Digital Marketing 101: 5 Ways to Promote Your Business Online for Free

A look at why we are here:
- Background on Syracuse Media Group and our parent company, Advance Digital
- Latest online trends that impact business today
5 ways to promote you business online for free:
1. Establish a web and mobile friendly online presence
2. Use Google, Yahoo!/bing, and other local listing services to be found online
3. Improve organic search results for your website
4. Embrace social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn to
engage customers
5. Share relevant content with your customers through blogs and online communities
Open Q&A session to follow
Today’s Agenda

Advance Digital: Our Parent Company
Why we are here

Syracuse Media Group – Leading The Way
4
Why we are here

5
30
A BOLD NEW COMPANY
A new, digitally-focused news organization bringing the quality of
journalism of The Post Standard and the up-to-the-minute information of
syracuse.com together, ensuring Central New York has 24/7 access to
what’s happening in our community and beyond.
Why we are here

About me
Director of Digital Advertising Solutions for the
Syracuse Media Group, syracuse.com and
The Post-Standard.
Began career in digital advertising with
syracuse.com in 2000, shortly after receiving
Bachelors Degree in Marketing from RIT.
Served as President of the Syracuse Ad Club,
and currently serves as Vice President of
Programs for the CNY Sales & Marketing
Executives.
Why we are here

Guess who turned 25 last month…

On March 12th, 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, who has since been knighted for his invention, submitted a
proposal for the system at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which his boss
Mike Sendall called “vague, but exciting,” according to a blog written by Berners-Lee on Google’s
homepage. To clarify, the Internet is the infrastructure that connects computers while the World Wide
Web is the information management system that made it more convenient for millions of everyday users.

Why we are here
Before the Internet, small businesses only had a few ways to market their products cheaply,
through methods like printing out fliers or sponsoring little local events.

13% of American Adults do not use
the Internet
Internet usage is much higher for:
• People ages 18 to 29 (97
percent)
• Folks with college degrees
(also 97 percent)
• Individuals living in
households that earn at least
$75,000 (99 percent).
• More than two-thirds of adults (68
percent) access the Internet via
smartphones or tablets.
Why we are here

(source: Google Address 2013)
(Source: BIA/Kelsey September 2013)
Why we are here

comScore Explicit Core Search Share
Report, October 2013
Total U.S. – Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore October 2013
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2307115/Google-Fails-to-Gain-Search-Market-Share-Bing-
Steals-From-Yahoo

Why we are here
As of January 2014:
• 90% of American adults have a cell phone
• 58% of American adults have a smartphone
• 42% of American adults own a tablet computer
• 44% of cell owners have slept with their phone next to their bed because
they wanted to make sure they didn’t miss any calls, text messages, or
other updates during the night.
Source: http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/

You just need to know where to look…
There are all kinds of opportunities online to promote your
business at little to no cost…

#1: Establish a web and mobile
friendly online presence

Source: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2013/06/changes-in-rankings-of-
smartphone_11.html
Establish a web and mobile friendly
online presence: Think mobile first.

Google supports three different configurations for creating smartphone-optimized websites:
• Responsive design: serves the same HTML for one URL and uses CSS media queries to
determine how the content is rendered on the client side. This removes the possible glitches of user-
agent detection and frees users from redirects. This is Google's recommended configuration.
• Dynamic serving (“adaptive design”): serves different HTML for one URL depending on the
user-agent. (device controlled)
• Separate mobile site (“mobile friendly” or “mobile optimized”): redirects users to a
different URL depending on the user-agent.
Source: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/
online presence:
Different types of Mobile Sites

online presence:
Separate mobile site
(“mobile friendly” or “mobile optimized”)

online presence:
Adaptive Design
(“dynamic serving”)

online presence:
Responsive Design
(Google recommended)

A few things to consider when selecting a domain:
• Is it brand building? Easy to read? Memorable.
• Some business names don’t fair well as URLS or are not available
• http://www.boredpanda.com/worst-domain-names/
• Consider including a business keyword
• A domain should be 15 characters or less.
• Don’t use hyphens – Adding hyphens to your domain can negatively affect your SEO
online presence: Custom domain
Why a Custom Domain Is Important to Your Business
• Improves name recognition
• Increases credibility and online brand
• Helps you get found online more easily
• Gives you a custom email address matching your domain
helping to make your business appear more professional

online presence:
Google analytics & webmaster tools

Resources for free to low cost websites:
http://wordpress.org/
http://www.godaddy.com/
http://www.dudamobile.com/
http://www.google.com/think/multiscreen/vendors.html
online presence: Additional Resources

#2: Use Google, Yahoo!/bing, and
other local listing services to be
found online
“If you build it and it
can be found more
people will come.”

Source: http://www.chantillypatino.com/5-benefits-of-google-plus-for-bloggers-businesses/
Use Google, Yahoo!/bing, and other local
listing services to be found online: Claiming
listings & Google+ business page
Claim Your Business'
Listings
Business directories
might be displaying your
business listing and
reviews today without
you even knowing it, and
often, the information is
inaccurate.
Claiming and enhancing your business listings can increase your rankings on
search engines - Google favors small businesses that have detailed
profiles on Google Local.

listing services to be found online: Claiming
listings & Google+ business page

The information search engines care most about is
your NAP: Name, Address, and Phone number.
Make sure you have a clearly labeled Contact Us page
that includes this information. A PO Box won’t cut it –
search engines want to see a real, physical location.
You should also choose the phone number you list
carefully; we want this information to be as consistent
as possible across the web (more on that later), so
make sure to use your main office number – the
number you want your customers to call!
If you have more than one location, it’s best to have a
separate page in your Contact Us section for each
location to make the information easier for search
engines to find and parse.
Sources:
http://grasshopper.com/blog/local-business-seo-take-your-nap/
http://www.bluecorona.com/faq/what-does-nap-stand-for-and-does-it-help-local-seo
http://plumberseo.net/get-on-the-google-map/googl-places-optimzation-tip-establish-your-nap
listing services to be found online:
Consistent N.A.P.

https://www.ubl.org
https://moz.com/local/
https://www.neustarlocaleze.biz/directory/
Data Distribution Services

http://business.watertownny.com/list
Local Resources
Questions? Marketing@watertownny.com

http://businessfinder.syracuse.com/
Local Resources

#3: Improve organic search results
for your website

First Half of 2013 Online Ad Revs $20 Billion: Search Biggest (43% =
$8.7 billion), Mobile Fastest Growing
Source: IAB, http://searchengineland.com/first-half-online-ad-revs-20-billion-search-biggest-mobile-
fastest-growing-173927
Improve organic search
results for your website:
S.E.R.P.
Search Engine Results Page
Search Engine Marketing “SEM”
(Paid Search or “PPC” Pay-per-click)
Up to 3 paid-positions across the top and up to
8 paid-positions along the right-hand side
Search Engine Optimization “SEO”
(Free Search, Organic or Natural Search Results)
Google Places Map and Place
Pages/“Google 7 pack”
Keyword Search
Google recognizes where you are located by
your computer’s IP address (or via GPS on your
phone). Geo modifier terms can be added to
return results outside of your IP/GPS location

Improve organic search results
for your website:
See what Google sees…

for your website:
Online Visibility Reports

Sample quick tip:
A title tag is the main
text that describes an
online document and
is displayed on top left
of the window. It is
the most important
on-page SEO
element. Duplicate
page titles confuse
users when they are
all displayed in search
engine results pages.
Google recommends
that each page of a
site should have a
unique Title.
for your website:
Online Visibility Reports

#4: Embrace social media outlets
like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
and LinkedIn to engage customers

So many social media outlets,
so little time…
How do you choose?
Embrace social media outlets like
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and
LinkedIn to engage customers

* Twitter’s active users number is off – Twitter has more than half a billion registrations, but after half that many active users.
(Source: Leverage. Social media image via Shutterstock.)
MORE THAN 1 BILLION
UNIQUE USERS VISIT
YOUTUBE EACH MONTH
OVER 6 BILLION HOURS OF
VIDEO ARE WATCHED EACH
MONTH ON YOUTUBE—THAT'S
ALMOST AN HOUR FOR EVERY
PERSON ON EARTH
100 HOURS OF VIDEO
ARE UPLOADED TO YOUTUBE
EVERY MINUTE
80% OF YOUTUBE
TRAFFICCOMES FROM
OUTSIDE THE US
ACCORDING TO NIELSEN,
YOUTUBE REACHES MORE
US ADULTS AGES 18-34
THAN ANY CABLE
NETWORK
MOBILE MAKES UP
ALMOST 40% OF YOUTUBE'S
GLOBAL WATCH TIME
YOUTUBE
LinkedIn to engage customers

Resource: http://socialmediadata.com/five-top-social-media-management-
dashboards-for-2014-reviewed/
LinkedIn to engage customers:
Social Media Dashboards
“Real-time relevancy is key in social media.
You can’t schedule greatness.”

Reviews
The Good News:
Study also shows that the average
consumer reads 11 reviews before
making a decision.
Even better news, consumers
understand that not all reviews are
created equal. 32% look for reviews
that are “fair and reasonable.”
27% are influenced by a well-written
review and 25% look for technical data.
Source:
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/01/consumers-dont-trust-reviews-but-theyre-swayed-by-them-anyway.html
Consumers Don’t Trust Reviews But They’re
Swayed by Them Anyway

*Be mindful of Google’s Conflict of Interest policy on reviews: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/2622994
Source: http://www.rakacreative.com/blog/post/how-to-handle-negative-reviews-online-dos-and-donts-for-businesses
Dealing with Negative Reviews
• DON'T PUT YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND
• DON'T GET ANGRY
• DON'T ASTROTURF
• DON'T USE CANNED RESPONSES
• DO SAY THANK YOU
• DO APOLOGIZE
• DO BE REAL
• DO TAKE THE CONVERSATION ELSEWHERE
Dealing with Negative Reviews: Do's & Don’ts

#5: Share relevant content with
your customers through blogs and
online communities

Where do you start?
• Start commenting on blog posts. Give your
opinion on posts revolving around your industry,
and have the URL to your website in the footer of
your comment.
• Answer questions on forums. There are
thousands of forums that your potential customers
read and ask questions on. Putting in the time to
answer a few questions is well worth the
investment.
• Start your own blog. Once you’ve commented on
blogs and forums, you’ll know specifically what
customers want and in what areas need more
information. Use this to your advantage!
• Add a regularly updated blog to your website,
and over time, your traffic can increase immensely.
Share relevant content with your
customers through blogs and
online communities
Be an expert – contribute to a blog in your industry
How do you get people to view you as credible? Become an expert! An easy way to
build your businesses brand is to contribute to a blog about your industry.
Resource: http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/08/why-i-blog.html

Content Marketing Resources:
http://blog.bufferapp.com/17-unique-places-to-find-great-content-to-share?utm_campaign=weekly_digest
Blog Topic Generator
Stumped for ideas? Give Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator a few nouns that describe your content areas
and it’ll spit out a week’s worth of post ideas.
Content Marketing http://blog.bufferapp.com/29-free-marketing-tools
online communities
Content Marketing tips:
• Social networks are built on sharing value, not advertising.
• The difference between helping and selling is two letters. If you teach better, you’ll sell better.
• Take advantage of the video realm to engage your audience. 80% of people consume video and
only 20% are making it.
• We are in an age where customers can read reviews and watch videos about us to find out
anything. This means we have to be much more authentic, real, and engaging.
• When is an ad not an ad? When it tells a story.

Resource:
5 Social Bookmarking Sites and How to Use Them Effectively
https://www.udemy.com/blog/social-bookmarking-sites-list/
online communities :
Social Bookmarking Sites

Wrap Up
- Stay for Q & A
- Find out more about PPC & get
a custom SEM estimate
- Folders for attendees:
- Online visibility report
- SEO Lunch n Learn event

Digital Marketing 101: 5 Ways to Promote Your Business Online for Free

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Digital Marketing 101: 5 Ways to Promote Your Business Online for Free