Social media has quickly grown to become a major part of online marketing. In fact, 84% of B2B marketers report using social media in some form during their campaigns. Currently, Facebook remains the most popular site among social media users according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. LinkedIn is reported as the second most used social media site. Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter following behind. Developing an effective social media posting strategy is essential to your campaign’s success.

(http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/social-media-update-2014/)

With all these different social media sites competing for your potential client’s attention, it can be hard to plan an effective social media posting strategy. You, as a social media marketer should ask the following questions. When is the best time to post on each of the social media sites? Is there a ‘compromise time’ where one can optimally post on all the sites? If each site has a different optimal posting time, then how can a social media manager manage effectively manage their social media campaigns?

Your Social Media Posting Strategy: Optimal Posting Times

Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media site with over 936 million daily users worldwide. Surprisingly though, the number of user visits decrease significantly during the work week. Facebook get the largest amount of its user traffic during the weekend, with Sunday receiving the highest number of user visits. Facebook traffic is at its highest each day between 8 a.m.-9 a.m. and 5 p.m.-1 a.m. Posting on Facebook should be avoided between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. when user traffic is at its lowest. Timing is an important part of your social media posting strategy for Facebook and other social sites.

LinkedIn

Unlike most other social media sites, LinkedIn is geared toward the working professional rather than a personal profile. Because of this, most users log into the site and view content during business hours. The best days to post on LinkedIn are Tuesday through Thursday during the work hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tuesday between 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. is the absolute best time to post out of the entire week, with the highest level of clicks and shares. Posting on LinkedIn should be avoided between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.. That is when the lowest amount of users are logged in.

Pinterest

From recipes and crafts to home décor and health tips, Pinterest is every millennial mother’s best friend. In fact, 65% of Pinterest users are women who have at least one child. Unsurprisingly, the best times to pin new content on Pinterest are either between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. during the week. This is when a majority of Pinterest users are more likely to not be preoccupied with work or with taking care of their family. During the weekends, however, this changes with Saturday morning having the highest level of traffic. This is most likely due to users having more time to browse and try out ideas found on the site.

(https://www.business2community.com/pinterest/best-time-days-pin-pinterest-01152667)

It is important to note that Pinterest users have a different viewing trend than found on other sites. According to user statistics, 52% of Pinterest users visit the site less than once per week. So it is most important that social media managers post often during prime viewing times throughout the week to better their chances of catching their audience while they are logged in.

Instagram

Instagram focuses more on image and video sharing than on worded posts, as Facebook and Twitter do. Businesses can post pictures of their products or snapshots of company events,and followers can leave comments under the images. According to a survey run by Latergramme, the best times to post on Instagram is 2 a.m. and 5 p.m. The 2 a.m. slot catches the late night teen and young adult crowd who may be up late with school assignments, while the 5 p.m. slot grabs the working users who may be finishing up or done with their work day.

(https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/get-instagram-likes_n_6751614.html)

Most Instagram users view content pretty regularly throughout the week with Wednesday being the most popular day, and Monday being the least popular day, by a small margin.

Twitter

Most Twitter users visit the site and engage with content before and during work or school hours. Usage drops off after the school and work day are over, at about 6pm. The best time to post and increase the likelihood of receiving retweets is between 12 p.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with 5 p.m. having the highest number of active users and retweets.

(https://neilpatel.com/blog/science-of-social-timing/)

It is important to remember that a Tweet has an average shelf life of eight hours. Therefore it would be wise to plan to post more than one tweet, the recommend amount would be at least four, and stagger them throughout the day’s optimal posting times.

Google+

Google+ has been rapidly growing as a social media platform for the past few years. With the addition of communities and interactive posts, Google+ has become a site that is greatly focused on people who wish to communicate with like minded groups. Most of the users who visit Google+ log on during the work week between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Posts made on Wednesdays at 9 a.m. are found to receive the largest amount of traffic out of the entire week.

Effective Social Media Management

As demonstrated by the above data, there is no one perfect ‘compromise time’ to post on all social media sites. Each site caters to a different demographic who will log on at different times depending on the content these sites offer. So how is an online marketer supposed to manage an effective social media posting strategy calendar? There are several tools available that do just that.

Some social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have features built into the site that allow you to schedule your post. When you post from your profile page on Facebook, a small clock icon can be found on the bottom of your post window. This opens up tabs that allow you to set a date and time for your content to post. Twitter, on the other hand, allows marketers using their Twitter’s Ad Products to schedule their organic and promoted tweets from the blue tweet button.

Another option available to online marketers is to use online social media management programs. Such as Hootsuite, Latergramme, Followerwonk, or any others to manage and schedule all of their social media content. These programs can greatly complement your social media posting strategy.

* * The Author * *

This post was authored by Elizabeth A. Beasley, Account Manager, Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.

Elizabeth Beasley serves as a social media manager at Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc www.BeasleyDirect.com.  Elizabeth manages new client on-boarding and accounts, social media, corporate presentations, corporate website, and database maintenance. She also serves as an account manager for the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California www.DMAnc.org, managing event logistics, registration and promotion. She holds a B.A. in Communications from National University.

The post How to Optimize Your Social Media Posting Strategy appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

Twenty-five is a number with a lot of significance in our world. It is the atomic number of manganese, it is the number reserved for the player deemed the best “slugger” on a baseball team, and it is the name of the national board game of India. To the hardworking men and women of the Beasley Direct and Online Marketing agency, however, twenty-five carries a much higher level of significance.

A Walk through History

The Beasley Direct and Online Marketing agency was founded in 1990 by Laurie Beasley after a successful career as a marketing manager for Borland International. After leaving Borland, Laurie began to consult for other software and hardware companies who all recognized the need for an upgraded revenue model. This was rewarding consulting work; however, Laurie began to recognize that companies were having trouble executing the plans. Direct marketing is both science and art, and companies were struggling with both aspects. Eventually, Laurie decided to switch from just being the consultant who built models, to a full-service agency that built the model and executed it using database marketing.

In 2001-2002 the U.S. experienced the dot-com crash. Many agencies went out of business then, but Beasley Direct and Online Marketing thrived by adding a full set of services to help companies get their digital marketing programs up and running, including websites, email programs, and online advertising.

In 2008 the world experienced the Great Recession. Many more agencies went out of business during that year and the years which followed. The members of Beasley Direct jumped in and helped companies shift a heavy proportion of their marketing budgets to online, including search and social media.

Beasley Directs Growth along with Marketing Advances

Despite the challenges of the past, technology moves ever forward. With the arrival of the Internet, a huge shift occurred in marketing. To stay ahead of the curve, Beasley Direct added creative and technical services for developing websites and online advertising. As Internet marketing has progressed, Beasley Direct fought to stay ahead with the addition of sophisticated email and search marketing services, and more recently content marketing and social media services.

“Marketing managers must understand and use a wide array of tools…. We help clients avoid letting the tools replace or hinder good strategy, and to the relief of most of our clients, we help in the day-to-day optimal use of the tools.”–Laurie Beasley, President of Beasley Direct and Online Marketing

With all these advances in marketing technology, a huge need grew in the industry for training marketers to keep up and stay ahead of changes. To meet this growing need, Laurie Beasley created and managed a Certificate in Direct and Online Marketing at San Jose State Professional Studies, and then cloned this program at UCLA Extension, UC Santa Cruz Extension, UC Berkley Extension, and the Online Marketing Institute. Many of the Beasley Direct consulting staff members now teach in these programs.

What Does the Future Hold for Beasley Direct and Online Marketing?

“I believe the future of marketing will evolve with social media and the internet. Mobile marketing will continue to force innovation on marketers to keep their websites, search and social media effective for the mobile user. The introduction of mobile apps, kiosks, and third screen interactivity will provide many more avenues for marketing messaging and lead generation.”–Laurie Beasley

A Message to Other Marketers

“Marketing never stands still, and you need an agency that will keep you ahead of the curve. Beasley Direct has stayed far ahead of the learning curve, adding technical and creative skills to an ever-growing list of media channels.”–Laurie Beasley

With a future that includes wearable technology and a technologically desensitized population, the fight to stay ahead of marketing curves will never be over. However, you can bet that Beasley Direct and Online Marketing will be at the front lines, ready to provide absolute top notch services.

* * * *

Elizabeth Beasley, Account Manager, Beasley Direct Marketing

This post was authored by Elizabeth A. Beasley, Account Manager, Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.

Elizabeth Beasley serves as an account manager at Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc www.BeasleyDirect.com   Elizabeth manages new client onboarding and accounts, social media, corporate presentations, corporate website, and database maintenance. She also serves as an account manager for the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California www.DMAnc.org, managing event logistics, registration and promotion. She holds a B.A. in Communications from National University.

The post Beasley Direct & Online Marketing Agency Celebrates Twenty-Five Years of Great Service appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

By John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, Beasley Direct Marketing

It can be a disappointing experience to set up a PPC (pay-per-click) account on Google AdWords or Bing! and see initial success—but then when you try to grow the program You see no improvement (or even a reduction) in the results. Sometimes there seems to be an invisible barrier that allows you to achieve early, easier successes. But, it won’t let you through to the big returns.

When this happens, you need to perform a PPC Optimization Audit on your PPC account. This is to analyze the setup and tune it for maximum performance. But don’t rush to a PPC audit too soon. You need to have your account up and running for at least three months. Six months is even better—or there won’t be enough data to be meaningful.

That being said, it is important to perform a PPC Optimization Audit before you get desperate. You don’t want to wait until things aren’t working to look at how to improve overall account performance to grow your business.

The person who set up the account should not be the person who audits the account. Fresh eyes are needed to catch some of the things you might be missing, question assumptions, and revisit decisions.

Day-to-Day Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

First, revisit the larger issues. Such as, where are your ads are serving, how they are set up, and your goals for the account (and have these goals been achieved?). This will allow you to judge whether or not the account is performing according to expectations. Additionally, it will indicate where the account needs to be tweaked if expectations have not been met.

The big three KPIs are click-through rate, cost per click and cost per lead or sale. All three are important, with cost per sale being the top concern. This is a good place to start, and where a lot of people put their focus.

Click-Through Rate:

Do an in-depth analysis to improve your overall click-through rate on the account. First, start to look at click-through on a keyword-by-keyword level. Often you may have keywords that are high volume but low click-through, dragging down the entire campaign. Identifying these high volume/low performance keywords and segregating them into separate ad groups and campaigns will allow you to focus on the top-performing click-through keywords to maximize potential. Because high volume/low performing keywords generate so many impressions, they can steal funds from more productive, lower volume keywords. There are times to outright kill these high volume keywords, and times to sequester them in different AdGroups where you can control how much you spend on them.

The higher the click-through rate you are able to achieve by doing this, particularly on the most valuable keywords, the higher your Quality Score will be, driving down cost per click and improving your average position.

While driven primarily by click-through rate, there are other factors involving Quality Score (which we will discuss in a future post). Quality Score is important because it determines where you appear on a search page. A high Quality Score results in higher page position and usually lower cost per click. We will be discussing Quality Score in depth during an upcoming post.

Cost per Click:

While it appears attractive and simple as a KPI, it isn’t necessarily the most accurate way to measure your account’s performance. Cost per click is often viewed in the aggregate, whether at the ad group, campaign or account level. Again, cost per click is most valuable when analyzing it on a keyword-by-keyword basis. Cost per click needs to be viewed as part of the larger cost per sale/lead equation. It’s important to know how valuable your keywords are on a keyword-by-keyword basis and how that relates to the eventual cost per sale/lead. Some high CPC keywords will attract more qualified customers, while lower CPC may attract more clicks, but convert fewer prospects. The average cost per click of the keywords reflect this; high-frequency/low CPC keywords can sometimes be more expensive than the lower frequency, higher CPC keywords with a stronger conversion rate. Focusing strictly on cost per click doesn’t tell you the whole story about how keywords are actually performing.

Cost per Sale or Lead:

We view this as one of our core metrics. Understanding cost per sale is vital to running an effective campaign over the long term. However, not all sales or leads are equal. As you are performing the account audit, look at the various units in your account—AdGroups, keywords, the ads—and map keywords to your cost per sale metric. Also consider the value of the sale. Is it a one-off or does it have higher value over time? Even if it is a one-off, is it a low revenue sale or high revenue sale? Figure out how to restructure your account to get good, smart, easy-to-use units that you can aggregate into one AdGroup. Give it a budget that will reward that value and form other groups with lesser-value keywords where you can control the costs.

Other Factors To Consider

Overall Impression Share:

Looking at all impressions for a single keyword, what percentage of these are you getting? Having a low Quality Score for the keyword can impact this. Quality Score reflects how relevant a given keyword is, based on its click-through rate, its relevance to the language of your ads and the final landing page(s).

Conversion Rate:

This is the conversion rate once people get to the website. Many people look only at the wide end of the funnel metrics (CTR, CPC, etc.), where the traffic starts, but forget to look at the narrow end—how the individual landing pages perform once a prospect gets to the site. There may be landing page elements that are causing drop-offs in conversions, which you can observe as partially completed forms and abandoned shopping carts. A good, hard look at landing page performance will often allow you to dramatically improve conversion rates and make your marketing dollars work more effectively.

Network Settings, Overall Account Settings:

Some of the elements you should examine include:

• The default setting for new campaigns is “Display Select.” This means that your ads will be displayed next to content on a publisher site along with being shown next to search results on Google. This generates a lot of traffic, but can drive down click-through rates overall because content ads are by nature interruptive; they requires diversion of the user’s attention from the content users are interested in. When your ads appear on the “search” network, they will be more productive because they appear in front of a person who is actively looking for what you are offering.
• If you want to be on the Display Network, examine where your ads are actually appearing and assure that the sites are relevant to your offer. This may curtail reach (and therefore traffic), but this is likely to result in lesser reach with better results, which is desirable.
• When using the display network, some graphic/display ads will work better than text results alone. Focus on immediately attractive offers. You need attention-grabbing graphics and copy to be effective here.

Are You Taking Advantage of Different Device Types?

If your ad is designed for the generous real estate of a desktop computer screen, it will probably not do as well on a mobile pad or smartphone. If you are targeting mobile devices, be sure to include location-specific ads, click-to-call and other techniques designed to optimize mobile ads.

Timing and Seasonality:

Analyze your account performance through the lens of whether your business is 24/7, or if there are days of the week and hours in the day that achieve better results. If the latter is the case, you may be paying for ads appearing on days or at times that don’t produce results. Adjust the timing, save money, and get more out of your investment.

If you have a nationwide business, you need to assure that your ads are set to run at appropriate times in each time zone. Remember that Google sets up the time zone on your account at its inception and this cannot be changed. Every ad you run under a schedule will be served based on this original time zone. You have to consciously set ad timing for other zones so that they are serving when your customers are looking for your products.

Localization:

Google rewards advertisers who go the extra mile by localizing their ads. For example, if you are advertising in France, Google will prioritize French language ads first. Your English language ad will trail far behind. This is a natural reflection of Google’s focus on delivering the best user experience possible—because that is what makes the most money for Google. Make sure that your landing pages are in the local language as well.

Using Ad Extensions on Google AdWords:

Ad Extensions will allow you to add a number of features to your ads, including click-to-call and location-based extensions that tie into a retail store. You can also set up ads so that online reviews show up next your ad. Site Links Extension can allow for additional pages from your site to appear with your ad if it is in the top two ads on the search results page. These often get double-digit click-through rates.

Using Google’s Upgraded URL Structure:

You can apply a template tracking tag set across the entire account that automatically appends to all URLs. This feature is very new, having rolled out on July 1, 2015.

A periodic PPC Optimization Audit of your PPC account will be highly beneficial. You can trim the deadwood activities, focus your dollars on the most productive areas, and lower your cost per lead or sale. More important, you can gain greater insight into what is driving your business and how best to approach it.

* * * *

This post was authored by John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, of Beasley Direct Marketing. Contact John at jthyfault@beasleydirect.com.

John has more than 19 years of marketing, sales and product development experience, and he brings a proven track record of successful campaign, program and product development expertise. His knowledge of search engine optimization and marketing, combined with an in-depth understanding of customer identification, market analysis and segmentation, allows him to deliver high returns on our client’s marketing investment for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.

Prior to working with Beasley Direct, John was Senior Client Services Project Director at ThirdAge.com, a first wave baby boomer lifestyle and community website. At ThirdAge he successfully led major client sponsorships for Fortune 100 companies in healthcare (Tylenol), financial services (American Century), technology (Intel & IBM) and consumer products areas (Revlon & Viactive). He was responsible for strategic and tactical goal setting, project management, new product creation and web site production. John previously worked in Channel Marketing and National Account Sales for IDG Books Worldwide, the publishers of the immensely popular “…For Dummies” book series. Additionally, he managed the wholesale distributor sales channel for Tor/Forge Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

John is active in local marketing associations, including the Direct Marketing Association, the Business Marketing Association and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association.

John has taught search engine marketing fundamentals extensively. He has led workshops for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, Northern California Direct Marketing Association (DMAnc.org) and the Business Marketing Association. He also teaches Search Engine Marketing at UCSC’s Extension in Silicon Valley.

The post How To Do a PPC Optimization Audit on Your Account appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

The DMA sponsored the direct marketing response rates survey , along with Demand Metric Research Corporation, from December 2014 to January 2015 with a total of 612 responses collected, 485 of which provided usable data. The purpose of collecting this data is to track the Response Rates of different marketing avenues from a very extensive sample size. This data will allow marketers to compare their success with results from other companies and determine where to concentrate their efforts next. Below are some highlights from the report.

Mobile

Of all the samples in the Direct Marketing Response Rates Survey mobile marketing was the smallest. According to the survey graph showing the amount companies reported using each marketing medium, picture above, only 18% of companies are including mobile in their campaigns. The survey participants reported their primary use of mobile advertising campaigns are to make a direct sale (33%), followed by lead generation (26%) and driving brand awareness (26%). However, about 42% of the survey participants didn’t know the click-through rate for mobile ad campaigns, which made it hard to report on the response rates.

Email

Survey Participants did not have the same trouble reporting on their email campaign response rates, as with mobile. In fact, email retains the top spot in terms of the number of organizations that reported using it at 82% use in promotional campaigns. However, Click through rates were lowest for lead generation emails sent to prospect lists (3-4%) and highest for B-to-B emails sent to house lists (17-18%). Open rates ranged from a low of 7-8% for emails sent to prospect lists to drive traffic. Ironically, emails sent to house lists to drive traffic enjoyed the highest open rate at 23-24%.

Online Display

Slightly over half of companies report that lead generation is their primary purpose for campaigns. Conversion rates were lowest among digital media types, at between 1.1% and 1.5%, which is a 17% decrease from the previous years. The low click-through and conversion rates likely contribute to the highest CPA among digital media types in the study, ranging from $41 to $50.

Paid Search

The use of paid search has gone done almost 10% in use by companies since 2012, according to the report. Two-thirds of the survey participants who use paid search reported using both brand and generic keywords in their paid search campaigns. Conversion rates ranged from 2 to 6%, with an overall rate of 4% for branded and 3% for generic keywords.

Paid search was reported to most frequently be used by survey participants in mixed B-to-B/B-to-C campaigns (30%), followed closely by B-to-C campaigns (29%). Branded keywords in the B-to-C environment enjoyed the highest click-through rate at 5-5.9%, while generic keywords in the B-to-B environment had the lowest click-through rate at 2-2.9%.

Social Media

Social media, which was included for the first time in the Response Rate Survey, had one of the lower click-through rates among digital media types at between 2.1 and 2.5%. However, a good 37% of companies reported not knowing the click-through rates for their social media ad campaigns, so there is a significant amount of unaccounted for data.

Behind mobile, social media shows the greatest projected usage increase of this year, with 64% of survey participants indicating plans to grow social media advertising in the next year. Virtually everyone who uses social media advertising also uses mail, and over half also uses direct mail, online display and paid search.

Telephone

The primary reported purpose of telephone campaigns is almost equally split between direct sales (41%) and lead generation (37%) The response rate for telephone – between 9 and 10% – is one of the strongest of any media type in this survey, regardless of whether house or prospect lists are in use. Only 4% of survey participants report plans to decrease their tele-marketing in the next 12 months, while 36% report usage will remain steady, and 57% plan to increase their telephone usage.

Direct Mail

Over 41% of survey participants reported using Direct Mail as part of their campaigns, which is the second highest amount of any of the listed marketing types. Over half of the respondents for Direct Mail reported a monthly direct mail volume of 100,000 or less, with the median monthly mail volume falling in the range of 50,000 or less. The survey results showed that the median response rates for house lists are at 3.73%, while the median response for prospect lists is at 1.00%.

We Have All This Data, So What Now?

The data gathered by the DMA Response Rate Report 2015 shows the extent to which customers are responding to different types of marketing efforts. The purpose of gathering all this data is to help marketers plan campaigns that will get best response results for their company. The modern marketer is more likely to use more than one type of advertising, and in fact, just 35% of this study’s respondents claim to use just a single one, and that one is most often email. Gathering and providing this Response Data Report is just another way the DMA is making an effort to advance and protect responsible data-driven marketing.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the full Response Rate Report, you can do so by going to https://thedma.org/marketing-insights/bookstore/.

This post was authored by Elizabeth A. Beasley, Account Manager, Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.

Elizabeth Beasley serves as an account manager at Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc www.BeasleyDirect.com   Elizabeth manages new client on-boarding and accounts, social media, corporate presentations, corporate website, and database maintenance.  She also serves as an account manager for the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California www.DMAnc.org, managing event logistics, registration and promotion. She holds a B.A. in Strategic Communications from National University.

*DMA Response Rate Report 2015: Performance and Cost Metrics across Direct Media. Direct Marketing Association, 2015. Print.

The post Highlights from the DMA Direct Marketing Response Rates Survey appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

Is your private online communications, whether they are personal or for your business, protected? Are you sure?  Did you know your emails may be subject to legal government seizure, without the need of a court order?

When the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) passed in 1986, the Internet did not look like it did today. Storage software, such as ‘the cloud’, was non-existent, and Americans did not conduct the majority of their daily lives online. Despite the technological advancements of the last twenty nine years, our fourth amendment privacy protections have not been amended to include these new forms of communication. This means any document or online data stored for more than 180 days can be seized without a warrant by a government agency. However a new bill, called The Email Privacy Act, is going to change all that if the business community advocates for its release to the House.

What is The Email Privacy Act?

The Email Privacy Act, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Yoder, is an amendment to the current Electronic Communications Privacy Act that will prohibit any provider of remote computing service or electronic communication service to the public from giving any government personnel or agency the contents of any communication that is in electronic storage, or otherwise maintained by that provider, without a court order. It also eliminates the section of the current standing law that ends the protection of electronic information if it has been stored for more the 180 days.

The Email Privacy Act also requires law enforcement agencies within 10 days of receiving a customer’s information, or within 3 days for a governmental entity, to provide a customer whose communications were disclosed by the provider a copy of the warrant and a notice informing them that the information was requested by, and supplied to, the requesting government agency.

How Does The Email Privacy Act Affect You?

The changes the Email Privacy Act will afford a higher level of protection to electronic information, and will serve to strengthen people’s fourth amendment right protecting them from unreasonable searches and seizures. The bill will protect businesses from being harassed by government agencies, or having their finances and employees exposed without a judicially sanctioned warrant. The online marketing community stands to benefit from this act as citizens feel more protected in their use of their online communications, and feel more liberty to do online activities and ecommerce.

Current Status of the Bill and Potential Hang-Ups

As of right now, there is only one major hang-up facing The Email Privacy Act. Civil regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, insist they need the authority to demand the contents of electronic communications without a warrant, despite the protections afforded to the public by the fourth amendment. SEC Chairwoman, Mary Jo White, has also expressed the concern that requiring warrants to obtain emails could impede financial-fraud investigations. These concerns seem to have gained some sympathy in the Senate as Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., have written a companion bill that also is awaiting action.

Despite these voiced concerns and hold-ups, the current Email Privacy Act has over 284 co-sponsors and the support of the majority of the House. It is currently the most supported bill that is not receiving a hearing, much less a vote.

So How Can You Help?

In order to get this bill onto the House floor for a vote, we need to get it backed by the right men and women. So we are asking that people write Senator Kevin McCarthy at the address below or  @Kevin McCarthy, and ask him to join the hundreds of his colleagues who support ECPA reform.

The Honorable Kevin McCarthy
2421 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: (202) 225-2908
Civil and law enforcement agencies are trying to work against our civil liberties, just like when the security agencies fought against the USA Freedom Act. We cannot sit idly by and allow government agencies to determine what parts of our lives should be considered private to push their own agendas. When a piece of paper sitting in a drawer has more protection then the information stored online, it is time to move for change. Only by getting this bill to move forward will we see such change.

This post was authored by Elizabeth A. Beasley, Account Manager, Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.

Elizabeth Beasley serves as an account manager at Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc www.BeasleyDirect.com   Elizabeth manages new client onboarding and accounts, social media, corporate presentations, corporate website, and database maintenance.  She also serves as an account manager for the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California DMAnc.org, managing event logistics, registration and promotion. She holds a B.A. in Communications from National University.

The post We Support the Email Privacy Act: Here’s how you can express your support appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

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Before there was such a thing as search engine optimization (SEO), copywriters were a wild and crazy bunch who sat around dreaming up ever-cooler and more creative ways to command the customer’s attention and drag him or her to the cash register.

Those good old days are gone forever. Now copywriters have to understand online copywriting, which includes keywords, understanding metadata, and abiding by the continuously shifting rules of search engines. It feels like the creativity and spontaneity of the profession are gone.

This may be true on one level, but it also opens up fresh challenges. Working with these challenges can be a creative activity as well. For some of us, however, a quick reminder of best practices for digital online copywriting might be helpful.

Important SEO Stuff Over Which Copywriters Have No Control

You can write the best copy in the world and it won’t be effective if the website for which you are writing is one of the Internet’s seedier neighborhoods. You can’t control this, but it is best to be aware of it. Here are some factors that cause search engines to downgrade sites, assuring that they will not come anywhere near the top of a search:

• Poor-Quality Content: Search engines parse the writing quality of content. If content is poorly written, not relevant, self-promotional to the exclusion of value to the customer, or unoriginal, the site will be downgraded.

• Poor-Quality Design/Graphics: Badly designed sites and sites with inappropriate or poor graphics are also downgraded.

• Irrelevant or Broken Links: Sites with links to unrelated sites or with lots of broken links raise a red flag.

• Un-curated Directories: Directories that are just a compilation of unrelated businesses or services, or with broken links are a warning sign to search engines.

• Lots of Banner Ads, Calls to Action, Frequent Popups: These also signal sites that may be less than savory places to hang out, and search engines don’t like them.

You might be writing for an entirely honest, well-intentioned firm, but if the website features any of the above problems, it’s going to be difficult to get any SEO traction with your brilliant copy.

Understand Domain Authority

Search engines give a higher ranking to sites that are rich in original content. It is also important that the content be rated high in quality and of specific interest and value to your customers.

This means that re-using content from other sites should be kept to a minimum compared to content that is original to your site. The content also needs to be consistent in branding, tone and use of keywords.

The more you adhere to these guidelines, the better your ranking will be (assuming there are none of the issues addressed above getting in the way). This is known as domain authority, meaning that your site has original, valuable, high-quality content to offer your site visitors.

Keywords

When researching keywords, think about and use the actual language that your potential site visitors use when looking for information on what your site offers. Remember that most people use a search engine because they are looking for a specific answer to a question or a solution to a problem, so finding a site they already know about is generally a secondary concern. Keep this in mind as you begin the keyword discovery process.

Step One: Leave Your Pre-Conceptions at the Door 

Yes, you are the expert on your site and what it contains, but remember that the rest of the world does not necessarily speak your internal language when discussing your products and services.

Step Two: The Storm of Brains

Sit your communications, marketing, sales and support team around a table and start throwing out ideas. Each group will bring its own unique insights into how people discuss your products and services, some of which will be a surprise to the rest of the table. At this point, there are no wrong ideas; encourage the outlandish and crazy to come up with the gems that will drive the traffic to your site.

Step Three: Mix It Up and See What Else Comes Out

You have your base keyword list. Now start pouring it into various online tools to see what you may have missed and to garner some potential traffic and competitive data. There are a number of excellent tools online that can help you with this. Most of these will come up with suggested keywords and keyword variations, as well as give you the traffic competition data.

Our favorites at Beasley Direct are WordTracker.com, Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner (requires a AdWords account), Keyword Discovery, Google Suggest (those fun little suggestions that drop down when entering a new search term in Google and Google Trends) for the latest hot searches and comparative data on your potential keywords.

Enter your base list of keywords into these tools and harvest the results. Use this data to compare the traffic potential to the number of other sites competing to appear for this word. The ideal is a highly relevant word to your product or service that has limited competition and good traffic. Remember the more sites with which you compete for a key word, the harder it is to achieve that rank.

Step Four: Time for a Haircut

Once you have the data in hand, you need to select the top 20 to 30 keywords for your site and start to assign them to individual pages and sections of the site, ideally selecting three to six keywords per page.

Step Five: Putting the Right Word in the Right Place

Now look at the pages, the file title, the page titles, headlines, picture/video captions and meta descriptions and start to work your selected keywords into the copy. (If your site is is missing this metadata, then it’s time to introduce this to your site along with your new copy.) Remember that well-written copy is essential to any successful site and you need to prevent your keywords from overwhelming your copy. People like copy that reads naturally; “keyword stuffing” just to get the keywords on the page can hurt your site more than help. See Figure 1 for examples on where your key words should appear on every page.

Figure 1: Using Keywords on a Page

Step Six: Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Keyword development is an ongoing process that reflects changes in your marketplace and the larger web as a whole. You cannot just set it and forget it. Set aside time on a quarterly or bi-annual basis to re-examine your assumptions and perform fresh research.

Using Keywords in Copy

Now that you have your list of key words, the temptation is to sprinkle them like salt over everything you write. This may not be the best approach—remember that quality of writing is also a key aspect of writing for the Web. Cramming in keywords to achieve “density” will not improve your writing, and may make it worse. In any case, search engines don’t give points for keyword density.

This may not work for you, but my approach is to write what I want to write. Then I eyeball the keyword list and make sure I have used the right ones at least once in every piece.

The title is perhaps the one exception. Using the right keywords in the title is critical. However, don’t sacrifice “people-bait” for “machine bait.” People will be attracted to an interesting title even if it doesn’t have just the right key word. Search engines don’t care much about creativity, but people do.

Use subheads with keywords if possible. Apart from organizing the page in the reader’s eye, subheads are another opportunity to send the right signals to search engines.

Incidentally, search engines are smart enough to understand synonyms, related language and grammatical variations. So the precise keywords don’t have to be used 100% of the time.

Graphics Count, Too

Once upon a time, copywriters didn’t have to worry about graphics, but graphics have become increasingly important in search engine rankings. Search engines evaluate how well graphics are used, how relevant the graphics are, and their quality. Try to assure that the graphics are original (if possible), that keywords are used where relevant in captions, and that there is keyword-rich, descriptive alt copy in the graphic’s file name.

Walk the Fine Line Between Too Short and Too Long

When it comes to copy length, the writer is caught between the machine and the man. People have increasingly short attention spans. According to a recent study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the human attention span is now eight seconds—one second less than goldfish. However, the average web page that appears on the first page of a Google search is 2,000 words. This poses a quandary for the poor copywriter. Write for the mayfly-mind of the human or the coldly analytical mind of the machine?

The best solution is probably to use as many words as are required to tell your story in a compelling fashion—and not one word more or less. Sorry not to be more specific, but the best length is probably between 300 and 2,000 words.

Get Your Content Out There

Getting your content on other sites is an important way to build your search engine ranking. It will help drive traffic to your site, it results in links pointing back at your site (be sure you have these links embedded in the text you send out), and it indicates to the search engines that others value your content.

In addition to using social media to distribute your content, look for re-blogging opportunities, industry forums, online magazines, newsletters, and so forth. Every content share boosts your domain authority.

For more information on how to research and use keywords for search engine optimization, read our free guide: Boosting SEO with an Organic Site Review.

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Kathy Keenan, Social Media Marketing Manager

This post was authored by Kathy Keenan.

Kathy brings a depth of experience in business and high technology communications, having worked in public relations, marketing communications, and social media for clients ranging from semiconductors and networking equipment to consumer goods. She worked as a senior writer/editor for Cisco Systems, Inc., developing thought leadership for C-level executives across industries ranging from health care to telephony. Before Cisco, Kathy worked for 10 years as a freelance writer and editor, working on marketing materials for a variety of clients.

Before becoming a freelancer, Kathy was CEO of Oak Ridge Public Relations, Inc., an award-winning PR agency in Silicon Valley, with clients such as IBM, Solectron, Philips Semiconductor, Bay Networks, Epson, and Xilinx. Kathy founded this company and managed it for 13 years.

Kathy was vice president of Tycer-Fultz-Bellack (now BBDO), formerly one of the largest advertising and PR firms in Silicon Valley. She managed a team of professionals who delivered strategic communications services to clients such as Informix, Exar, and Monolithic Memories. She started her career in PR at Acurex Corporation, an aerospace technology firm.

Kathy is a published novelist, writing under the name K.D. Keenan.

The post Best Practices for Online Copywriting in the Digital Age appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

MORGAN HILL, CA

News Facts: Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. of Northern California, a local SEO company, has been appointed as the search marketing agency of record for Focus Product Design, Inc. (www.FocusPDM.com) of Menlo Park, CA. The initial work will be search engine optimization (SEO) and Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising to increase qualified leads coming into the company. Specific SEO tactics will be to optimize the website architecture for better search visibility, keyword and key phrase research, and website content and copy optimization. Beasley Direct will also create and optimize PPC ad campaigns and landing pages to increase clicks and decrease cost per click and leads.About us:

Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.  is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. Beasley Direct provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing. Beasley Direct Marketing is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

Focus Product Design, Inc. www.FocusPDM.com is a custom product design and manufacturing partner located in Menlo Park, California — in the heart of Silicon Valley. Focus specializes in taking a new product idea from concept, through design and testing, and into production.

Focus is a one-stop shop built to guide entrepreneurs and companies along every phase of development and is manufactured with precision and brought to market based on a foundation of real-world research. For more information contact Rocco Santoro, VP of Innovation 650-300-4375 or rocco@focuspdm.com.

Contacts:
Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.
Laurie B. Beasley
President
Ph: 408-782-0046 x21
Fx: 408-782-9604
lbeasley@beasleydirect.com

Focus Product Design
Rocco Santoro
VP of Innovation
Ph: 650-300-4374
rocco@focuspdm.com

The post Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, a Local SEO Company, has Been Named Search Engine Marketing Agency for Focus Product Design, Inc. appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

Laurie Beasley, President, Beasley Direct Marketing

News Facts: Laurie Beasley, President of Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.  was invited by the Western Independent Bankers Association to speak on email marketing at the 2015 Education Summit and Expo, September 21-23, 2015 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. Ms. Beasley’s session title will be “Optimizing Email for Desktop and Mobile Viewing: Keeping Email Users Satisfied and Engaged.”

Ms. Beasley’s session will discuss how email marketing is evolving from desktop to mobile viewing. However, financial services in all industries must not stop optimizing for desktop viewing. While 52% of email opens happen from mobile, only 2% click on links in the email from mobile vs. 11% who click from desktop. This means financial institutions must optimize emails for BOTH the desktop and mobile viewing if they are going to maximize click through. This session will cover the essentials of how to make sure desktop email marketing and mobile email marketing are effective no matter where customers are viewing. Also covered are responsive email design and cross browser compatibility.

About us:

Laurie B. Beasley is co-founder and president of Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. Beasley Direct is a Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, and demand generation campaigns for nearly 100 companies. Ms. Beasley serves as President of the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California www.DMAnc.org. Laurie manages the eMarketing Roundtable for the BMA Northern Californiawww.NorCalBMA.org. She is also an instructor of online marketing at UC Berkeley Extension and teaches for the Online Marketing Institute www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org. Ms. Beasley frequently speaks on online marketing and demand generation topics for marketing organizations, including the DMA, BMA, AMA, Tech Council, and the Online Marketing Summit.

Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.  is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. Beasley Direct provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing. Beasley Direct Marketing is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

Western Independent Bankers https://www.westernbankers.com/ was established in 1937 and is the premier networking and educational organization for community banks in the West, connecting leaders from a wide geographical area to engage in focused exchanges of experiences that typically don’t take place elsewhere. WIB informs, educates and connects community banks with the resources and services to achieve the highest standards of personal and organizational performance. WIB has 180 bank members and 130 community bank service providers.

Contact:
Laurie B. Beasley
Ph: 408-782-0046 x21
Fx: 408-782-9604
lbeasley@beasleydirect.com

The post Laurie Beasley To Speak on Mobile Email Marketing and Desktop Email Marketing at Western Independent Bankers 2015 Summit & Expo appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.