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Thanks to the Internet what used to be financially unfeasible has been made a reality. More and more of our clients come to us from beyond the borders of Virginia as our marketing services are not limited to location! All that to write that even if you're not in Hampton Roads, VA we can still help your company with their marketing needs. Other out-of-towners:
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U.S. Government Bans the Internet!
Welcome to the B&C Media Works Newsletter. If you are a first-time visitor to the Newsletter, thanks for joining us. We call it "Media Works" because when used the way they should be, different forms of media can work to make your company more successful. If ever there was a time get media working for you in the right way it's right now. We always enjoy hearing from you. Please feel free to contact us at contactbc@bullandcrowley.com and let us know what you think. |
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The Secrets of Driving Traffic to your Site Revealed
The world of website promotion has changed quite dramatically over the last 10 years. Promoting your website used to be as easy as entering a few lines of code called "meta tags" and submitting them to free search engines. That was then, this is now. Let's cut to the chase and say that it's not as easy as before, and people are now making money navigating the world of SEO. Contrary to what some SEO experts will say, you do not have to spend money to get more visitors to your site, although in some businesses it does pay to spend some dollars on SEO. Below we've compiled a few ways to make sure you are maximizing your site's traffic potential. - First, don't forget about offline promotion. Remember to include your website in every offline presentation you do, including speeches, brochures, television marketing, radio, newspaper and magazine ads, and any other form of advertising you do. Make sure it's in your signature on every email. As Aaron would say there's an easy rule, "Print your website address on anything that will stand still long enough to be printed on." - Take advantage of every speaking or teaching opportunity in your business, at seminars or in your community. Make yourself an expert on the topic you are "selling." - If possible, keep your business name in the URL and ALWAYS go after a .com first! - Make sure you have policies in place on your site that make you look reputable and trustworthy, including a privacy policy and security policy if you are doing financial transactions. - Be sure to name each of your pages with the proper searchable keywords. - Keep traffic coming back by offering regular added value propositions like strategic links, affiliate programs and literature that makes sense to your target market. - Add "favorites or bookmark" capability if applicable. - Add "Recommend This Site" functionality on your site. - Create and send out an enewsletter! Send one monthly at the very least, more often if it makes sense. - Promote your Newsletter sign up as a recurring button on each page of your site. - Make sure you create and maintain a database of current and relevant names for permission marketing! - Where relevant add "destination" or "sticky" functions to your site including chats, bulletin boards and blog(s) to stay in front of your target. - Create "stunts" like polls, surveys and contests. You can also give away something for free, like a form of public domain literature that makes sense to your target market. - Create original content (articles) submit them, and attempt to gain organic relevance through syndicating content. The more relevance you have, the more search engines will recognize and pick you up. - Sometimes a "site map" will make sense on your site, depending on what kind of business you are in and search engines like them as well. - Learn about the basics of how search engines work. Basically search engines look for particular things like titles (remember our catchy Government title?), headings and meta tags. If you do this you are taking steps to make sure your site is search engine friendly. - Title tags should be about 50 characters, to the point and include some keywords, but not so many the search engines kick it out as spam. Don't use flowery marketing terms here! - Make sure you use your headers for each of the titles on your pages. - Adding keywords to your content is critical to organic SEO, but again don't add so many that the content is flagged by the engines as spam. Add your keywords to the text of each page, toward the front of each sentence and as high up as you can. - If your site is brand new, submit it to the only the BIG search engines, and do so to each engine individually. It's more time consuming, but the results are better. They won't recognize your site unless you do. Don't mess with search engines that you've never heard of or even software packages that state they will send your sight to hundreds of search engines. If you don't know that search engine chances are no else does either. - If you don't have the time or inclination to do the search engine submission work, it's time to hire a SEO expert to take care of it for you. In conclusion, if you find yourself overwhelmed, you are not alone. We are only a phone call or email away. Bull & Crowley MediaWorks, 757-392-1434, contactbc@bullandcrowley.com |
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With a bent toward "good-centered" public relations, over the last six and a half years Gregg has focused I AM PR toward promoting good news stories that positively change the way we see the world. In simplest terms, I AM PR offers news and information you can believe in. In this media-saturated society, its campaigns have strategically turned ministries, non-profits, and for-profit company's testimonies into important news stories, best-selling books, and powerful events. And Gregg has a really nice website now, too. If you want to learn more about I AM PR visit www.iampronline.com. |
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The Noblemen Toy Drive - Dec 2009
Yes, the Holidays are right around the corner and it is time to conjure up some Christmas magic! This year will mark the 7th Noblemen Toy Drive and presents another opportunity for all of us to share the spirit of the holidays with the people who need it most: Great kids in Hampton Roads, Virginia! Read more from Noblemen founder Al Midgett about how easy it is to help a kid this Christmas . . . Thank you again to everyone who helped place the boxes last year and we hope we can count on you to place even more again this year! If you have not gotten involved with the toy drive before, keep reading! Pete Reuss and I will have toy boxes on hand at the next Noblemen VB meeting on November 2nd. I urge everyone to get involved with helping to place these boxes throughout the community. Last year we placed over 100 toy boxes in businesses throughout Hampton Roads and collected toys that were distributed to over 1000 children. Starting in November we will begin collecting NEW, UNWRAPPED toys in the boxes and we could use your help. If you are wondering how you can help, ask yourself the following questions:
If you take a box, these are your responsibilities:
Once all the boxes are picked up and the toys are separated, we begin the joy of giving. This is where the real magic happens. We work with some great organizations that connect us with kids here in our local community who need our help, and most importantly, the magic of Christmas. Noblemen kids distribute the toys personally. If you have kids of your own we would love for you to bring them and have them help us give out the toys! (the drive is getting bigger every year and we need your help so allow us to make your holiday season better by helping us spread joy) Please give some thought next week about places you know of where a toy box should be placed. If you have some places in mind, please check with them first to see if they are willing to "host" a toy box. We only have a limited supply so we want to be sure each box comes back filled (many times in some cases). Thank you in advance for your support and enthusiasm in making The 2009 Noblemen Toy Drive happen bigger and better than it ever has before! Please feel free to call Coordinator Pete Hansen with any questions you may have. You can find out more information here: http://www.thenoblemen.org/toy_drive_dec_2009/ |
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Let us start out by saying that it's not true. The government has not banned the Internet, at least not yet. As a matter of opinion, the government will never actually ban the Internet, but don't be surprised when they look for ways to take control of and tax the heck out of it! So why did we write the title? Because many of our clients want to increase traffic to their sites and have no idea how it's done. So this month we want to briefly address the issue of driving traffic to your website. As for our title, no matter what business you are in, a searchable and catchy title (used in the right way) will help! 
If you are not actively and aggressively interested in driving more traffic to your website then it may be you have nothing on your website you believe to be of value to your customer. If that's the case you may as well close your doors. But if you are interested in driving more traffic to the products, services or content on your site, there are no secrets. Here's how it can be done. 
In 2003, Gregg Wooding founded I AM PR, a full-service public relations boutique firm launched in the Dallas, Texas metroplex. Gregg quickly found a niche in offering literary agency services through which the career of best-selling author Wayne Thomas Batson was launched in 2005. 
Ho, Ho, Ho!