Posts Tagged ‘The Steve Roper Group’

18
Oct 2011

Four steps to building a better brand on Facebook

Posted by Steve  >  Branding, Internet Marketing, Social Media
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Social platforms offer opportunities to market your business in exciting ways… which is great if you’re familiar with the inner workings, but for the beginner, the steps to building an business online can be daunting.  Understanding how to use platforms like Facebook and tap into the myriad marketing tools available is essential, and a great asset to every business’ online strategy.

Facebook has developed many tools for building and promoting brands, including Groups and Pages. While Groups are a great way to stay informed or connected about a specific topic or interest, Pages offer unique opportunities to connect with and engage new fans that groups and personal pages don’t.

Like all marketing strategies, you should have a long-term plan in place before you launch.  Here are four simple steps to getting started building your business on Facebook.

Step one: Organize your content before you create the page.

We call this process “seeding”, basically, populating your page with information.  Have all of your imagery, logos and business information ready in advance of creating your page as well as content for your first few posts. That way, when you launch your page and invite people to connect with you, they’ll have lots of great content to interact with.

Step two: Customize your Facebook URL

All page owners are allowed to set a custom URL for their Facebook pages. This is a must-do for any brand serious about marketing on Facebook, (would you rather have www.facebook.com/steveropergroup or www.facebook/pages/someonesname/verylong/willbeforgotten/376k7d9968396847 ? ) but it’s also a step to be taken with much care. Once you create a custom URL, you can’t edit or change it for any reason – so be sure it’s the one you want and make sure you have a back-up plan in case something goes wrong during the creation process, or if the name you want isn’t available.

Step three: Connect your other websites and social platforms

You’ll want to be sure that all of your online presences and business profiles, like Twitter, LinkedIn and your website or blog, are connected to your Facebook page. Thankfully, there are a lot of great tools and online applications that simplify the process, allowing you to focus on creating content and helping you get maximum exposure by syndicating and sharing the things you create automatically.

Step four:  Creating custom content

Creating custom content, like a custom contest or promotion, is a great way to engage your existing fans and attract new ones. Custom content can range from simple, single-page websites to complex multi-page promotions. Coca Cola (http://www.facebook.com/cocacola) has done some great things with Facebook, so have Starbucks (http://www.facebook.com/Starbucks) and VW (http://www.facebook.com/VW).

For most business, it’s easy and affordable to start with a simple concept, like a matching profile image and landing page and work your way up to full page websites, dynamic pages and more!

These steps are a great starting point, and they’re just that. Opportunities to engage are endless and limited only by your imagination.

Need help? That’s what we’re here for.

Contact The Steve Roper Group to initiate a social media campaign on Facebook today.

3
Oct 2011

Raw Eco Jewellery

Posted by Steve  >  Web Design & Strategy
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Raw Eco Jewellery - Devaki MacDonald

“Recycled, reclaimed, reused, vintage and found objects are more than just a statement for me, they are my way of life” – Devaki MacDonald.

It’s not only because Devaki is my daughter that I find this work extraordinary… but it probably does influence me a little…

Devaki has traveled extensively and those travels have influenced her creativity significantly.

Peru, Bolivia, Nicaraugua, Costa Rica, Venzuela and Panama have each contributed to her remarkably creative style.

Her latest work include a series of Steampunk influenced pieces which include necklaces, earings and bracelets and I am proud to have built her website for her this year.

You can purchase these and many more pieces online at Raw Eco Jewellery.

 

1
Jul 2011

The Partymart Evolution…

Posted by Steve  >  Branding, Business, Web Design & Strategy
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In 2004, I was asked to re-design the Partymart Web Site.

At far left, you can see an example of how the site looked and in the middle is the first home page of the new web site with an all new logo, which the company is still using to this day. At far right, we inserted the most recent e-Newsletter we created for them in 2010.

The point of the post is my belief that creative people are wildly underpaid for Logo Design. When we were asked to begin work on this project, we were very pleased… it meant a complete new design and identity for the company which we could create from scratch, which we did in one of those presentations which we knew we had created the right identity. The Partymart Logo of the P with the hat was accepted and now, seven years later has become an integral part of their business and brand awareness.

During that time, we have built the visitation to the web site to over one million visitors per year.

11
Apr 2011

How effective is your website?

Posted by Steve  >  Analytics, Search Engine Optimization, Web Design & Strategy
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Your website is your virtual storefront… and accessible worldwide. There is no other communication vehicle which provides such a wide range of access to potential customers.

It becomes your brand identity, your voice to the world.

And unlike print material, your website is a dynamic vehicle through which you have the opportunity to provide timely information for all your customers. A good website uses this leverage to engage with customers, extend the reach of a brand and – most importantly – sell more product.

Your website has the luxury of being able to host as much content as is relevant to your brand, your customers and your business objectives and a good website provides visitors with detailed information about your product, your company, your story and how to contact you. And of course, you want them to discover whatever information they are seeking or provide them information on how to reach you to answer their questions….

Over the past few years with the explosion of social media and WordPress, there are now additional ways to update your website with relevant content far more efficiently than just a few years ago.

Creating a website which fully integrates social media, WordPress and RSS Feeds, allowing one post to be multi-purposed, optimized content across a broad spectrum of media and be 100% trackable, unlike print media or television, is the way to go today and we believe this requires the skills of an experienced marketer and a well thought out marketing strategy.

Using the full power of your website integrated with social media allows you to get your message out quickly and efficiently and retain the analytics to track return on investment.

Of course, there are strategies which work more effectively than others and optimizing your website by giving visibility to your best selling products and providing an easy path to purchase those products on your home page is key to converting visitors. A great website asks for the sale by including a compelling Call-to-Action up front.

Our goal with our website design is to helps companies make the most of their websites by creating a thoughtfully designed site map which is goal oriented and ensures that the site is driving and attracting new traffic, converting visitors to buyers, increasing sales and extending the reach of your brand.

We provide full reports on websites for a nominal fee to give clients a snapshot of what they are doing right and what areas they need work on. If you would like to know how your website is doing and in what areas it could use some assistance, drop us an email at steve@stephenroper.com or visit our website to check around for yourself.

6
Apr 2011

Swan Lake Re-Design…

Posted by Steve  >  Branding, Non Profit, Search Engine Optimization, Web Design & Strategy
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A couple of years back we were asked to re-design the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary website. Above we have provided a snapshot of what the original site looked like and our re-design.

We are very pleased with the results of the new design.

Here’s some of the stats regarding the new design and what it means to the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary.

Visitation over the first year of the new design increased by 78% and a full 65% of those are New Visitors.

For a non-profit organization, reaching new markets is critically important as anyone who has received a direct mail package from most non-profits knows… you cannot keep going back to your membership for more funds to support the organization time and again… non-profits MUST find new members and offer them something which they find compelling enough to support.

The re-design of the website positions Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary for the future… integrating a variety of social media options including Facebook. Considering the increase in visitation and our 216 Facebook Friends, we’re pretty pleased with the results as well.

The Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary consists of two distinct areas;

  • marshy lowlands surrounding Swan Lake
  • rocky, oak-forested highlands of Christmas Hill

Swan Lake
The marsh around Swan Lake provides good habitat for many birds and small animals, including muskrat, river otter and mink. They make their homes in the rock walls, marsh grasses and cattails beside the lake. Swan Lake’s water comes from a large watershed to the north and the east, which includes Blenkinsop Lake. The water drains west from the lake into the Colquitz River and drains into the Pacific Ocean at Portage Inlet.

Christmas Hill
The highland environment of Christmas Hill is in marked contrast to the lowlands of Swan Lake. The glacially moulded rock faces, the vernal (seasonal) pond and the majestic view from the hilltop are of special interest to visitors. The meadows surrounding Christmas Hill bloom with a sea of wildflowers in the spring. The Swan Lake and Christmas Hill sections are connected by a trail corridor. A 2.5-kilometre loop trail, that includes two wharves and a floating walkway, provide access to the lake area.

Swan Lake History
The lake was formed 12,000 years ago when the last glacier receded. Swan Lake was rescued from oblivion just a few decades ago. During most of its recent history it was a dumping ground for raw sewage, dairy farms and a winery. Cleanup began in the 1970′s and today the lake is a rich habitat for a variety of wildlife.

The Nature Sanctuary Society
Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary is a nature education centre. It is a registered charitable organization run by the Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary Society. The lands and facilities are owned by the Corporation of the District of Saanich, and the Nature Sanctuary Society operates through a land management agreement with Saanich since June, 1975.

1
Dec 2010

Increasing Visitation…

Posted by Steve  >  Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Design & Strategy
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For the past five years, we have been actively working on increasing the visibility and success of Partymart.com.

This company has always held a special interest to me since I developed their identity for them in 2004. For a year or so, we went separate ways and in 2006, we reunited and it has been a successful partnership ever since.

Here are a few metrics of just how successful.

In 2007, Partymart received 120,086 visitors annually.

In 2008, with a variety of tactics, that visitation number increased to 387,001 Visitors

In 2009, with much more aggressive tactics and strategy, that increased to 810,771 Visitors

In 2010, by aggressively producing micro-sites and newsletters designed to drive traffic to the site, we will have increased that number to over 1,000,000 Visitors while decreasing our ad spending.

17
Sep 2010

Keyword Density

Posted by Steve  >  Search Engine Optimization
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For those of you who have never heard the term “keyword density” before, it is the percentage of your total content that is made up of your targeted keywords. There is much debate in forums, SEO chat rooms and the like as to what the “optimal” keyword density might be. Estimates seem to range from 3% to 10%.

While I admit that logic dictates that indeed there is an optimal keyword density, knowing that search engines operate on mathematical formulas implies that this aspect of your website must have some magic number associated with it that will give your content the greatest chance of success.

With this in mind there are three points that you should consider:

You do not work for Google or Yahoo! or any of the other major search engines (and if you do you’re not the target audience of this article). You will never know 100% what this “magic number” is.

Even if you did know what the optimal keyword density was today, would you still know it after the next update? Like other aspects of the search engine algorithm, optimal keyword densities change. You will be chasing smoke if you try to constantly have the optimal density and chances are you will hinder your efforts more than help by constantly changing the densities of your site.

The optimal keyword density for one search engine is not the same as it is for another. Chasing the density of one may very well ruin your efforts on another.

So what can you do? Your best bet is to simply place your targeted keyword phrase in your content as often as possible while keeping the content easily readable by a live visitor. Your goal here is not to sell to search engines, it is to sell to people.

If you are simply aware of the phrase that you are targeting while you write your content then chances are you will attain a keyword density somewhere between 3 and 5%. Stay in this range and, provided that the other aspects of the optimization process are in place, you will rank well across many of the search engines.

Also remember when you’re looking over your page that when you’re reading it, the targeted phrase may seem to stand out as it’s used more than any other phrase on the page and may even seem like it’s a bit too much. Unless you’ve obviously overdone it (approached the 10% rather than 5% end of the spectrum) it’s allright for this phrase to stand out. This is the phrase that the searcher was searching for. When they see it on the page, it will be a reminder to them what they are looking for and seeing it a few times will reinforce that you can help them find the information they need to make the right decision.

12
Sep 2010

What is SEO?

Posted by Steve  >  Search Engine Optimization
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SEO is the process of optimizing your website for the search engines (like Google). By “optimizing”, we mean attempting to make it such that searches for specific phrases rank your website higher in the search results than other websites.

There are lots of good reasons to want to rank higher, but for businesses, the primary reason is to generate good leads for your offering. There are millions of people using Google every day looking for a product, service or information. Some of these people might be potential clients looking for your particular offering.

There are two ways for you to show up on the results page when users are doing a search. The first is paid advertising and the second is what is known as “organic” (or “natural”) search. The natural search results are listed free and are dependent on Google’s estimation of how relevant and credible your website is. Natural search results are my favorite kind, because you don’t have to pay money for them, and they often work better than paid advertising. I liken this to the difference between getting mentioned in a magazine article and purchasing an ad in that same magazine.

If you can rank high on the free (organic) search results for Google, it’s like getting tens of thousands of dollars worth of free advertising in the most relevant trade magazines for your industry, every time a new issue comes out.

We’re not sure about you, but that’s pretty interesting to us.

29
Apr 2010

CVS Cruise Victoria

Posted by Steve  >  Search Engine Optimization, Web Design & Strategy
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We began to work through our annual report for CVS Cruise Victoria’s web site that we created almost three years ago now.

At the time, their web site was grading at 9/100 and was in the bottom 10% of web sites being crawled online. Today, I am pleased to be able to report that the following improvement;

1 – Their web site is now in the top 5% of global web sites.

Much of this success comes from simple observation and fine-tuning, which, while we like what we do, is not something we like to discuss on this blog. We continue to search for clients which will buy into our proven success and become clients for the long term.

2 – Annual visitation has increased by over 200% year over year.

Once gain, success by observation and the ability to understand visitors patterns. If this interests you, we’d love to talk to you.

3 – The average time being spent on the site is up 30% year over year. Think about that for a minute. 30% more people annually in your brick and mortar store. Could you sell them more of your products? Does that increase sales? Of course it does… and our web sites consistently increase visitors traffic year after year.

4 – Bounce rates are down by 15%. There is a posting on Bounce Rates somewhere in this Blog of mine but if not, I’ll have to write something on the importance of decreasing Bounce Rates… or in having people leave your store without buying anything because when they enter, it does not look anything like what they expected to find… BOING… out they bounce.

These are excellent improvements but it requires an ongoing commitment to creating a better web site, something CVS Cruise Victoria does and in return, their business is growing quickly as we head into the 2010 Cruise Ship Season here in Victoria.

17
Apr 2010

Email marketing…

Posted by Steve  >  Internet Marketing
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There is research which suggests that email subscribers are worth up to 1.5 times more than non-subscribers and that email marketing is a cost-effective method of communicating with prospects and customers.

This is something we’ve proven to ourselves before making the claim.

We’ve been sending email newsletters for several years now on a regular basis and we know for a fact that in certain cases, we are receiving a 40% and more open rate.

This is a terrific open rate and after a year or two of sending regular emails, we start to learn which headlines generate the most interest and which generate the most sales by integrating analytics into the entire web site and following the proper metrics. It’s pretty interesting stuff…

We can help you;

• Grow your qualified email subscriber base using a double opt-in methodology, which guarantees your addresses get the email delivered to them and not filtered out into the spam box.

• Create relevant, targeted email messages that motivate customers to take action, from visiting a specific page within a store, to making an online purchase or downloading a pdf.

• Define success metrics and systems to track, report and analyze those metrics to measure and optimize your ROI

With these services, you will receive regular, insightful and actionable reports on how your overall internet marketing program is performing and how to continually improve –  and with our thirty years of marketing and creative background, the integration becomes a web presence which outperforms your competitors and maintains brand identity.

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