Sandra Hanchard at Hitwise, an on-line research firm, is a recognized expert in her field. Hanchard knows which features make a web site effective and engaging. In a recent white paper, Hanchard touted the benefits of search optimization, user-generated content, like customer reviews and using web statistic tracking capabilities to keep current with customer in-site search patterns. Hanchard has stressed that agile on-line businesses have to use SEO content to bring potential clients to your site and use site statistics to stay in touch with and adapt to the demands of their site visitors.

If those professional observations sound familiar, that’s because your Pleiades Publishing Services web development team has been sharing our experiences with content driven search engine optimization solutions and statistical analysis of the site visitor traffic patterns for the past several years.

Your website is not just an on-line brochure. Savvy internet searchers are looking for content-rich, professionally developed sites that offer them solutions to their business issues. On-line clients want useful, well organized, readily accessible information about your product or service…and they don’t want to spend a long time finding it.

Content development for search engine optimization has evolved into a critical aspect of information-driven web design. Pleiades Publishing Services has been providing content writing services for SEO since 2001 and we offer a complete portfolio of research and writing services. All major search engines are now content-centric and no matter how impressive your link building process, creative, SEO-relevant content is an essential aspect of any professional webmaster’s check-list.

From basic website content, specialized download products, white papers to on-line press releases, every successful website must emphasize relevant information that provides answers to the questions visitors posed to the search engine that directed them to the site. Pleiades research analysts and writers have built a solid reputation for providing both individual and corporate clients customized, effective, content development services.

Pleiades offers the following Search Engine Optimized content development services:

Web Content Development for SEO

Pleiades Publishing Services’ professionally written web content is not only grammatically correct and technically accurate, it is optimized with client-specific keywords. All web content is researched, written, SEO-tested, proofread, and forwarded to the client for review. Our content writers are experienced SEO strategists who routinely produce context-sensitive content, that support the look, feel and sales goals of your site.

Writing Search Engine Optimized Press Releases

Search Engine Optimized, on-line press releases are an integral aspect of web content development. Your clients and potential customers want to learn about you, your team and your company before they take the next step in the purchase cycle. Pleiades Publishing Services’ writers are experienced in all aspects of press release creation for SEO — from content creation, posting the approved press release to the “NEWS” section of the client site, to submission of the press release to all relevant distribution sites. We have been helping our clients share their messages with the world for over seventeen years.

Writing Search Engine Optimized Articles, White Papers and Other On-line Publications

The current internet environment can best be described as content-centric. The internet and search engines that index it, have become the first step for individuals researching a topic, product or service. Providing SEO-friendly, content specific articles is the surest path to attracting and keeping and keeping prospective clients on your site. Writing key-word-rich articles for SEO has to do more than provide  content that is easily indexed by search engines to raise search engine rankings, the articles MUST address the original search parameters for the site visitor. Ideally the article will provide additional internal links to other sections of the site. Providing the prospect addition support information within the site keeps the visitor there longer, providing you the opportunity to move from information provider to potential vendor.

Pleiades has been blessed with a diverse client base and our research and writing team consists of subject matter experts trained to develop the exact information product to enhance your site and reinforce your brand position. Whether you need a series of accessible articles for students and their parents or subject-specific research analysis,  scientific articles or technical white papers, our research and writing capabilities can provide you the SEO content you need, quickly and at a price small business can afford.

Pleiades has built its business by asking our clients one question. “Is your site making you money?”

If the answer is no, or not enough, our SEO strategist can provide you with the information products to get clients to your site, and provide them with an information experience that will help support the development of an ongoing business relationship.

SEO Support for Existing Web Content

Not all Pleiades content development clients come to us ready to develop a new website.  Pleiades understands that budget constraints and other business-related issues sometimes mean adjusting existing content for SEO. We offer SEO proofreading services that involves correcting and optimizing content. Our proofreading for SEO ensures that your existing content is preserved, while adding relevant search engine-friendly text.

Have any SEO questions? Contact our experienced SEO strategists at SEO@PleiadesServices.com and let us review your existing site and make some recommendations to improve your site’s profitability.

Need a new site? Let the Pleiades team help bring your message to the world…and the world to your message.

Your website can be designed to be a stand alone sales site, or as an introduction to your business products and services. As a business owner, you must keep your focus on the needs of your potential clientele while developing your website and supporting marketing literature.

When you approach business prospects, do you take the time to find out what their specific business needs are and incorporate that business intelligence into your web presence?

The experts at Miller Heiman say seeing things from your customers view point should be your top priority when it comes to reaching your business potential.

“The first step to increasing your effectiveness in prospecting is to learn to view sales opportunities from your customer’s perspective. Knowing what your product can do for them, or how it will save them money is not quite the same as understanding their critical business issues-what they are looking to accomplish, fix or avoid.”

You’ve heard it from us before: Ask questions and listen!

Open up a conversation to find out how your business solution could benefit your existing and new clients. Remember client ‘Hot Buttons’, make note of them and be sure that your website remains current and reflects the changing needs of your client base.

We are doing business in volatile times and the businesses that stay close to their client base and respond to their challenges and changing needs are the ones who will prosper.

“When you take the time to understand the root of the problems your prospect is looking to solve, you are in a better position to create solutions for solving those problems. The key is to act as a true business consultant as opposed to a transactional vendor.”

That last line is pivotal.

Remember, you’re so much more than an salesperson. You are a business owner and as such you have a vested interest in the continued success of your clients. You have the opportunity to introduce fellow business owners to solutions that can benefit their business at a time when small and medium-sized businesses need all the help they can get.

When a client expresses appreciation for your products and services, ask them for permission to post the testimonial to your site. In the world of online retail and product research, testimonials and product reviews are golden. Put them up on your site. Google and other search engines, troll for new content to index. Customer reviews and testimonials are a great way to get fresh content on you site. Site-based user surveys are a great way to start an online conversation and gain an understanding of what individuals and business need and expect from you as a vendor.

Even if your business has a professional sales force, as the owner of the business, you need to actively seek out the “decision makers’ in your existing and prospective client base. A recent article by Miller Heiman has some powerful information about the consequences of speaking to people who aren’t Decision Makers.

“Our research shows that 43% of salespeople admit they are not identifying and reaching key decision makers…it is imperative that you determine who your (Decision Maker) is and target your efforts at this level.”

Writer Tim Connor is a little more blunt in his assessment of reaching Decision Makers. The title of his article says it all: “If you are not selling to Decision Makers, you are losing valuable time.”

“One of the biggest time wasters in sales is when salespeople fail to get to the real decision makers and present their products and/or services to people who cannot say ‘yes’ or can only say ‘no’.”

As always, your Pleiades Publishing Services team is here to help you update and up-grade your website and companion marketing literature. Send your questions and comments to info@PleiadesServices.com.

Wherever two or more need to gather, finding the best time for the next meeting can be frustrating. There are several new web-based tools to help you avoid the countless phone calls and emails usually associated with organizing any meeting. There are a number of online tools available, including TimeBridge.com, Jifflenow.com, GatherGrid.com, Tungle.com and WhenIsGood.net. They all work in a similar fashion. The organizer chooses potential times using an online calendar, and then notifies attendees, who select their most convenient times. Some of the sites allow the organizer to pick the final time; others do it automatically based on consensus.

A new, free web tool, LuckyCal can be described as calendar meets social networking. It makes it easier for users to meet up with friends and business associates by integrating work and personal calendars with those of your friends and business associates, with their permission or course. LuckyCal scans colleagues and clients Outlook calendars and Facebook profiles and e-mails you when they are in your area. LuckyCal plans to charge for an enterprise version that launches later this year.

Nielsen Online’s research conducted during the holiday shopping season found that customer reviews were a huge factor in shoppers’ decisions to buy.

“Customer reviews are an important research tool for online consumers with 71 percent agreeing that consumer reviews make them more comfortable that they are buying the right product,” Nielsen’s experts conclude. And, as you can imagine, that’s true all year ’round!

The Pleiades WebCenter team understands how important ‘Customer Reviews’ have become, and we offer Web solutions that make that internet marketing feature affordable to the small business owner. With the help of a Pleiades WebCenter’s complete Internet marketing solution, our clients will have no trouble providing the ‘Customer Review’ experience to their site visitors! Thanks to unlimited support and an easy-to-use platform, Pleiades WebCenter clients can develop a user-friendly, engaging Web site and internet marketing program that gets results!

Contact the Pleiades WebCenter team at info@PleiadesService.com and lets us “Help you bring your message to the world.”

We’ve all heard it: Sign up with Twitter, put up a profile on Facebook,  MySpace, or LinkedIn, email everybody in the world, then sit back while “viral marketing” drives millions of people to you, and after just a few days you retire as a billionaire.

OK class, who here sees the problems with this?

Lets start at the beginning. One of the easiest ways to do that is to equate this process to something we know in the physical world. After all, people are people, wherever they congregate.

Image you had a store along a busy highway. Millions of cars go by every day. Each car does not represent a sale, even if everybody sees you. They don’t even equate to referrals. Unless you are selling something of interest, no one will stop, and no one will mention you to anyone else.

So what is our first lesson?

Just “being” there is not enough. You have to offer something that interests people. If you are marketing your business then presenting your products and services is an obvious start. Don’t stop there, though, or you will miss the whole purpose of social networks.

Going back to our analogy of a highway store, consider the effect it would have on passersby if it was plain and unremarkable, or worse, if it looked dilapidated and abandoned. A quick look at any of the social networking sites will show that the majority of profiles are not maintained. In many cases the owners haven’t even visited since they first created them.

Our second lesson?

Make your profile attractive. Attractive in this case does not mean visually pleasing. I have seen pages that are butt-ugly, but have a huge following. No, in this environment I mean that your profile has to attract attention, and it does that by being active.

Email everybody and tell them to email everyone they know until the world is beating a path to your door, right?

Wrong.

If that actually worked, no one would ever spend a penny on advertising. There was a period of time during the 1960s – 70s when advertisers thought it would be “clever” to put big, bold headlines in ads and on storefronts with things like “FREE MONEY” or “SEX”. Needless to say, the got everybody to stop and read the ad, or come into the store. Of course that’s where the problems began. The rest of the ad would say something like “…just kidding, But now that I have your attention I would like to tell you about…”.

People felt tricked, and they made their displeasure known. Advertisers stopped being so “cleaver”.

The third lesson?

It’s not about numbers, it’s about quality. You don’t want the whole world. In traditional marketing it is a game of statistics – 1.5% to 3.5% of all people who receive and ad will respond to it, so clearly you need more people to see it. With modern search technology, though, the people who visit you are there because they are looking for what you offer. This mean a clear, honest, and consistent message will give you the results you are after.

We have all called companies and stores and found ourselves in endless voicemail systems, or we go in to a store were the loud speaker is announcing the next sale area, TVs have the store’s commercials on continuous loop, there are maps, directories, automated checkout, and all kinds of technology, but we can’t find any people. The experience is unrewarding. You are not alone in this feeling. In fact this is exactly what gave birth to the idea of – are you ready for this – “social” networks.

What is our final lesson today?

It is all about relationships. Just like in real life, it is a balancing act between having lots of friends or just a few really good ones. Don’t be so gregarious that you don’t have time for the people who are most interested in you, but also work at expanding your network. Remember, too, that relationships are two-way. This is not just about pushing your products and services. Ask people their opinion. Listen to feedback. Take the time to pay attention to what is important to them.

In the end you probably won’t become an overnight billionaire, but the people you do business with will enjoy the experience more, and your life will have a new level of fulfillment.

Popular Social Networks

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.

MySpace a place for friends, an interactive, international, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos for teenagers and adults.

LinkedIn over 35 million professionals, spanning 170 industries use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities

According to a new survey from Merkle, eMail marketing continues to be a strong and effective way to communicate with site visitors and customers in today’s challenging economic climate.

The survey found that 59% of all eMail users spent twenty minutes or more with opt-in e-mails every week, and just over one-quarter of those surveyed spend an hour or more reading these e-mails every week!

When it comes to percent of time spent with e-mail by category, only the “friends and family” category came before time spent with permission-based eMail. Opt-in e-mail even beat out the “work” category!

All of this means that site visitors who opt-in to eMail newsletter programs are willing to spend time engaged in the business-that’s big news, considering our Pleiades WebCenter solution offers that very feature! At a time when businesses are trying to figure out how to draw customers, the benefits of opt-in eNewsletter.

How can Pleiades WebCenter help you bring your message to the world.

Contact us at info@pleiadesservices.com to talk about how to use internet marketing to increase your sales.

Consumers are choosing the Web over brick-and-mortar stores.

Why?

Internet Marketing expert, Derek Gehl  cites The E-tailing Group and ATG’s survey conducted in October 2008 that shows 80% of respondents saying they’ve turned to online shopping to save cash.

“Consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet as a way to save money,” Gehl concludes, identifying this behavior as one of his top five emerging trends for 2009.

In fact, 95% of those surveyed in the study said that free shipping provides the motivation they need to make a purchase, and 83% are also motivated by discounted prices!

“Clearly 2009 will be the year of the deal!” Gehl writes.

Pleiades WebCenter is advising our clients that they can make the most of their Web presence by marketing their online discounts and appealing to those bargain hunters.

Gehl also points out that, according to the survey, 88% of people are shopping online to “save time,” and 83% of respondents say they use the Web because “it’s less hassle than hitting the malls.”

“So not only are your visitors coming to your site trying to save money, they’re also looking for ease and convenience…So make sure you’re giving it to them, by offering the best customer shopping experience possible.”

With the help of a Pleiades WebCenter complete Internet solution, our clients will have no trouble providing that experience to their site visitors! Thanks to unlimited support and an easy-to-use platform, Pleiades WebCenter clients can develop a user-friendly, engaging Web site and internet marketing program that gets results!

Contact the Pleiades WebCenter team at info@PleiadesService.com and lets us “Help you bring your message to the world.”

According to eMarketer, small businesses in the US plan to continue using the Web to advertise their business!

The online marketing researcher cites data showing that 53% of those surveyed will focus on generating new customers and clients this year!

But other findings that eMarketer collected show a startling number of companies that aren’t seeing the big picture:

• 38% of small businesses surveyed still don’t have a Web site
• 60% don’t take advantage of e-commerce capabilities
• 45% don’t send e-mails to potential customers!

How is your  business doing in this more challenging economy?

Does your 2009 business strategy include reaching out to previous and existing clients?

How do you intend to expand your customer base?

It is a WIRED, Social Networking Kind of World and  ALL businesses need a strong internet marketing strategy and implementation plan.

Are you ready to capitalize on all the Web 2.0 internet marketing tools available to small businesses?

It has never been easier or more affordable to develop effective customer retention and business expansion programs.

Give Pleiades WebCenter a call, (512.394.3618) or an eMail (info@PleiadesServices.com) and let us help you bring your message to the world.

Many of our web content development clients have asked why it is important that our writers understand every aspect of  their product or service features and benefits before they start the project.

The detailed drill-down is necessary because we always write with the end in mind.

All our web content is carefully crafted to take advantage of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). We research the problem statements and the key words associated with the client’s market segment, service and product. Google Analytics and other SEO software and processes aside, if the site visitor doesn’t find the ’solution’ they are looking for quickly  and its acquisition fast and easy,  getting them to the site was as waste of time and resources.

The information gleaned from our client interviews, helps our writers drill down to those product/service features and benefits that will move a site visitor to a company’s newest client.

The following is the type of information our content developers will request in our first interview. We often remind our clients that their website is a graphic representation of their marketing plan. In today’s Web 2.0, eCommerce environment, you may never actually have personal contact with a large percentage of your client base. Your website is your business card, your marketing, sales and fulfillment departments. How you describe your goods and services matter. Your website Is your business. Take the time to carefully prepare your web content.

Help Us, Help You, Make You Money!

• Describe your products in terms relevant to your customers.
• Differentiate – explain how your product is different than the competition’s.
• Effectively choose pricing and positioning strategies.

Differentiation

Products may be highly unique (specialty products), virtually indistinguishable from competitors’ products (commodity products), or in between these extremes. No level of uniqueness is necessarily better than any other, but they do require different marketing strategies.

A potentially important strategy for specialty products is differentiation, which sets them apart from the competitors’ products in the minds of customers. A thorough understanding of how your product’s benefits compare to your competitors’ allows you to compete effectively with them through differentiation.

• Commodity Products – Few, if any, perceived differences among competing products.
• Specialty Products – Highly unique features compared to other products competing for buyers’ dollars.

Strategies that are based upon features

Introducing – Identifying yourself as the first to offer a new product feature is a proven competitive strategy. For example, specifying a product as the first organic body lotion containing Vitamin E will position your company as a leader, at least for a while.

Improving/Modifying – Instead of being at the head of the pack with a totally new feature, you might modify or improve your product’s feature, which creates the impression that your company cares about satisfying its customers. Modifying product features is a strategy many businesses use when a competitor has lowered prices. For example, if the maker of one organic body lotion lowers its price, the maker of another may add Vitamin E as a new and improved feature but keep its price the same. It is important to remember that modifying features usually leads to changes in benefits. Stay aware of the evolution of perceived benefits your product offers so you can use them in your marketing.

Grouping – Often, features are grouped into different product models — and prices — escalating from a basic model to a fully loaded model. Automobiles, electronic devices, and vacation packages each offer features that may be added to a basic product model. Services can also be grouped in this fashion. For example, an accountant might offer a certain fee for preparing annual tax returns, another fee to also process payroll, and another to manage all of a client’s financial affairs.

Our research analysts and web content developers look forward to supporting the growth of your business or professional enterprise.