You will have the opportunity to learn and grow in one or more of the following areas:
• Google Analytics
• Search engine optimization
• Pay per click advertising
• Social-media management
• Online-reputation management
• Blogging
• Website writing and content creation
• Website video production
• Online engagement

You will receive:
• Mentorship from our Internet Marketing leader with monthly evaluations
• Direct training with experienced industry leaders
• Experience working in a business casual office environment
• A computer to use during your internship
• Academic credit if coordinated with your school
• A flexible schedule
• Linkedin recommendations and a written job performance/recommendation
• A foot in the door at a growing company
• Practice talking with clients and learning to evaluate their needs
• Opportunity to test for certifications
• A company intern blog

Requirements:
• Rising college junior (or above) pursuing a degree in marketing, advertising, pr, communications, English, or other applicable field.
• Availability to work in our office 15 – 20 hours per week and on your own 5 – 10 hours per week during an approximate 3-month period.
• You need to be organized and able to speak and write clearly.
• You must be an active user of the Internet, enjoy writing, have a knack for analyzing data, and have experience with social media, such as Twitter, FaceBook, or blogging.

We are not Metro accessible, therefore you must have your own reliable vehicle; however, because we are at the Occoquan River, most area commutes are against traffic.

To be considered for this internship, send us your resume and, where available, marketing materials, writing samples, and links to any publicly available online presence you wish to share.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/benmurray/4346823749/

Though NetStrategies is located in northern Virginia, in the midst of the blizzard, Internet marketing services for our customers marched forward uninterrupted. Our team members telecommuted from home, managing PPC campaigns, updating customer sites for search engine optimization, implementing Web development changes, and more.

Today’s technology is an amazing thing! It surprised a few customers to hear our voices when they telephoned that week for help. We communicated through instant messaging, telephone, and email…with no break in service…pretty cool.

If you have a D.C. Blizzard story to share, please add your comments!

The winter doldrums are officially here. Momentum for New Year’s resolutions is fading fast. The trees are bare; grass is brown. It’s time for an Internet marketing pick-me up! And what better way than to reflect for a moment on things that make you smile?!?

Here are 20 things that make us smile at NetStrategies. We hope you will add your happy thoughts to the list too!

Photo Credit: peyri/www.flickr.com/462244646

1. Our great customers. You are the reason we are in business (our number one happy thought). Thank you for trusting NetStrategies to lead your Internet marketing efforts.

2. Teamwork. Each member of our team is a leader in their field and augments everything we do. Our talents span from SEO, PPC, Analytics, Development, Social Media, Content Writing, Video, Managed Web Site Hosting, editing, kayaking, ice hockey, grilling, and scone baking!

3. The Internet. Thank you Al Gore for inventing it. After all, there would be no Internet marketing without the Internet!

4. Our vendors. Great vendors like Applicure, Cisco, Dell, and Parallels allow us to better serve our customers.

5. Occoquan Harbour Marina office space. We enjoy a gorgeous view every day from our desks overlooking the Occoquan River in Northern Virginia.

6. Google Analytics. This wonderful, free Web analytics tool allows us to do what we do best, measure results.

7. Experts who share their knowledge. Books, blogs, Webinars, videos…all free resources you share online and off.

8. Twitter and all its applications. We find valuable content every day from those we follow. Twitter gives us a valuable social platform to share our content. All those wonderful free applications like HootSuite and TweetDeck make using Twitter a snap.

9. Graphic designers. You make everything look so much better!

10. Programmers. Your HTML skills make anything possible. The phrase of 2010 has got to be “There’s an app for that!”

11. Instant messaging. This handy little feature draws our remote employees just a keystroke (and an emoticon) away!

12. bing’s photo of the day. If you don’t visit bing every day to learn about a new place, you are missing out.

13. Good coffee. No one in our office could make it though the day without our java jolts from Caribou Coffee in Lorton.

14. Flavored creamers. Funny, everyone makes fun of the hazelnut and vanilla latte creamers, but they need replacing every week.

15. MacBook Pro. (Sorry fellow PC-loving NetStrategists…had to slip in the Mac.)

16. Google Alerts. This handy free program helps us with reputation management and to watch the spread of our content. (Always a reason to smile!)

17. Collaboration. Outcomes are always better when we take advantage of shared talent.

18. Interns. NetStrategies supports local intern programs like Training Futures in the DC metro area. It is exciting to share our passion for Internet marketing with a budding new professional while benefiting from their hard work.

19. TubeMogul makes our videographer smile! He uploads our videos to this one site and it is distributed to many more automatically.

20. Internet marketing the NetStrategies way. Everyone on staff smiles when we help a client succeed with measurable results. Whether we launch a new Website, improve an existing one, boost the search results, or help a pay-per-click campaign take off, it is rewarding and fun ALWAYS!

What makes you smile at work?? Please share!

A press release is a great way to present newsworthy content for your readers. However, the cost can be prohibitive for a small business or association to subscribe to the big press release distribution sites. Before you shell out $350 or more to get your news noticed, you might consider registering for a few of the free directory websites. While the free sites do not normally contain links, video embeds, or graphic images, they do receive notice via Twitter, blogs, and search engines.

Before you launch into submitting your press release to any directory, ensure it is well written and targeted directly to your key online audience. David Meerman Scott writes extensively about online press release value. Here is a link to his blog post, the new rules for press releases.

Once you write your release targeted to your key audience, using your keywords, you can use hubspot’s press release grader to determine whether you have some revising to do.

If your social media budget is tight, register for free press release directories to share your content online.

www.24-7pressrelease.com
www.i-newswire.com
www.pr.com
www.pressbox.co.uk
www.przoom.com
www.free-press-release-center.info
www.clickpress.com
www.prlog.org

If you use a free press release directory and would like to share its domain, please add to the list!

Next we’ll take a look at distribution for high value “big news” announcements.

Photo credit: mykpwedding, Flickr

Your organization’s Web site is often your first chance to impress. Since thousands of Web sites clamor for your visitor’s attention, you need your site to entice in a number of ways. This checklist covers the minimal basics for a healthy Web site. If you cannot answer “yes” to each one, your Internet marketing team has some work to do!

1. Does your page load quickly?
Don’t count on a busy Web surfer to patiently wait while your site loads. Beware of the back button!

2. Does your text speak to your customer and his/her needs?
A Web surfer visits your site looking for specific information to solve a problem, not to discover that your organization is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Your text should include more you’s and yours than we’s and ours.

3. Can your visitors find useful and relevant content in your Web site?
As in #2, your visitor came to your site seeking specific knowledge. Today’s online surfers are researchers. Discover what information they seek and provide it. If you don’t, someone else will.

4. Is all the important information on your home page “above the fold?”
Again, Web surfers love the back button. Make sure it is obvious your site contains the solutions they seek.

5. Do you add/update your content on a regular basis?
Ideally, regular is weekly. If “regular” means only when you perform a complete redesign of your site, meet with your team and develop a more prolific content plan!

6. Is your text legible?
A 10-point font is too small for most readers. More than three fonts on a page are too many. ALL CAPS ARE DIFFICULT TO READ.

7. Is there a clear call to action on every page?
Don’t expect your visitor to “figure it out.” Make very clear what you want them to do.

8. Do all your links work?
Broken links frustrate visitors and scream, “We don’t navigate our own site, why should you?”

9. Do you have an easy to use site search?
This is another usability feature that makes your site easy to navigate. Visitors can use site search to quickly find the exact information they seek without delay.

10. Does your Web site pass the 4-second rule?
In other words, do your visitors know what you do and how to contact you in the first four seconds of entering your site? Make life easy for your site visitor!

11. Can visitors navigate your site on a PDA?
Many Internet surfers use their PDA rather than a computer for online activities. What does your Web site look like on a PDA screen? Can your visitor still perform all your site’s functions from a PDA?

12. Do you use Web analytics to measure success?
This critical measurement tool allows you to see which pages succeed and which ones do not. You can set benchmarks, monitor key performance indicators, and work toward your goals with real concrete data. Otherwise it is all guesswork!

13. Is your site indexed/crawled by Google, Yahoo!, and Bing?
Don’t leave indexing to chance. You can submit Web pages to the search engines proactively.

Your Web site is more than a business card. It can set you up as a leader in your industry. However, first your online presence must stand on a solid and healthy foundation. What basics do you look for in a healthy Web site? Add your comments and help this list grow!

Our team of Internet marketers at NetStrategies worked very hard over the past few months to define our company’s core values. I want to share them with you for two reasons. First, I’m proud to work for a company which embodies many of the same values I hold. Second, our industry of Internet marketing is sometimes so focused on the tools of the trade like SEO, PPC, social media, etc. that we forget the most important element of any successful business – the customer.

Our NetStrategies Core Values bring the focus of “customer” to the forefront. The team has our work cut out for us as we embrace our values and define a plan of attack to put each value into action in a concrete and measurable way. After all, we are Internet marketers and EVERYTHING is measurable!

Before diving into our values, keep in mind it took more than a few after-hours sessions for our team of nine to narrow our values down to this list of six and set the guidelines for success. A special thank you to moderator A. Jeffrey Parks of Performance Breakthroughs led us through the initial stages of the values-building process.

First, we commit to driving measurable results with our clients. We do this by jointly defining success, building high-trust relationships, working with a sense of urgency, and meeting commitments.

Second, we delight our customers because we listen, learn, and lead. How do we ensure this? By listening and asking the right questions, continuously learning about our customers and their industries, and anticipating needs and applying best practices. We also engage customers in a positive, proactive way.

Third, our customers rely on our bold leadership. We provide candid feedback and effective solutions. We constantly innovate and build our expertise. We hold ourselves and our clients accountable. We contribute to the Internet marketing community and empower our people with the best resources and work environment.

Fourth, we trust and collaborate with each other to achieve greater results. We achieve that through direct, respectful, and open communication which leaves no room for doubt. We help each other grow individually and collectively. We take a team approach to problem solving. We have fun and enjoy each other’s company. Trust is earned and cherished. We celebrate our team achievements. Face-to-face/phone communication is always our first choice.

Fifth, passion is key to our success. Our enthusiasm and energy is evident in everything we do. We learn, experiment, and challenge ourselves every day. We take ownership for delivering customer delight. We work diligently and productively.

Last, but not least, we do the right thing for our clients, families, communities, and company. We are responsible for our choices, actions, and consequences. We value each others health and happiness. We act with integrity and expect it from others. We give generously to improve our communities. We think and act like owners. We work with anyone who can live these values.

What are the core values for your organization? How do you integrate them into the workplace? Do you share them with your customers? Better yet, were they developed with your customer in mind? We’d love your feedback!

1. Do interview your existing clients and see what blogs they read. Start reading and commenting in those blogs.
2. Do not write meaningless comments just to get your Web site link attached. Do lend your expertise.
3. Do start blogging with relevant content.
4. Do not be inconsistent once you start blogging. Keep it up!
5. Do find out whether your customers Facebook, Twitter, or use some other social media platform. Open accounts and participate.
6. Do not Tweet or Facebook off topic. Your potential customers do not care that you are off to bed. They do care if you are testing a new and improved solution to their problem.
7. Do submit your news releases to Digg, Delicious, and a newswire (paid or free).
8. Do add RSS feeds to the content on your Web site and blog.
9. Don’t ignore negative comments about your company or product in social media.
10. Do address negative comments and see whether you can help solve the problem.

11. Do cross market your organization using many different media formats. After you write your blog, turn it into a video, a Podcast, and a slideshow.
12. Do submit your blogs and video blogs to a variety of directories.
13. Do ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and business contacts to take a look and your blog and leave a comment or rating.
14. Don’t use someone else’s material and “forget” to give them credit. First, it’s stealing. Second, you miss the opportunity for a link! (FYI, this list is compiled from helpful blog posts and Tweets I’ve learned from over the months, plus some life lessons I’ve figured out on my own!)
15. Do Tweet the praises of others.
16. Do check your social media writing for typos and grammar before you post.
17. Do use your own voice in social media.
18. Don’t forget about search engine optimization in social media.
19. Do look for tools to help your social media efforts. Many are free.
20. Don’t use foul or raunchy language when socializing online. You never know whom you might offend.
21. Do remember social media postings are long-lasting and far-reaching.
22. Don’t diss a customer, business associate, co-worker, boss, or competitor in social media. It will come back to haunt you.
23. Do use social media to share your expertise with others.
24. Don’t use social media to overtly sell your product or service. Social media is social!

What do’s and don’ts do you follow? Add your own do’s and don’ts and together we can build the social media list of all lists!

It’s the simple things in life we sometimes take for granted. For example, the view from my desk of the Occoquan Marina in Northern Virginia is lovely, even on rainy days. Without question it puts me into a better frame of mind for writing. No matter how many times I see a bald eagle swoop through the sky, it never fails to give me a thrill! My poor husband works from a windowless cubicle deep within the Pentagon. How can I forget how fortunate we are at NetStrategies to see such beauty while working?

Likewise, I seldom give a second thought to the great tools at my disposal for work like Google Reader and HootSuite.

I use Google Reader for reputation management, brand and keyword monitoring, and blog consolidation. It is really a wonderful application that helps with efficiency. As an added bonus, Google, a company that never sits on its laurels, continues to improve and expand its features.

These are a few ways to use Google Reader for business:
1. Set up Google Alerts (another great tool not yet available in Bing as of this posting) and feed into Google Reader. I follow a number of alerts including NetStrategies staff members, our company name, and terms like Internet marketing. If someone mentions our company name, I can follow the link and see the context. It allows me to stay on top of discussions involving our company, staff, product lines, etc.

2. Send all RSS feeds you follow to Google Reader. For example, I follow several blogs and scan them through Reader. This is the simplest way to breeze through the many blogs I follow and open ones that really pique my interest.

3. Google Reader shows me any Tweets mentioning words I set as search terms in Twitter. This is a quick way to monitor Twitter talk, retweets, and replies.

4. You can now share posts through social media platforms right from Google Reader through the new “Send to” feature. Simply open the settings page and enable the services you want to use. If your favorite service isn’t listed you can create your own “Send to” link with a URL template.

HootSuite Makes Twittering Much Easier
HootSuite makes my job of managing multiple Twitter accounts a snap. Log into HootSuite using your Twitter account email and password, then add to your profile any additional Twitter accounts you use. I manage my own profile lauriedunlop as well as NetStrategies and InternetMktgTV. The Hootsuite dashboard (newly improved) lets me toggle between the different accounts and see retweets, replies, direct messages, Twitter stream, and more. I like that I can schedule Tweets through HootSuite, too. You can also track Twitter statistics.

What tools or programs do you use to simplify your workflow? Leave a comment and share your favorites!

Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals | Stacey Morgan Smith

If you search the Internet, you’ll find search engine optimization companies that make a lot of guarantees.

“WE GUARANTEE – Our SEO Tactics And Strategies Makes You More Money, Sends Your Website To The Top Of Search Results In More Than 500 Search Engines…” [sic]

“Top 5 Ranking OR 100% Money Back !!!”

“We guarantee your website top 10 search engine rankings within 3 to 6 months (or earlier).”

“Cheap SEO Package for your Website – $60 –Guaranteed Results”

“SEO Experts provide guaranteed top ten seo placement”

“We provide full proof [sic] seo services with guaranteed results.” (foolproof, indeed)

Wow, guarantees sound GREAT! Heck, I should hire one of these guys, right? I mean, if they promise me the top spot in a search engine, AND they promise to give me my money back, well, what do I have to lose?

Time and money to start: time invested with a company that gained its expert status yesterday, money wasted on inexperienced optimizers, and more money through lost sales opportunities.

How do you know you can trust your SEO company?

One thing you should know is long they have been in business. One site I visited stated, “…as a free lancer [sic] until just now!” Freelancers are just as good as organizations, but I don’t think I’d want someone who couldn’t spell the term working on my site. In addition, this particular freelancer cum CEO spelled his company’s name three different ways on his homepage. Not my ideal SEOer.

What is the company’s BBB rating, and is their rating in Internet marketing (or a similar service), or did the owner buy a good business name with a nice BBB rating in another field? It’s a good idea to check.

Does the company have a physical presence, or are they represented only by a website page and toll-free number? Being able to sit down with your SEOer is good. The very nature of this business means face-to-face isn’t necessary every day, but once or twice a year you should be able to request an in-person meeting.

Are your phonecalls returned in a timely manner? Is a different person returning your call each time…and do you have a hard time understanding him or her? The World Wide Web has made the World a smaller place, but all too often outsourcing means not only out of your company but out of the country. You should be able to reach your search engine optimizer, a person you know by name, by phone when you have questions. If you leave a message, he or she should call you back promptly.

Research your SEO company and don’t fall for fruitless guarantees. Google doesn’t tell any SEOer its secrets, and there is no way to guarantee a top result in ANY engine!

Stacey Morgan Smith is the director of search engine optimization for Northern Virginia Internet Marketing Company NetStrategies. With over 14 years’ experience as an editor and proofreader, she brings a different viewpoint to SEO. Along with the rest of the NetStrategies team, she can help you increase your leads from search, but she doesn’t guarantee you first place in Google!

Everything is measurable in Internet marketing. That’s the mantra my company NetStrategies stands by! Analytics is the tool by which we measure. In following the data, a smart content writer can determine what a target audience does and does not respond to. The data helps you understand who your visitors are, where they come from, and where they exit during the buy-in process.

A good content writer understands how analytics works even if they are not certified experts on the topic. I’ve studied the educational modules on Google Analytics’ Web site called Conversion University. I recommend anyone working with Web sites at least reads through the material to gain a baseline understanding of what data is available through analytics and how you can use that information. (Actually my boss “encouraged” me to enroll for that very reason, and I’m grateful I did!)

Google Analytics is one example of data tracking and measurement. If used and interpreted properly, it is a fantastic way to track your online progress and make changes based on real data.

Here are two other very simple ways to measure your social media efforts if they are included in your content delivery plan, Facebook Insights and YouTube Insight.

If video is part of your content plan, you can upload to YouTube as a free delivery method. It helps that YouTube is also a household name! Did you know you can access Insight through your account see the analytical data on how your video performs?

Insight, YouTube’s analytics and reporting product, allows you to view detailed statistics about the videos you upload to the site. It charts video views on an interactive time line and map, letting you drill down into different geographic regions and see the viewing activity in those regions over selected time periods. You can also compare the relative popularity of your videos in a given region to all other videos in that region.

To see Insights on your own videos, log on to YouTube and click on the “Insight” button under “Account” > “My Videos” > “Insight.”
YouTube plans to launch new features and additional analytics including viewer demographics, how viewers are engaging with videos (playback length, ratings, comments), and a breakdown of how viewers are discovering videos (e.g. search, email, embeds etc.).
Insight includes a report download section so you can easily share the numbers with your boss or your customer!

For more in depth reporting, Google Analytics integrates with YouTube brand channels, giving partners and advertisers more analytical data by fully enabling Google Analytics reporting. Brand channel owners can track metrics such as how long visitors stay, repeat visits, bounce rates, and page views per visitor.

If a Facebook Fan page or movement is a way you deliver content to your stake holders, use Facebook Insights to dive into the context of those interactions with analytics. Insights illustrates how users are interacting with your page, broken down by Wall posts, likes, and comments. Your Post Quality shows you how engaging your posts are to your fans, and your star rating compares your Post Quality to other pages of similar size. Your Fans Over Time graph allows you to track when users decide to unsubscribe from your posts in their News Feed. It also includes statistics on where your fan base is located and which languages they speak. To export your reports, click “Switch to the Old Insights” in the menu and follow the Export link. Facebook plans to add new metrics in the coming weeks and months.

Your stake holders determine the quality of your content when they engage and follow through. Follow the numbers to better tailor your content to what your stakeholders want.