Razor's Edge Blog Analytics

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Effective Blog Analytics Is A Crucial Component Of A Productive Inbound Marketing Blueprint.

Before I give you our assessment of this new cutting edge blog analysis tool created by HubSpot Inbound Marketing, I think it may help if you understand that the idea of a blueprint connected with your inbound marketing, isn't a very accurate or realistic concept. Why? Because an inbound marketing plan MUST be flexible and the traditional use of a blueprint implies a hard and cold structural plan. The art and science of inbound marketing is expanding faster than ever before and any "blueprint" must be created with significant breathing room.

In fact, this is the foundation of our inbound marketing blog post. HubSpot, who we find to understand more about inbound marketing than any other marketing software developer or consulting firm consistently demonstrates this understanding. A close examination of their operation and development reflects this critical understanding and gives us (VSS) extreme confidence in relying on HubSpot as a software provider. They demonstrate this by consistently, accurately expanding & developing their inbound marketing solutions. Many firms develop software or another solution and then place all their eggs (and their customer's eggs) in that basket while HubSpot regularly evaluates direction, customer need and their product's productivity in a constant effort to improve and remain on the cutting edge of this exploding inbound marketing industry. That strategy creates a loyal following (rightly so). With this in mind, it's important to understand how fast the process of successful inbound marketing grows and install a product and product support that keeps your operation advancing with continued momentum.

Inbound Marketing & Your Blog:

Understanding the growing mountain of elements that go into successful inbound marketing, HubSpot has announced the advancement of their analysis and evaluation tool that includes a rock solid blog marketing tool.

If you haven't come to the realization that creating, developing and managing a powerful blog is a large component of successful inbound marketing, I am here to tell you that it just may be the single most effective element of your marketing strategy. What is included in a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy?

• Representation - a compelling website
• SEO - web pages that are technically search engine friendly
• Blog - 3 to 6 regular article posts with fresh content
• Social Media - promotion of your content on appropriate platforms
• Conversion Strategy - A plan on converting traffic into leads
• Analytics - A method to understand what works & what doesn't
• Mobile - Effective mobile marketing

Remember to always consider the 3 components of a business funnel (top, middle & bottom). The better you can develop each of these levels, the more success you will achieve.

Blog Creation, Development & Management:

Think about this... content is king and your blog is the living, breathing component of your inbound marketing strategy more than most others. This is the place where you can keep your content updated on a regular bases. HubSpot has created, and massively improved the ability to develop and manage a successful blog. This is important because a blog that doesn't incorporate all of these powerful items will hamstring it's ability to compete. Your blog must be effective and by using HubSpot's new, razor's edge evaluation and analysis tool will keep you or your team from spinning wheels.

Think about and carefully consider the objectives of a well constructed blog:

1. New, compelling & remarkable content.
2. New space (pages) to insert effective & relevant keywords.
3. New opportunity to secure attention from the major search engines.
4. New opportunities to attract inbound or one way links.
5. New opportunity to attract comments (more content) from readers.
6. It remains alive and isn't as static as a traditional web pages.
7. Fresh material you can promote through your social media platforms.
8. A method to build subscribers & expand your reach.

In essence, you are killing 8 birds with 1 stone... This is a tremendous amount of ammunition that comes from one single HubSpot solution as only a part of their inbound marketing application. In fact, I would venture to say that with all things (technology) being equal, creating a compelling blog post (accurately) may be the single most effective use of your time and budget. Using HubSpot's new blog analytics application makes this process significantly more effective and productive.

How to research & investigate these options further:

1. Run The HubSpot Analysis On Your Site
   
2. Schedule A Consultation To Discuss The Results Of Your Analysis
   

Virtual Support Systems
(209) SEO-SEM1 (736-7361)
www.VirtualSupportSystems.com
reports@virtualsupportsystems.com

Technology: Are Older Americans Being Left Behind?

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What Do You Think Of The Growing Technology Gap?

Many of us know someone older that talks bout and asks about how they are suppose to use any or all of these great new social networking platforms. Are older Americans (baby boomers & seniors) becoming more and more isolated? Is there a way to teach older Americans how to get more involved? We want to know your opinion on this subject. Do you feel that our parents and grandparents are becoming more and more isolated because they have difficulty keeping up with the speed that technology continues to develop?

We feel that this is happening even faster than we have been able to realize. The connection and communication capabilities that many of us take for granted have take older Americans and baby boomers by complete surprise, leaving them somewhat clueless and unable to utilize all the great communication technology available including everything from texting, to emailing and popular networking portals like Facebook, Twitter and You Tube.

We would like your opinion on 2 key questions. Please leave any comment in the comment section below.

1. Do you agree that the explosion of communication technology has left this demographic behind?

2. Do you think a well designed education curriculum, geared to teach the basics of the most mobile communications, texting and using websites like Facebook would make this demographic feel better and less isolated?

Your opinion and feedback of any kind would be greatly appreciated. Your input or opinion may help us create a better learning solution. This gap is ever widening and a solution may help many of our friends and family use technology more efficiently.

The Language Of Inbound Marketing

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HubSpot Helps You Better  Understand Inbound Marketing Terminology.

HubSpot has created a very useful Inbound Marketing Glossary. Why is this knowledge important? How can this inbound marketing glossary help you succeed?

As many of you may be starting to understand more and more, inbound marketing can be an almost endless task list. In fact, most business owners I speak with aren't even sure what inbound marketing really means and what an effective and productive inbound marketing blueprint would look like. To help with this question, I have listed the main tent poles of a comprehensive inbound marketing plan and what they should include:

1. A Content Rich Website - A website that accurately represents your products or services.

2. SEO - The pages of your website need to be "search engine friendly". This helps you build your qualified traffic. There are 2 main components of SEO:

1. On-Page Optimization

2. Off-Page Optimization

3. Blog - The living & breathing element of your site that posts and promotes the elements of your offerings as they are created.

4. Social Media - Engagement with your target markets through the use of the major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and You Tube.

5. Conversion Strategy - This is the strategy that determines how to convert your developing traffic into leads, prospects and/or customers.

6. Analytics - The better you can analyze all of the above activity, the better the decisions you can make as you move forward. Good data equals good decisions.

The ability to customize a strategy and plan that include the elements above with a realistic market budget, will allow you to effectively compete.

Now, back to the subject matter at hand... understanding the language of inbound marketing. Although some terminology has been explained above, HubSpot has created a very useful inbound marketing glossary that will help you create a better inbound marketing plan by better understanding the discussion you may have with an inbound marketing professional, or, your own internal team.

Our goal here at Virtual Support Systems is to always help solve problems and uncover the best inbound marketing possibilities for your business. If you would like to speak with a professional, always feel welcome to contact us by phone or email.

Internet Marketing In Sarasota Florida

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Internet Marketing In Sarasota, Tampa Or Miami? Hire An Internet Marketing Firm Located In Seattle!

What's the difference? Does it matter what city your business is in or is Internet marketing... internet marketing? Do you need a local internet marketing company to handle your new marketing strategy or develop your current marketing strategy? If your business is in Sarasota Florida, do you need to, or is it a better idea to find an internet marketing company in Sarasota Florida?

The answer to all these questions is no. You may feel more comfortable working with an internet marketing company in Sarasota Florida if your business is located in Sarasota but understand that even though your product or service is available, only in a specific geographic area (Ex. Sarasota Florida), you are not dependent on an internet marketing firm that is located in that geographic area (Ex. Sarasota Florida). If you think about it, that is the point and one of the most significant changes in today's marketing climate when compared to that of 10 years ago or more. If your marketing strategy demands some element of internet usage, like most, recognize that you are breaking the old mold and removing a component of the more traditional "brick & mortar" model of your marketing, and your business. Aligning yourself with an internet marketing company that understands this, is your first step.

There are many technical aspects of this question, and certainly more when trying to answer this question. From a decision makers perspective, I would simply advise you to take a step back and understand the basics of your product/service and target market. If you're like many of us, you are expanding your target market with the growing ability to reach more people via the internet. With that in mind, it will be easier to understand that marketing and technical skills are your aim, not geography.

Note that it's easy to confuse targeting a specific or local market with the methods used to reach that market. With the same thought, understand success on Google Maps or Yahoo Local Search can be achieved regardless of where your internet marketing company has it's headquarters. When you successfully zero in on the right internet marketing company, you will be better able to see and understand how these pieces fit together best for your specific needs but in general, you are better off evaluating an internet marketing company based on marketing skills, technical skills coupled with strategy and resources possessed. Normally, this can be judged by raw data with an explanation of what the provided data represents.

Conclusion: If your business is located in Sarasota Florida, you are not limited to working with an internet marketing company in Sarasota Florida.

To help you understand more of the basics, we offer you a whitepaper that explains in more detail, the 3 step process of:

1. Getting Found

2. Converting The Visitor Into A Lead Or Customer

3. Analyzing The Process Well, So You Can Do It Better

SEO & Content: Outsourcing

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Content Is A Major Element Of Successful SEO. Should It Be Outsourced?

SEO News, has a valuable article on outsourcing SEO content. The major points of this article are as follow... and from my own 12 years of experience, I tend to agree with most of these points:

1. What is outsourced content? Hiring a writer to help create content for your business blog is not necessarily outsourcing, nor is it a bad a idea. Hiring an SEO firm of PR Firm to help you create press releases or blogs is not considered outsourcing.
2. What I consider outsourcing content is when you hire an overseas team or an SEO content writer from a writer database. It is usually not in the best interest of any business blog to hire an organization that doesn't have a significant understanding of your business and is only hired to create content because they are the least expensive. Not only will this represent your company poorly but the skills are lacking and therefore will not end up being effective.
3. Quality content is the driving force of your business. In essence, you can't afford to lay this element in the hands of anyone who can't do a quality job creating your blog and social media content. If in fact, blog & social media content is the single most important element of your SEO success, your decision to outsource may not be the best.
4. Hiring an SEO specialists who gets to know and understand your business and target market is a much better solution. It may cost a bit more than an overseas content writing machine, but in the end, you will find it makes more sense and will produce a better ROI.
5. It's generic content that needs to be avoided. As learned from a long partnership with HubSpot, it's compelling and remarkable content that makes the biggest difference. Search engines are in business to find the most relevant content to each related keyword search. This means you must deliver this component in order to compete in the world of SEO and inbound marketing.

In summary: It is critical to consistently develop your content in both quality and quantity. This single component of your inbound marketing efforts needs to be taken extremely seriously. Do NOT take any short cuts and align yourself with an experienced SEO or inbound marketing firm.

Virtual Support Systems can create, develop and manage your SEO content creation strategy that meets your budgeting requirements.

                     VSS is a Certified Inbound Marketing Partner with HubSpot,  a cutting edge application designed to address all inbound marketing demands.

Inbound Marketing Vs. Outbound Marketing

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Great Information About The State Of The Inbound Marketing Industry From Mashable.

Mashable has posted a very informative blog on the comparison of inbound marketing and outbound marketing.
The conclusion is simply that inbound marketing is winning! There are many reasons and here are just a few according to Mashable:

• Statistics show that 44% of direct marketing is not even opened. This is not only ineffective but a waste of environmental resources.
• More viewers than ever are ignoring television (outbound marketing) ads. Up to 88%.
• Intrusive or "outbound advertising" are turning people off, even on productive inbound marketing elements like blog posts. This just shows more confirmation that interruption marketing pushes people in the wrong direction.
• Cost per lead is clearly more costly when using utilizing outbound marketing as oppose to inbound marketing. This represents a better ROI when applying inbound marketing and is trending upward.

Inbound marketing is attraction marketing when compared to outbound marketing or interruption marketing. Common sense should tell you that using inbound marketing creates a common thread and connects your target market to what you have to offer. This is a critical component of successful marketing and demonstrates why inbound marketing works.

Productive inbound marketing should include:

1. A compelling website
2. On-page optimization
3. Off-page optimization
4. An active blog
5. Social media strategy
6. A well thought out conversion strategy
7. Accurate analytics.

These new inbound marketing technologies can be the best solution. The best suggestion I can offer is to connect or partner with an inbound marketing company that can construct all of these important marketing elements in an effort to achieve the most you can from your website.

For a consultation, feel welcome to contact us and we will do all we can to help you educate yourself on the power of inbound marketing so you to can move forward, and be more successful.

Realistic Internet Marketing Solutions - The Answers Are Available

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Create A Realistic Internet Marketing Strategy

Call it what you will. Internet marketing, online marketing, inbound marketing, SEO, etc. The goal (for most of us) is the same.

• Have a website that represents you well

• Consistently create compelling content

• Create & develop qualified traffic

• Engage or nurture this qualified traffic

• Convert this traffic into leads or prospects

• Convert these leads into customers

• Analyze the entire process

• Do it again, but do it better the next time

These are the fundamental components of a successful online business venture. Yes it can take on many different forms and every business is different but this basic structure is required. The better you can apply these elements, the more success you will experience.

The Problem: It can be a daunting task to wrap your mind and actually create a workable strategy that addresses all of these elements. As an Internet marketing professional, I witness this first hand on a regular basis. Business owners are understanding more than ever that gaining this visibility online is fast becoming the primary marketing method for many... including their competition. Understanding this reality has these business owners attempting to harness anything that they can in an effort to take advantage of these truths. This approach causes confusion, indecision and downright frustration.

The Solution: Do some research with an end goal of partnering with an internet marketing company that has demonstrated complete understanding of all these elements with the ability to configure the most appropriate strategy that can be applied to their particular operation.

The Conclusion: Business owners can no longer take the dated view that all of this needed work can be created, developed and managed with limited resources. There needs to be a better understanding of the realistic demands of a strong and long term internet marketing strategy and the implementation of that strategy. This process needs to be approached with full attention and understanding of the most productive components of the right internet marketing plan. There then needs to be trust either in an internal or external marketing team of professionals. As the saying goes, this strategy and it's success will only be as strong as it's weakest link. If constant analysis and management of the developing data is addressed and exploited, any internet project will achieve a higher degree of success than one that ignores these fundamentals.

Recommendation: Partner with a firm that not only can provide the most advanced technology, but one that has skill & experience in the world of marketing. Competition for internet real estate is growing and this simple fact requires understanding of all available components, how each component can benefit your objectives and what will be the most productive method of implementation and development.

For more detailed information, visit our website:

Download our inbound marketing whitepaper:

Ask us for a no cost or obligation analysis of your current condition and where your weak links may be:

SEO Success: Content Is King?

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From An SEO Perspective, Is Content Really King?

Both professionals and "do it yourself" site owners have heard this statement for years. When it comes to Internet marketing success, content is king. What does this mean?

It simply means that the creation of content is the single most important element of SEO or inbound marketing success. From a technical stand point and a common sense stand point, there are MANY components that demand attention for a successful and comprehensive Internet marketing campaign. But, if this statement is true, it's the creation of your content that will carry the most weight.

Let me tell you this story: As an SEO or inbound marketing professional, I embarked this experiment. All else being equal, I isolated 1 client and began to create content, and nothing else. I ignored most Internet marketing components and only focused on these simple tasks:

1. Created additional (but relevant) content on both blog & in langing page form.

2. Optimized the on-page elements of each page like titles, headings, images and of course the keywords within the content.

With this simple internet marketing strategy in mind, I "went to town" and started to only create additional content for this site.

Initial results: Content is king! If it's not king, it's at least a queen or a jack.

My point here is fairly simple. If you take the time to create new, relevant content, you will be successfully advancing your Internet marketing more than concentrating on any other single component. The data backs up this fact conclusively. To be clear, it is not the only answer as increasing traffic on it's own doesn't always translate into revenue (conversion strategy & lead nurturing required), but if you are limited on resources and time, this is one area that should get your attention.

Internet Marketing Conclusions: The more efficient and focused you can be with both developing your online marketing strategy, and implementing that strategy, the more progress your efforts will achieve. This includes a quality website, effective SEO, a blog development & social media strategy, a conversion strategy with strong analytics.

For a professional opinion, advice & analysis, feel welcome to call or email us.
Phone: (941) 927-2028
Email: reports@virtualsupportsystems.com

We also offer you a free whitepaper with guidelines to basic inbound marketing strategy and implementation.

Consider The Search Engines

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Search Engines, SEO, Optimization, Blah Blah Blah...

Man, we have all been bombarded with phrases like search engines, search engine optimization, SEO & online marketing for almost a decade now.

• How do you sort through all of this information?

• How do you know what will work best for you?

• How can you make the major search engines work for you?

• How much technology is behind search engine success?

• What kind of budget do you need to compete?

• What should you look for in a partner that can secure position on the search engines?

Sorting through everything you read and hear can seem like a real challenge and major gamble. After all, in order to gain competitive position on the search engines like Google and Yahoo demand both time and money. Many businesses are designating the search engines and other online vehicles as their primary marketing strategy and focus.

Every business is different and every target market is different. The key is to figure out the most efficient and effective search engine strategy for your business. The first thing you need to understand are the basic components of your current condition. In other words, you need to understand where you are before you start investing your time and money. What do the key elements look like at the starting line. Ask yourself questions like these:

1. Is my website user friendly? When I do get productive positions on the search engines, will these visitors see what they are looking for in an attractive, well configured page?

2. How large is my site? Do I have 5 pages being seen by Google & the other search engines or do I have 500?

3. Has attention ever been paid to making these pages friendly in the eyes of the search engines? In other words, Have I ever tried to apply SEO or other search engine optimization components?

4. Have I placed "conversion" or "call to action" elements on important web pages? Is it clear what you want the visitor to do once the see the material they have been looking for?

5. Do I have a "usable" analytic package in place? How am I measuring success on the search engines now as well as going forward?

6. What other methods do I have in place? Ex. Blog, social media accounts, etc.

Although all these questions could be answered in great detail and ultimately, that may be a good idea, there is one, very strong, common thread that runs through all these answers and will help you achieve more success on the search engines. Don't take this advice lightly or simply poo poo it because it will help your efforts on the search engines more than you can imagine.

Common sense... thats right, applying your own common sense to everything you do to advance your rankings on the search engines will act as a filter and remove techniques that could hurt your strategy or simply won't work. If your marketing provider asks you a question, or implements a new component, always ask yourself... does this make sense to me? Chances are, if you answer "no", it's not the best answer.

Think about what the search engines are doing, looking for, designed to achieve. They have one function only. Search engines are created to produce the most relevant and related results for the keyword the search engine user enters. As simple as this fact sounds, it is so often overlooked in hope of discovering a short cut, new trick or technique. If you understand that optimizing your web pages for the search engines revolve around common sense and there are no real closely protected secrets, you will be more free to make progress and gain better rankings on the major search engines.

Once you learn and understand the basic elements the search engines consider in their ranking process or algorithms, take one step back and evaluate your new page or existing pages with common sense in mind. Is this content relevant to the targeted keyword? Does the "title tag", description tag, image tags and most importantly, the content reflect this targeted keyword? Is there enough information on this page and is this information helping the visitor at all? Is it easy for the visitor to move forward and take the next step through your sales funnel?

This is just a taste of how you should be using your common sense to secure better positions on the major search engines. For more information, stay tuned to this blog as I will expand on this concept in my next post. Another helpful resource and suggestion would be to read this whitepaper on the basics of search engine optimization and inbound marketing in general. Just click on the image below:

Online Conversions

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Achieving Better Online Conversions

An observation I have made over the past few months is that many online business ventures overlook the strategy of online conversions. When looking at the big picture, most online marketing strategies need to consider these following main elements:

1. Acceptable Design: So online traffic achieved has a reason to stay notices credibility
2. SEO: Every page posted online should be as search engine friendly as possible. This usually demands professional attention.
3. Blog Development: A well constructed blof helps your search engine efforts and provides a living, breathing mechanism for interested parties to get involved and find answers to their questions and online research.
4. Social Media: When done correctly, this component gives a business a method of developing an audience and could easily result in "word of mouth" advertising.
5. Online Conversion Strategy: This overlooked element is developed to take advantage of the above elements. Gaining traffic from any source is wonderful but without this online conversion, production levels can be lost.
6. Analytics: A good analytics package is critical to evaluate then modify all strategies including online conversions.
7. Lead Nurturing: A strong method to nurture all leads secured from your online conversions can be extremely powerful.

  Managing a serious and competitive online marketing strategy not only requires strong online conversions, it also requires all the items listed below built with gusto.

This is a major challenge for many businesses and especially those with little online marketing experience.

One solution we recommend is using an application that allows you to manage all of these items in one place. This is one major reason VSS became a Certified HubSpot Inbound Marketing Partner. It's simply a great solution for the growing challenges of today's world of online marketing.

For more information, a complete analysis of your site or a no cost consultation, feel welcome to contact us via email or telephone.

Email: reports@virtualsupportsystems.com
Phone: (941) 927-2028