons on your blog is a great way to enable sharing. With sharing icons present next to each blog post, readers can easily share the entry with their friends or on their own social media profiles. It’s important to include the following sharing icons: Facebook’s “Like” button, Twitter, the Google+ “+1” button, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious and the option to email the blog entry to a friend. Please follow each hyperlink for more information and to learn how to enable each of these sharing features on your blog. When done properly, this will definitely boost your blog’s traffic.
Include Hyperlinks — Wherever possible, it’s important to include hyperlinks that lead to more specific information. For example, find keywords in your blog posts and link them to another article you may have written on the topic or a section of your company’s website that offers more information on this topic or services you may offer.
Encourage Feedback — You want your blog to be as interactive as possible. It’s important to include a call to action in your blog posts and it could be something as simple as, “What are your thoughts? Share your opinion in the comment section below!” You should also include your contact information at the end of a blog post, should they have any questions or require more information. Remember to regularly scan your comments to remove any spam and reply to any questions, comments or concerns in a timely and helpful manner.
Promote on Social Media — With the powerful sharing capabilities of social media sites, your business’ social media profiles are perfect venues for promoting your blog. Whenever you update your blog, make sure to notify your Facebook fans, Twitterfollowers and Google+ circles. After you write your blog entry, use these sharing icons to “tweet,” share on your Facebook fan page, add to your social bookmarking profiles and more. In your social media updates, include a “teaser,” such as a portion of your blog entry, with the title, and encourage people to follow the link to read the rest of your post.
The Long Island Convention & Visitors Bureau is offering an exciting new marketing vehicle to get your message in front of thousands of consumers who will be looking for ideas and information on how to spend their leisure time, and money, on Long Island this summer. This advertising opportunity is perfect for getting your business’ message across visitors to and residents of Long Island. This year, 100,000 full-size Long Island maps will be distributed throughout Long Island, Manhattan, Westchester, Hudson Valley and Connecticut.
All advertisers will receive a complimentary business profile on Ettractions.com, an attractions and visitor information website, which has over 137,000 unique monthly visitors. Your profile will include up to 2,000 characters of content, up to 5 photos and up to 5 videos.
We would highly recommend this advertising opportunity for attraction or tourism-related organizations. If you are interested in advertising your business on this map, please contact The Public Relations and Marketing Group at (631) 207-1057 or johnzaher@theprmg.com.
On December 8, 2011, Twitter unleashed a brand-new design and several new features. Twitter is continuing to roll out these major updates for both Twitter.com and its mobile-friendly website. These huge changes are meant to make the social media giant more organized, user-friendly and able to provide more opportunities for businesses and brands to interact with … Continue reading “Twitter Unveils Brand-New Design and Special Features for Businesses”
On December 8, 2011, Twitter unleashed a brand-new design and several new features. Twitter is continuing to roll out these major updates for both Twitter.com and its mobile-friendly website. These huge changes are meant to make the social media giant more organized, user-friendly and able to provide more opportunities for businesses and brands to interact with their audiences. If you are unfamiliar with Twitter, please read our article, “Secrets to Twitter Marketing.”
This article will provide you with an overview of the recent changes made to Twitter’s homepage, embedded tweets, the emergence of enhanced profile pages and how you can get the newest version of Twitter.
New Homepage — When you first log in to the new Twitter on your desktop or mobile phone, you’ll notice that the homepage has been completely revamped. Twitter condensed everything to fit neatly into four organized columns. These four tabs are called “Home,” “Connect,” “Discover” and “Me.”
Home — On their homepage, users are now able to see more detailed information about reply tweets (@replies) and retweets for a certain tweet by clicking on the “Open” option. The “Open” feature makes it easier to keep track of conversations and interactions revolving around a tweet. This was never possible on the previous version of Twitter. Also, unlike the old Twitter newsfeed, users can now view media elements, such as photos and videos, inside the tweet, rather than only on the side.
Connect — The “Connect” tab includes information such as who has followed you, which users mentioned you and who has replied to, “favorited” or “retweeted” one of your tweets.
Discover — The “Discover” tab is where users can search for different forms of content on Twitter. This new tool customizes information for each user since it can identify stories and trends that the individual would be most interested in, based on their connections, location and language.
Me — The “Me” column is your new and enhanced Twitter profile. The new design includes a much larger space for your personal photo, short biography and location. Information such as who you are following and who your followers are will now appear on the left-hand side of the screen, with your conversations on the right.
Embedded Tweets — The Embedded Tweet feature allows users to render a tweet on any third-party website. Readers are then able to retweet, reply to, favorite and follow the user right from the website, without leaving the page to go into Twitter. To get the embed code for a tweet, simply click on the tweet you wish to embed and click “Embed this Tweet.” This can be a great way for businesses to share tweets on their website, such as positive reviews or testimonials.
Enhanced Profiles Pages — The hope for enhanced profile pages is that businesses will be able to create a stronger and more interactive presence on Twitter. These pages will include a larger header image for displaying your business’ logo, tagline and any other visuals that you may want to include on your page. You can also promote one of your tweets at the top of your page’s timeline, if you want readers to see this message first. Businesses should take advantage of this promoted tweet and include only their strongest, most engaging and relevant content. Enhanced profile pages are free of charge, but they are not available to everyone just yet. So far, Twitter has launched these pages exclusively with 21 advertising partners and select brands. According to an official statement from Twitter, they will slowly roll out enhanced profile pages to a wider audience of brands in the coming months.
How Can I Get the New Twitter? — If you’re still using the old version of Twitter, there is a way to switch over. Simply delete your current Twitter app from your smartphone and download the latest version. After you download the new app, you’ll be given access to the redesigned Twitter on your computer as well. If you use Tweetdeck, this program was also updated to be consistent with the new version of Twitter. You can click here to use or download the latest version of Tweetdeck.
Long Island businesses may be interested advertising with Long Island’s most colorful, creative and informative cartoon maps. MapToons is offering ad placements in unique maps of Long Island areas that can direct residents, newcomers and visitors to your business. These foldable maps provide an overview of certain towns and include a directory listing of participating … Continue reading “Get your Business on the Map by Advertising with “MapToons””
Long Island businesses may be interested advertising with Long Island’s most colorful, creative and informative cartoon maps. MapToons is offering ad placements in unique maps of Long Island areas that can direct residents, newcomers and visitors to your business. These foldable maps provide an overview of certain towns and include a directory listing of participating businesses. For example, the Patchogue map will be mailed directly to all Patchogue residences and businesses. This issue will be released in the spring and 22,000 maps will be distributed.
By advertising with MapToons, your business will be placed on the map as well as in the directory, which includes your name, location, address, phone number, website, logo, etc. We recommend this advertising opportunity for restaurants and retailers.
According to a study by Nielsen Media Research, mobile Internet usage is growing at a rate of 30 percent each year. With more people surfing the Web using their smart phones, businesses must recognize the need for their websites to be compatible with these devices. By creating a separate site for mobile users, you are … Continue reading “Anatomy of a Mobile Website”
According to a study by Nielsen Media Research, mobile Internet usage is growing at a rate of 30 percent each year. With more people surfing the Web using their smart phones, businesses must recognize the need for their websites to be compatible with these devices. By creating a separate site for mobile users, you are enabling them to experience faster browsing speeds, easy navigation and an overall improved user experience. Having a mobile website can also provide strong search engine optimization (SEO) benefits since it will boost your rankings on mobile-friendly search engines, such as Google and Yahoo.
This article will explain why your business needs a mobile website, what your mobile website should look like and how you can convert your existing website into a mobile site.
Why Does Your Business Need a Mobile Website? — With the variety of mobile devices to choose from, such as iPhones, iPads and Androids, the mobile Web is rapidly replacing traditional desktop browsers. As an increasing amount of people use smart phones to browse websites, businesses should not hesitate to reach this important mobile audience. Traditional websites don’t work well for mobile users because they don’t render correctly on the small, high-resolution screens of smart phones, causing sluggish browsing speeds and disfigured navigation schemes.
Having a mobile website will also provide your business with valuable SEO benefits. Since Google has a separate index for mobile content, having a mobile website is key to securing a higher ranking when people search on Google using their smart phones. Another benefit is that, since Google has a much smaller mobile index of content and not as many businesses have mobile websites, those who do have mobile sites will be at a significant advantage.
What Should Your Mobile Website Look Like? — Most websites were designed to be viewed on a desktop monitor, which has much more space for displaying text and images. For mobile websites, it is essential to have a much simpler and less text-heavy design and navigation scheme. It is also essential to reduce bandwidth so that your mobile site will load faster and run smoother on smart phones. When designing a mobile website, it is important to prioritize your content and navigation scheme and only present the information that is most relevant to mobile users. For example, phone numbers, maps and directions should be easily accessible on your mobile website because these features are valuable to mobile users. A useful feature for mobile Web browsers is the “click to call” option. This feature allows users to automatically call the business by simply clicking on the phone number.
Long Island businesses looking to target local markets and movie-goers should consider advertising during previews in local movie theaters. Advertising at the movies can help your business reach an engaged, captive and targeted audience. By taking advantage of this opportunity, your organization’s ad can run during the previews for upcoming blockbuster films such as “The … Continue reading “Advertise at the Movies”
Long Island businesses looking to target local markets and movie-goers should consider advertising during previews in local movie theaters. Advertising at the movies can help your business reach an engaged, captive and targeted audience. By taking advantage of this opportunity, your organization’s ad can run during the previews for upcoming blockbuster films such as “The Hunger Games,” “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 3D,” “Titanic 3D” and many more. Also, your ad will not only run on the big screen, but in movie theater lobbies, online and on mobile devices as well. NCM Media Networks offers customized, affordable campaigns that can reach any budget and any area that your business is looking to target.
The Public Relations and Marketing Group’s new and updated program, “PR and Marketing for Lawyers CLE,” is now being offered for 2 ethics credits on December 12 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. This program gives attorneys a review of the attorney advertising rules and provides an overview of the tools needed to develop and … Continue reading “Attorneys: Kick off your 2012 Marketing Plans by Attending Our CLE Program”
The Public Relations and Marketing Group’s new and updated program, “PR and Marketing for Lawyers CLE,” is now being offered for 2 ethics credits on December 12 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. This program gives attorneys a review of the attorney advertising rules and provides an overview of the tools needed to develop and implement a successful marketing program. This course has been approved for MCLE credit in New York for all attorneys, including newly admitted (less than 24 months). The lecture is being presented by John C. Zaher, Esq., a leading attorney marketing expert.The course will take place at Ben’s of Manhattan, located at 209 W. 38th Street, Manhattan, NY, 10018. The cost, which includes lunch, is $65 with pre-payment. (Please Note: There is an additional $20 charge at the door). If you are experiencing financial hardship, please see our financial aid policy. To register, please visit www.theprmg.com/events-marketing-long-island-networking.html.
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
