Oneupweb's Online Marketing News

July 2008

Hear It Straight from the Source at StraightUpSearch, the Podcast.

Lisa, Dave and Tim are back, and no site is safe. Listen to their weekly website review, new Cool Tools and honest advice on a simple solution that will enhance your site. Download the latest episode of StraightUpSearch the podcast.

Live From the Streets: Oneupweb at the 2008 Traverse City Film Festival.

From July 29 to August 3, the streets of downtown Traverse City will be filled with festival-goers and movie buffs, and that’s not all. Oneupweb will take to the streets with video recorder in hand as part of our Traverse City Film Festival video podcast. From Traverse City natives and festival attendees to festival founder Michael Moore and the one and only Madonna, you never know who might show up. Stay tuned for details.

Join the Oneupweb Team.

Spectacular sunrises. Rewarding work. Recreation literally at our backdoor. If you’re a passionate, driven person who understands the importance of hard work and a job done well, check out our open positions including: Web Developer and Graphic Designer.

The LowDown

July Low-Down.

With increased consumer involvement and evolving technologies driving social media’s popularity as an online marketing strategy, many marketers are now considering whether to incorporate social media marketing into their overall marketing plan for 2009. In evaluating whether social media marketing strategies will work for your business, what do you see as the biggest obstacle with social media?

Subscribe now to receive timely, informative articles designed for the busy online marketing executive. Every month you'll receive a summary page of the latest issue with a short introduction to each article. With one click you can access a complete article and read it then or download it for later. Visit the OneUp Low-Down™ archive for past issues.

New White Paper Focuses on
Local Search Needs for Franchisors.

In a rapidly changing economy, franchisors need to adapt to current market conditions and adopt new strategies to stay competitive. Oneupweb’s latest white paper, Local Search Solutions for Franchisors, reveals why local search is an ideal match for the complex marketing objectives and current challenges facing franchisors. The white paper also outlines local search tools and strategies vital to any franchisor’s marketing plan. Find out how top franchisors are using local search—and where they fall short. Download the paper at OneUpWeb.com today.

Oneupweb CEO named to BtoB Who’s Who in 2008.

Oneupweb CEO Lisa Wehr was recently named to BtoB Magazine’s Who’s Who in 2008. This is an annual salute to the most influential executives in the business-to-business marketing community. Oneupweb’s CEO is the first and only person to be named to this list for five consecutive years.

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer.

Things got a little interesting during one of Oneupweb’s bi-weekly summer barbeques. We thought this picture was too good not to share with you.

Real Client Case Studies. Real Results.

At Oneupweb, we understand the online marketing needs of franchisors. In fact, we’ve been creating successful online marketing campaigns for some of the world’s most recognized names in the franchise industry since 1996, including a nationally-known lawn and tree care service franchise. From PPC and SEO to conversion improvement, podcast production and more, the results speak for themselves.

As a result of their paid search campaign, unique visitors to the franchisor’s site grew 283 percent each month from February to April. During that time, lead conversions grew 845 percent and consumer sales were up more than 3,600 percent.
In those same three months, as a result of the natural search campaign, unique visits rose 199 percent, conversions were up 265 percent and sales rose nearly 1,100 percent.
Within the first three months of their launch, the franchisor’s podcasts tracked nearly 1000 loyal subscribers and the number continues to climb.

Look for another Oneupweb case study in next month’s issue, or download our Case Study Book today to find out more about what we can do for your business.

In the Industry.

Local online video ad revenue will increase from $10.9 million in 2007 to $1.5 billion by the end of 2012, according to a new study by the Kelsey Group. This means that now is the time for businesses to integrate media, such as video blogs, into into their marketing mix. Get ahead of the curve with Oneupweb’s two part Secrets of Social Media Marketing Success white paper series.

Elsewhere in the industry, Google, Yahoo and Adobe have teamed to make Flash file format content easier to find.

OneUpLowDown

OneUp Stats.

Have you considered building your online presence with social and professional networking, but wonder if you can really reach your audience? With almost 40 percent of U.S. adult social networking users logging on to their social sites once a day or more, online social and professional networking is an ideal tool to build relationships with your audience or communicate with industry professionals. Consider the possibilities as your plan your marketing strategies for 2009.

OneUpLowDown

Social Media Marketing: Can It Pay Off?

MySpace and facebook have taken over the social media marketing world—or so it seems. These two social networking sites continue to grow in popularity and media attention. But does that mean every company should create their own “page”, and call that social media marketing? Probably not.

Defining Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing encompasses much more than the two popular social networks. And before marketers can make it pay off for them, it’s important to understand exactly what it is. According to the Oneupweb Social Media Survival Guide, social media is the term used to describe the tools and platforms people use to publish, converse and share content online. These include blogs, wikis, podcasts, and the sites dedicated to share information, stories, photos, audio and video files, and bookmarks. Let’s take a look at a few of these different components:

Blogs. Shortened from the original term “Weblogs,” these self-published websites containing dated material, are usually written in a journal format. Other than text, contents may include pictures, video and/or audio, have URLs plus other ways of identifying them by keywords (tags). Blogs often have links to other relevant online content, plus invite feedback through “posts” which are comments from readers. Check out StraightUpSearch.com for an example of a leading online marketing blog.

Feed. Individuals subscribe to a directory or aggregator such as iTunes or Bloglines to read, view or listen to items from blogs, podcasts and other RSS-enabled sites without having to visit the actual website.

Wiki. This is an online, collaborative work space for multiple users of a web page or set of pages that can be edited collaboratively. The best known example is Wikipedia, an encyclopedia created by thousands of contributors across the world. Once people have appropriate permissions set by the wiki owner, they can create pages and/or add to and alter existing pages.

Podcasts. The word “podcast” is derived from “pod” as in Apple’s iPod, the popular portable audio player, and “cast” from “broadcast,” meaning “to transmit for general or public use.” So a podcast is a digital broadcast made available on the internet, including iTunes. Currently the majority of these broadcasts are audio files sent to directories through XML feeds and RSS formatted XML files.

Social Networking Sites. These sites help people discover new friends or colleagues with shared interests, related skills, or a common geographic location. Leading examples include MySpace, facebook, Friendster and LinkedIn.

Video Sharing Sites. Businesses and individuals use these sites to publish video files, along with news feeds, so that viewers can download them and watch them on their computer or portable digital video player. YouTube is an example of a popular video sharing site.

Photo Sharing Sites. Businesses and individuals can upload digital images to a website such as flickr, where tags can be added, so others can comment or even reuse the images under certain stated copyright license conditions.

Making it Work for Your Business

Companies should evaluate the kind of materials and time they have to invest in social media, as well as take a look at their target audience. What’s right for one company isn’t necessarily right for another—and just because a social network exists doesn’t mean every company needs to participate. The secret to social media marketing success is to choose the right combination of social media channels to promote your business. And don’t forget—social media marketing is a commitment. Be prepared to invest the time it will take to do it right, or seek an online marketing partner to help.

To discover other important tips on how to make social media marketing pay off, download Oneupweb’s two part series, Secrets of Social Media Marketing Success, and contact us at 877.568.7477 to discuss the opportunities for your company.

As an internationally recognized thought leader in integrated online marketing, Oneupweb authors and maintains an extensive library of original white papers, articles and research. You can access these and previous issues of OneUp Low-Down at OneUpWeb.com. For questions about our services or other resources available at Oneupweb, call us toll free at 877.568.7477 or email info@oneupweb.com. We look forward to hearing from you.