Masterlink Interactive Blog

Want free ice cream? Just click around Facebook a couple of times.

According to Web Pro News:

Baskin-Robbins Facebook fans can sign up for “Group Scoop” on Facebook and start their own group or joins someone else’s. Once the number of people in a “Group Scoop” reaches 31, the organizer and all 30 other members will receive a coupon for a free 2.5 oz scoop of ice cream or a 3 oz swirl of soft serve.
“Group Scoop is a fun way for our fans to enjoy a free scoop of Baskin-Robbins ice cream with their Facebook friends, even if they are miles apart,” said David Nagel, Baskin-Robbins Director of Brand Excitement. “Groups of 31 Facebook Fans will be able to enjoy a scoop of their favorite flavor, on us.”

Simple. Smart. Social media savvy. Let’s take a look at how Facebook has created marketing capabilities for the ice cream icon that simply didn’t exist before the social media age:

Creates Incentive to Share

Basically, something like this encourages Facebook users do the heavy lifting of getting your word out. Tell your friends (in an easily doable and provable way), and we’ll reward you. It’s simple.

Exponentially Expands the Promotion’s Capabilities

These sorts of marketing ideas aren’t new—at least in theory. In the past, Baskin Robbins could‘ve taken an ad out in the paper saying something like “Bring three friends, get one ice cream free.” But with an online platform like Facebook, it’s much easier to ramp up the numbers involved with a promotion.

In other words, “Bring 31 friends all at once to our store and get free ice cream!” would seem like a non-starter, and would probably draw a discrimination lawsuit from lonely people. With Facebook, the promotion could easily be for 50 or a 100 people, because that kind of viral organization requires only a few clicks from each customer.

And isn’t this what all those met-once-at-a-party or took-math-together-in-high-school-I-think-but-am-not-entirely-sure acquaintances you have listed as “friends” on Facebook are for?

Creates Incentive to Check Back

Internet marketing campaigns like these create a feeling that the Facebook Fan Page is a way for customers to shrewdly beat the system (and get free stuff). As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the single biggest reason Facebook users become “fans” or befriend the page of an online business is for the possibility of promotions and discounts.

Furthermore, with elements like “Flavor of the Month,” Baskin Robbins is using their Fan Page as a spot where exclusive announcements are made — the fourth biggest reason why customers become fans of companies on Facebook.

Grabs User’s Full Attention

When a Facebook user comes to your Fan Page, the opportunities for reaching them are much more powerful than, say, an ad on the side of a news article they’re reading that you simply hope will catch their eye. Instead, a visitor is committing their focus specifically to your message when they arrive at your page.

Even if customers only come to read the details of the promotion, the opportunities to reach them within those details are endless. And once you get them in the room, you’re giving all your fancy graphics, pictures, and copy a chance to shine.

What is Facebook Places?

It’s Facebook’s new location-based service (LBS), built on a Bing Maps platform, and it’s a giant twist in the race between all the major search engines and social media platforms to perfect local search capabilities. LBS allows mobile smartphone users to broadcast out via Twitter, Facebook, or LBS-specific platforms where they are at any particular moment, and what they think about it.

Facebook’s version is similar to popular apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, where users “check in” via their smartphone wherever they go, broadcast their whereabouts on Twitter, and sort of compete for titles by spending the most time at a particular place (who wants to be mayor of the 45th St. McDonald’s?? I’m personally the mayor of Masterlink Interactive and DFWSEM Dallas Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association ). If you have a Twitter feed, and if you have noticed an increase of one-line “I am here”-type tweets (helpful or annoying, depending on how you use Twitter), you can thank LBS.

The appeal is obvious: Let’s say you’re at a huge shopping mall—LBS can help you meet up with friends who happen to be there as well. Or let’s say you go to a concert. You “check in,” and your other LBS-using friends who you didn’t realize were at the same show see it. Commence arm-in-arm anthem-swaying.

What’s different about Facebook’s version?

The easy integration into its pre-existing platform makes Facebook’s version a natural development. Whereas Foursquare and Gowalla have to piggyback off of unattached third-party technologies like Twitter, Facebook can tailor its product specifically to seamlessly integrate into the ever-evolving strengths of its site, like newsfeeds and user walls.

Furthermore, half a billion people already use Facebook, making it far more likely for this sort of LBS usage to hit critical mass. Foursquare and Gowalla have really just been early-adopters apps, popular mostly in the tech crowd. Facebook could do for LBS what Apple did for mp3s.

Why does it matter for businesses?

Basically, it brings companies and regular Facebook users much closer together. Your friend “checks in” at a coffee shop they like, and Facebook posts it on the Places page, the customer’s wall, and the customer’s newsfeed. It’s free publicity—and a link back to the cafe’s Places page, where they can promote themselves with gusto.

Right now, most companies on Facebook have carved out their niche via a Fan Page—the profiles we talked about last week that allow businesses to connect and converse with customers, and broadcast information and announcements. If you haven’t started a Fan Page for your business yet, we highly recommend it.

According to Search Engine Land, most business Fan Pages will eventually morph into Facebook Places pages, with a heavier emphasis on maps and real-time updating. A local search function will eventually be integrated in, as well.

In other words, your Places page registers you as a dot on the map. It’s an important dot.

How can I capitalize on this?

Let’s say you’re a Thai restaurant in Dallas, and you announce a big one-day discount on pumpkin curry on your Places page. It’s a smashing success, and Facebook-using curry cravers are beating down the door to get their fix. If several of them “check in” and comment about the discount, it’ll create a buzz on Facebook that spreads your brand and attracts more customers.

Furthermore, Places can let you keep an eye on your competiton (what kinds of deals and discounts they’re offering, and what kind of feedback they’re getting). Pay attention, and who knows what you might learn.

And if you’re really savvy, you could find ways to offer incentives for Facebook users to stop by and check in. The possibilities are endless.

Last week, we talked a bit about why your site visitors might not stick around long enough for you to make a sale and how to improve  high “bounce rates”. Cluttered design and navigation issues, poor website performance, and boring, muddled content can each send a site visitor packing.

But let’s say you’re consistently getting them to hang out a bit and listen to what you have to say—what’s next in making your web design affect your bottom line?

Here are three keys:

1. Content. Content. Content.
Yep, content is still king. SEO can grab a web visitor. Snazzy web designs can get them to click around a bit. But it’s content that sells, just like a salesperson greeting a customer in an actual store. In fact, this might be the only time a visitor takes the time to dive into the nitty gritty details of what’s written on your site, rather than just scanning and clicking around.

Beyond hooks and slogans, the key is to anticipate the visitor’s needs and desires in the content before they get there. Think about all the doubts and skepticism that a visitor brings with them to your site. Make them feel understood and reassured in a way that builds real trust. Back this up with accurate and expertise-driven detailed content about your products and services that builds a sense of respect and faith in what you’re selling, and you’ll be in good position to develop a deeper relationship.

2. Lights. Camera. Call to Action.
Some customers need a slight nudge. Others might just not know what to do next. Regardless, concise, clear call to action is critical element of your web design.

Many business owners seem to think that if a visitor likes their product or service, they’ll just sort of figure out what to do next. Don’t assume this. Give them a compelling, clear-cut offer, and then make it as easy as possible for them to take the plunge, in a step-by-step way. This includes:

• An attractive “Contact” page, featuring more than just a form. Give them email addresses. Give them phone numbers. Give them a Google map with all of your locations listed. Give them a name and a face for who they’d be talking to if they make the all.
• “Add to Cart” functions if you’re selling a product.
• Forms for quote requests.
• Clear information about pricing, packages, and product specs.
• Online chat with salespeople.
• Access to newsletters, blogs, and white papers.

3. Be Memorable

In the end, the time just won’t be right for many otherwise interested site visitors. But if you connect with visitors in a real way, make them feel understood and cared about, and make yourself stand out from the competition, you’ll be there in their memory when they’re ready to pull the trigger.

This is where a comprehensive web design matters most, with all the different elements working together. A visitor should leave your site impressed by your professionalism, expertise, personality, and the way you anticipated their needs and desires. Sacrifice any of these, and the experience won’t be so memorable.

Contact one of our Dallas web design experts to learn more about our approach to web design and creating compelling web content. We’re here for you if it’s time to rethink your web design.

Facts and strategies are cheap in the search engine optimization (SEO) world, as one day’s success-certified SEO formula is the next day’s waste of code.

Last week, we talked briefly about how Google’s increasing emphasis on local search could dramatically change SEO. Specifically, we showed how the page placement of local search results (the Google map, local listings and user-ratings) could sometimes push otherwise perfectly optimized websites further down in the search rankings. Worse page placement could equal less incentive to spend a bunch of time and energy getting such a page to the top.

Amazing how rapidly things can change.

SEO watchers around the web noticed this week that Google has already started experimenting with different page placements of local search results. According to Mike Blumenthal’s Understanding Google Maps & Local Search, some of the tinkerings include:

1) The Places listings are BIGGER and look like the organic results except they have a map pin.

2) As you scroll down the MAP scrolls with you. So even when you are at bottom of page in the organic listings the map moves down and shows on right.

3) ONLY 7 (purely) organic listings show and in this instance most are directories or assn. Only 2 are Dentists.

4) To get on the top TWO screens you need to be in local. Most of the organic are 2 screens BELOW the fold.

5) Reviews are more prominent

6) Link to Place Page is marked as such, instead of just “More Info” which means better branding and name recognition for Google Places

7) It’s pulling meta description from the site – just like organic.

PLUS it adds some snippets from reviews on the Place page. So best of both worlds and BIGGER!

Click to Enlarge

In this format, the best-optimized websites are back on top… at least, of course, until Google decides to experiment with placing the local search results in a different spot. Or perhaps mix in a variety of placements, based on the importance of local search to that particular query. Or at least until a new, innovative way of organizing and accessing information emerges.

Two points:

1. As always, fundamentals matter the most when it comes to SEO, and an effective, well-designed site that gets shared around by clients and customers will grab the attention of the search engines one way or another.

2. Even if Google and the other search engines tinker with the placement of local search results, don’t expect them to ever minimize the importance of local search. It’s here to stay, even if the algorithm and factors the search engines love most might change.

It’s something we’re watching very closely, because local search can have huge implications for your company’s Internet marketing strategy. Stay tuned…

Search engine optimization around location increasingly matters. Here’s what you need to know:

What is it?

It’s optimization for searches that take into account location—of both the searcher and the local business—as well as other, more traditional searching factors. According to Google, 73 percent of all online activity relates to local content. Each of the major search engines now routinely mix local elements in with regular search results.

What’s led to its development?

The rise of smartphones and mobile web usage. The growing integration of web-usage into all areas of life and business. The demands of a more web-savvy public.

But also just the basic mission of the search engines: as we talk about often at Masterlink, their primary goal to get you the best, most accurate, most valued-by-the-wider-web-community information possible at any specific place or time. And if such best possible information can be tailored to your current location, then they’re going to try to get you that as well.

How does it work?

So let’s say while out on the town you get an urgent craving to slurp down some spicy green curry—Google is waiting, wok in hand. Search for “Thai food in Dallas,” and you get a result that looks something like this:

Boom: Directions. Prices. Reviews. Phone numbers. Links to websites and access to menus. Everything a customer could want short of a ticket to Bangkok.

But even if your office location doesn’t really matter — say, you’re a Dallas web design and Internet marketing company working for small businesses all across the city as well as nationally — location SEO still matters. Why? Trust. Familiarity. Community pride. The fundamentals of good business are still, well, fundamental. And customers and clients will still value the ability to meet you in a concrete location and build that business relationship.

How does it change SEO?

Look back at that Thai food listings. Let’s say you owned a local tom yum shop, and had worked really hard over the past year to get your site listed at the top of the search rankings. Suddenly, with the local business results occupying the top of the page, your well-respected, well-linked, well-optimized site might find itself in the middle of bottom of the page.

Furthermore, users are increasingly likely to look for more narrow results when it comes to location searches. So instead of “Thai Food in Dallas,” check out “Thai food in Plano.” The results change. A site perfectly optimized for a larger, more competitive area might get missed by more specific searches.

What can I do?

We’ll talk more extensively about this in the coming weeks. But here are some basics:

1. Register

The obvious first step is to register your business (even if you don’t yet have a website) with mainstream search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Also make sure your business is listed on directories like Yelp and Citysearch, plus more traditional paid listings like Superpages.com and Yellowpages.com.

2. Spread the (Your Own) Good News
After registering, ask your best clients to write reviews. Ratings and reviews are one of the first factors clicked on by searchers.

3. Experiment. Have Fun With It. Just Don’t Forget About SEO Basics.
Since location searching is still relatively new, there’s plenty of space for exploration about what boosts rankings. But the game hasn’t completely started over, and all the standard elements that search engines love still matter the most. The location-specific elements are just a new twist on an ever evolving marketing arena.

Here’s your new search engine optimization strategy:

1. Build a company that is valued by your customers and clients.
2. Build a smart, effective site that highlights this value.
3. Build a company that is valued by your customers and clients.
4. No, really, build a great company.

Here’s why:

A few weeks ago, we mentioned that Google had made a small tweak in the search algorithm, referred to as “Mayday”, and that such tiny changes in the formula could mean significant drops in search engine rankings for companies that focus more site optimization than on what the site actually offers to customers and clients.

Apparently, it happened as expected.

According to Web Pro News:

Google’s recent algorithm update, nicknamed “Mayday” by webmasters got a lot of people riled up, as many claimed it seriously affected their rankings, and potentially their revenues.

[…] Here are a few samples of reader comments from our previous coverage of the update:

“In conjunction with the drop in Google traffic, I have seen a matching drop in clicks out from my site to other sites. So it’s real, and it’s not been rosy to deal with.”

“Every time they make an improvement something else goes wrong.”

“Yes I have worked hard trying to rank and it keeps changing. Decided to go to other methods and forget about Google and their ranking.”

[...] One reader offered some sound advice:

“Never forget the first rules in SEO: It changes all the time. So, Google has made a change, which is not the first one. Do the basics right and you will have a sound long-term strategy.”

In an interview with the site, Google SEO liaison Matt Cutts says: “We’re trying to spot what are the signals of quality, whether for pages or for sites, that really are going to be good for users. [...] So part of what ‘Mayday’ addresses is trying to say ‘How do we return the best sites—the sites we think users are going to like?’”

We agree, and say as much often here at Masterlink Interactive: Focusing your web site’s SEO too much on a single, specific search ranking factor leaves you vulnerable to the whims and business interests of the search engines themselves. Quality sites that visitors love will thrive in a rapidly changing search environment.

This doesn’t mean that understanding the more complicated ins and outs of SEO isn’t important. Quite the contrary—the right tweaks can mean the difference between first page and third. SEO is constantly evolving, and someone (like us!) a little bit obsessed with following and figuring out the industry can benefit your company in a big way.

But web design quality is primary, and a site built solely to please the search engines is bound to fall whenever their algorithms get tweaked. We help you build sites that your customers and clients value, and it’s that element that the search engines are working endlessly to make sure matters most.

Contact us to develop a customized web design, search engine optimization, and comprehensive Internet marketing strategy.

If you noticed a slight change in your Google-driven traffic this past week, it may be due to a small tweak the search engine made in its algorithm — one that brings up an excellent point about web design and Internet marketing.

According to SearchEngineLand:

Google made between 350 and 550 changes in its organic search algorithms in 2009. This is one of the reasons I recommend that site owners not get too fixated on specific ranking factors. If you tie construction of your site to any one perceived algorithm signal, you’re at the mercy of Google’s constant tweaks. These frequent changes are one reason Google itself downplays algorithm updates. Focus on what Google is trying to accomplish as it refines things (the most relevant, useful results possible for searchers) and you’ll generally avoid too much turbulence in your organic search traffic.

However, sometimes a Google algorithm change is substantial enough that even those who don’t spend a lot of time focusing on the algorithms notice it. That seems to be the case with what those discussing it at Webmaster World have named “Mayday”.

[...] This change impacts “long tail” traffic, which generally is from longer queries that few people search for individually, but in aggregate can provide a large percentage of traffic.

This change seems to have primarily impacted very large sites with “item” pages that don’t have many individual links into them, might be several clicks from the home page, and may not have substantial unique and value-added content on them. For instance, ecommerce sites often have this structure. The individual product pages are unlikely to attract external links and the majority of the content may be imported from a manufacturer database.

Our favorite Google webmaster Matt Cutts posted a YouTube explanation of the tweak as well, describing it as “…an algorithmic change that changes how we assess which sites are the best match for long tail queries.” Cutts calls the change a “quality win,” and the goal, he says, should search relevancy, not search rankings.

They both highlight an important guiding philosophy about web design: obsessing and designing your site around a single, specific search ranking factor leaves you vulnerable to the whims and business interests of the search engines themselves.

Google’s goal is to get searchers the best, most accurate, most valued-by-the-wider-web-community information possible, and is constantly tweaking its search algorithm to weed out any emerging SEO gimmicks that undermine that aim.

So let’s say you own a Yamaha Mortorcycle parts shop in Dallas. You can’t just put “Yamaha Mortorcycle parts shop in Dallas” a thousand times on your site and hope to come out on top. Google values more than just keyword volume. They want the companies at the top of their rankings to be valued in their communities (and to have websites that reflect as much).

Similarly, our SEO goal isn’t to artificially boost your company’s presence on the web. It’s to help you highlight and draw attention to the excellent services you already provide.

So from your initial web design to the implementation of your on-going Internet marketing strategy, we take a more nuanced, comprehensive approach to interactive marketing and SEO.

This means aspects like:

• First and foremost, a quality, adaptable, customizable web design (view our web design portfolio here).
• A content management system supported by our Dallas staff that allows site owners to quickly and easily make changes.
• A MarketMaster™ interactive marketing plan that maximizes results by anticipating and meeting your unique needs.
• A social media marketing plan that both engages your customers and site visitors in a meaningful way, and boosts SEO via link building.
• An Internet marketing strategy built around social media marketing, pay-per-click services, online reputation management, email marketing, blogging, link building, conversion optimization and web analytics services.

It’s a bit of a paradox—the web tool that has made social information sharing easier than ever has been under increasing fire from users for being largely unwilling to restrain those flows of information. But Facebook has, in fact, been gradually eroding its default standards for user privacy, and the people are upset.

According to WebProNews:

Since Facebook announced its plans to take over the web, there has been a lot of talk about privacy concerns, and about deletion of Facebook profiles. There is also concern about the lack of openness in Facebook’s Open Graph initiative. Others are just bored with the social network. Whatever the reasons, an increasing number of people seem to be interested in deleting their Facebook profiles.

Matt Cutts and other Googlers de-activated their accounts soon after the Open Graph initiative was announced. Remember, you don’t have to delete the account to de-activate it. Facebook makes it very easy to stay. In fact, if you go to delete your account, they will try to guilt you into staying by telling you which of your friends will miss you.

Matt Cutts, we will miss you! Matt is apparently not alone. Search Engine Land discovered how there are a growing number of people searching for how to delete their Facebook page. If you currently start a search on Google typing in “dele” Google Suggest shows “delete Facebook account” as its top suggestion:

Google suggests you delete your Facebook account

“Delete Facebook” also shows as a growing search phrase in Google Trends:

"Delete Facebook" rising on Google Trends

To see just how much and how quickly Facebook has eroded their default privacy settings over the past few years, check out this nifty infographic from Matt McKeon on The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook.

This presents obvious problems for personal Facebook users, for whom privacy usually matters. Open access to pictures, likes and dislikes, comments, wall postings, and status updates to the entire Internet could make anyone uncomfortable.

But should these privacy concerns matter to businesses, whose sole purpose of Facebook use is usually to pass along as much information about itself to the general public as possible?

There might be some times you’ll want to restrict information. Let’s say you have a photo album of an office party that you only want friends, fans, and colleagues to see. Or perhaps you’d like to write a note to all your “confirmed” customers—to whom you might only have connections via Facebook rather than email—without sending something out to the entire web. For the most part, Facebook still gives you these options.

But in the end, it’s just a matter of how much you want to share, and with whom. All users can opt to tighten up access to their profiles. Except for certain gaps in privacy options, it’s Facebook’s default settings that bother people the most.

So the best practice for social media for businesses on Facebook  is to keep anything you want partially private off the site in the first place, and open up the rest for all the Facebook (and beyond) world to see. The site still provides unprecedented Internet marketing opportunities. As WebProNews also points out, Facebook is still the place to reach people (and monetize them!):

“…the point is, Facebook is giving users a lot more reasons to use it, and in some cases it’s not really even a conscious decision. See the recent South Park episode for a good illustration about how Facebook continues to suck more people in. Facebook is where the people are online.”

That’s worth repeating: Facebook is (still) where the people are online. And for businesses, that’s the point.

Speed now matters in SEO, according to an announcement on the Google Webmaster Central Blog by by Amit Singhal, Google Fellow and Matt Cutts, Principal Engineer, Google Search Quality Team.  The search engine behemoth revealed that it will start factoring in website speed (how quickly a website responds to web requests) into its search results algorithm - a decision based on split seconds it thinks have no business being wasted.

Google recently added Site Performance and Page Speed suggestions in Google Webmaster Tools accounts and actually indicated it would start tinkering with the idea a of speed as a ranking factor last year, and soon realized they were onto something. According to Search Engine Land, Google sees this as a win for both its interests and those of the wider web.

In addition to the numerous studies over the years that show Internet users prefer fast pages, Singhal says Google ran its own testing on how users respond to page speed, including experiments on Google.com. Singhal and Cutts point to a June 2009 blog post on the Google Research Blog that talked about how Google purposely slowed down its search results to measure the impact on search behavior.

All other things being equal, more usage, as measured by number of searches, reflects more satisfied users. Our experiments demonstrate that slowing down the search results page by 100 to 400 milliseconds has a measurable impact on the number of searches per user of -0.2% to -0.6% (averaged over four or six weeks depending on the experiment). That’s 0.2% to 0.6% fewer searches for changes under half a second!

“When we slow our own users down [on Google.com], we see less engagement,” Singhal says. “Users love fast sites. A faster web is a good thing all around.”

Speed makes for an interesting SEO factor, because it’s one of the few that directly rewards website performance (as opposed to design factors like site architecture and keywords). And it’s a reminder of what good search engines try to do: give searchers quick, accurate access to the best and most relevent information they’re looking for. Slow sites inhibit that goal.

So here’s a few tips for keeping your website humming:

1. Consider SEO ramifications before adding heavy, unnecessary features — especially if the benefits of such features are unproven (we think a sleek, uncluttered web design looks better, anyway).

2. Tinker with tools. Google has a bag full of tricks that can help “make the web faster” in addition to the specific page speed suggestions provided in Google Webmaster Tools.

3. Limit HTTP requests. According to the Yahoo Developer Network: “80% of the end-user response time is spent on the front-end. Most of this time is tied up in downloading all the components in the page: images, stylesheets, scripts, Flash, etc. Reducing the number of components in turn reduces the number of HTTP requests required to render the page. This is the key to faster pages.”

It’s big news on the web and especially with SEO and Social Media Marketing specialists. Facebook overcame internet giant Google as the most visited website in the US for the week ending March 13, 2010. This isn’t the first time Facebook has beat out Google in terms of visits, “Facebook.com recently reached the #1 ranking on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day as well as the weekend of March 6th and 7th” according to Heather Dougherty, Director of Research at Hitwise who released the numbers. Although this is the first time the social networking site has beaten out Google for an entire week. Perhaps it’s Google who is sending more traffic to Facebook via real time search.

Facebook Beats Google

Although the social media darling only narrowly beat out the search engine giant by .04%, Facebook shows no signs of slowing down as it continues gaining market share, which “increased 185% last week as compared to the same week in 2009, while visits to Google.com increased 9% during the same time frame” added Dougherty.

So what does this mean for your business? You need to be were your customers are. While they are certainly still using Google they are most likely spending time on the popular social networking site as well. According to the Hitwise report, Facebook and Google combined accounted for 14% of all US internet visits last week.

If your website depends on Google for the majority of your traffic it might be time to rethink your internet marketing strategy and include social media. Does your business have a Facebook presence? Are you reaching out to your potential customers and making sure you are present where they are so you can be easily found and become engaged with them? If not go get your Facebook page now (and become a fan of Masterlink Interactive on Facebook while you’re there!). If you need help on Facebook ask any teenager or call the social media marketing specialists at Masterlink Interactive to help you plan a complete interactive marketing plan for your business ensuring you can be found by your potential customers wherever they may be on the world wide webz!