PPC & SEO Goals: Debunking Myths & Where to Really Focus
Join us for a free Webinar on Mar 14 2013 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (EDT)
In February’s Webinar, Erik Dafforn of Intrapromote and Kayla Kurtz of Hanapin Marketing shared covered key aspects of Next Level PPC & SEO with Google Analytics.
This month, the representatives from Intrapromote and Hanapin Marketing will discuss PPC & SEO Goals: Debunking Myths & Where to Really Focus.
Being in an incredibly technical industry, SEO & PPC account managers must frequently explain to their in-house peers or client contacts why one metric is not necessarily as important as another and revisit that conversation again and again to permanently reroute thinking patterns. And why is this? There are thousands upon thousands of opinions on what data should be tracked in what situations and how. Our presentation this month will seek to:
- Debunk those metrics that are often focused on but may have little affect on your true ROI.
- Outline the best goal-setting process for both medium and any vertical.
- Illustrate how to choose a balance of key and lagging performance indicators that contribute to your account goals.
Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat today!
Title: PPC & SEO Goals: Debunking Myths & Where to Really Focus
Date: March 14, 2013
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
Cost: Free
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Send to KindleMotivate and Develop Employees | Thought-leadership Through Roundtable Discussions
Developing and cross training employees is no easy challenge. I don’t need to sell you on the fact that there is a 
constant requirement to keep current with technology and tools so that we can continue to create the best in class solutions for our clients, no matter the industry.
The question may be how to add one more “to-do” item to the list and train everyone. While we have several tactics and approaches depending on subject matter and need, one of the most successful forums for ongoing learning is through less formal (but well planned) roundtable meetings. And, if you work in a virtual environment you may need to promote other opportunities for information sharing.
Individual education and development through industry news and articles, blogs, can be overwhelming. New knowledge may also include attending webinars and conferences. Access to information is not the issue and in nearly all cases, employees increase their individual knowledge through these participatory activities.
How do you take that new knowledge and apply it more widely throughout the organization? More importantly, how do you articulate the application of new information to your processes and best practices to be sure everyone is on the same page in the most efficient way possible?
Not every topic is going to turn into an operating procedure; and not every topic requires formal training. One key tactic to ongoing development and information sharing is to rely on what you already have. Who better to “teach” and to facilitate but the experts on staff? These efforts do not require extensive planning and formality, but a few good tips and some encouragement can create positive, memorable experiences to motivate and energize your organization.
Typically, our experts recognize the need for content and information and inherently know when there is a need to share the experience and more importantly newly discovered information with the rest of the organization; and do it in a timely and meaningful manner. While learning is the goal, this does not limit the round table discussion to just new information. We also like it when roundtable discussions are arranged to present a business issue, a challenge, and a question and to gather input and additional thought-leadership from colleagues.
We love 100% participation so while we encourage staff to facilitate these discussions we want to make it something they look forward to. That’s what works for us. It’s our story and we’re sticking to it, so here’s the round up on roundtable meetings the IP way!
Roundtable Meetings
- Typical roundtable meetings are 30 to 45-minute oral presentations and discussion with attendees seated, attending via conference call or web meeting.
- Roundtable presentations typically include 15 minutes of presentation, followed by 30 – 45 minutes of discussion and feedback.
- Roundtable presenters should prepare to facilitate and elicit input and participation from all attendees by preparing a targeted list of questions to pose to others in attendance in order to learn from and with those attending.
- Roundtable meetings are an ideal format for collaboration and discussion on a particular topic of interest and relevance to the business and/or industry, or to bring people up to speed on current events and activities; and to make decisions about actions that may be necessary based on the new learning.
- Depending on the topic, roundtable meetings may be scheduled for longer periods of time to cover information adequately. The key is to remain flexible and encourage discussion and dialogue with participants.
Planning Roundtable Meetings
- Begin planning the roundtable meeting as soon as possible after returning to the office from your conference or event and within 30 days of your return.
- Identify the topic(s) to be discussed.
- Decide on your audience.
- Articulate the objective of the meeting and be prepared to clearly state the desired outcome to participants.
- Coordinate calendars as necessary to avoid scheduling conflicts and to schedule your roundtable, including setting up on any online meeting tools such as GoToMeeting.com or Join.Me and reserving the appropriate conference room if space is required.
- Distribute the meeting notification with ample notice, registration detail and include the requirements of attendance (if mandatory or optional).
- Prepare visual aids (optional). Roundtable meetings do not require formal visual aids, however, they are a nice addition to convey new information and enhance learning, especially in our virtual environment.
- Your role as a facilitator of the roundtable discussion is an important responsibility. For that reason, you may want to consider assigning a scribe to take notes and a timekeeper to aid with keeping you posted on time consumption and to move the agenda forward.
- Regarding notes, successful roundtable meetings include these elements to have the information available to those who may have missed the meeting and to document action items or follow-on items that may have come up.
Conducting the Roundtable Discussion
While preparation is at the core of executing a successful roundtable meeting, you will also want to adequately prepare your participants.
Before moving directly to the content of the meeting, take a few moments to address your audience’s needs and to ask for their focused attention through a few simple steps.
- Review the agenda, the objective, time allotted and ask for participation.
- Put participants at ease by ensuring everyone can hear clearly and has access to any materials directly and through use of technology.
- Inform participants that while you have information to share, you will also be relying heavily on their participation to make the meeting a success.
After the Roundtable Meeting
Consider publishing meeting notes immediately after the meeting while information is fresh. Notes should recap the following elements at a minimum:
- Purpose and objective of the meeting
- Agenda
- Results
- Action items / next steps for decisions or follow-up that may be required.
Follow these steps and you are on your way to successful and memorable roundtable discussions and a highly evolved organization.
Send to KindleThey Say You Can’t Have it All | How to Choose Between PPC & SEO
They Say You Can’t Have it All | How to Choose Between PPC & SEO
Join us for a Webinar on Thursday, January 17th at 12pm EST
In December’s Webinar, Erik Dafforn of Intrapromote and Kayla Kurtz of Hanapin Marketing emphasized that SEO and PPC are both of incredible importance to your brand’s marketing and for presenting an optimal online presence to your consumers. However, this doesn’t change the fact that some brands have to choose one or the other to focus on at a time for a number of reasons.
This month, the representatives from Intrapromote and Hanapin Marketing will:
- Describe the situations that could require a decision to be made between SEO and PPC.
- Outline how to decide between SEO and PPC if found in one of these situations.
- Discuss ways to move towards a marketing model that can include both SEO and PPC efforts.
Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat today!
Title: They Say You Can’t Have It All | How to Choose Between PPC & SEO
Date: Thursday, January 17, 2013
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Send to KindleEMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Crystal Schauf
At Intrapromote, we pride ourselves on being service-minded in all we do. You may know us and come in contact with us on the job and our culture transcends from our community involvement as well. Today, we spotlight employee Crystal Schauf, our Director of Human Resources, as she shares her work with Austin Pets Alive (APA).
1. What does your work with Austin Pets Alive entail?
While Austin Pets Alive offers countless opportunities to volunteer, I specifically work with the Behavior Team. Typically, this means we work with dogs that are usually larger and have a lot of energy and, often, not the best manners. We work to socialize these dogs, teach them basic obedience, and basically try to make them as adoptable as possible. Large dogs with “behavior” problems – which can be anything from pulling on a leash, jumping, resource guarding or simply being frustrated in a shelter environment – are often referred to as “the last 10%” that need to be saved from shelters.
2. How long have you been volunteering with Austin Pets Alive?
I’ve been volunteering with APA for about a year and a half.
3. Can you tell us a little bit about the organization?
Austin Pets Alive is a rescue organization that works to save the lives of cats and dogs in the area, particularly those at risk of euthanasia. APA also rescues pregnant dogs and sick/injured animals, including those with diseases such as parvo, distemper and FeLV. Austin is now the largest No-Kill city in the country and Austin Pets Alive has played a large role in helping the city achieve this status.
Good Dogs! | Penny and Dudley
4. Tell us a little bit about your own pets.
I currently have two dogs of my own. Dudley is an American Staffordshire mix and Penny is some combination of Staffie, Boxer and American Bulldog (I think). I was working with Dudley at APA and decided to bring him home. Because of his breed, energy and the fact that he’s black (black pets sadly are more difficult to adopt out), he was constantly being overlooked. He had so much potential and such personality, I decided to bring him home and continue his work. Both of my dogs have gone through a lot of training and other classes to reach their full potential and also to serve as breed ambassadors since, unfortunately, a lot of people have misperceptions about “pit-bull” type dogs. Penny will soon begin further training to complete her Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification. I’ve learned a lot through these classes, which I can then carry over to the dogs at APA. We are also fostering a dog who is going through heartworm treatment.
Konleigh is Crystal’s current foster dog. She has a forever home she’ll move to soon. Way to go Crystal and Konleigh!
5. How many animals have you socialized and/or sponsored to get them ready for adoption?
I can’t put a specific number on it. Some dogs I work with only once or twice before they get adopted, others are around for several months. As an organization, as of early October, APA has saved over 5,500 animals this year.
6. Tell us your favorite story about your volunteer work.
There are so many. Each dog I’ve worked with has left a special memory in my heart. My favorite thing is when I get updates from adopters saying how happy they are with their pet. There are a few dogs that I really do miss, but I know they are much happier in their new homes with their families.
7. What motivates you the most about this type of work?
Honestly, I enjoy working with dogs. I find it rewarding and enlightening and it has definitely taught me a great deal of patience. Seeing the journeys many of these dogs complete is just inspiring.
8. What would say to others who may be interested in similar type of volunteer work but not sure how to get started?
Contact the organization, ask questions and get started. There’s no time like the present!
Send to KindleTurning Crisis Into Opportunity | How Network Experience Solutions Can Revitalize Healthcare
If you are a healthcare professional or a professional serving the needs of the healthcare industry, you recognize the need for more efficient patient engagement, and more efficient means of sharing knowledge and information amongst healthcare practitioners.
Through efforts with our strategic partner, INgage Networks, we invite you to download a free white paper focusing on identifying how technology and networks can aid any size healthcare organization interested in more effective patient engagement and more efficient means of sharing knowledge and information.
As you know, changing demographics and sweeping legislation are placing enormous strain on the already burdened U.S. healthcare system. The numbers are astounding:
This free white paper will help you learn more about:
- New Solutions for Patient Engagement to Meet Rising Demand
- New Solutions for Greater Knowledge and Information Sharing
- New Solutions for Driving Innovation
- Making New Online Healthcare Networks a Reality: Where to Begin
While this particular white paper is focused on healthcare, the concepts can apply widely. Download your copy today to learn more about how networks and putting best practices in place now can help your organization stay in touch internally and externally leveraging the power of your most important assets in networking and social media management.
If you prefer a more personal approach before downloading the white paper, we understand and are available to contact you right away.
Send to KindleLinkedIn | The Company Page
Giving a first impression of your company on LinkedIn is more in your control than ever. The most recent LinkedIn changes are robust. These changes place more customization in the members’ hands and provide a look and feel that are more similar to other social networks such as Facebook and Google +. The flagship features that makes LinkedIn a more robust social networking tool are the ability to deliver branded messaging and to target your audience for updates. Establishing and updating your Company Pages promotes the natural reach of your brand and your content through your business network to reach new clients, new employees and many other new opportunities. The nice thing about this new feature is that you can update your photo content at any time. Consider including some additional coordination with other creative advertising. Recent UpdatesLinkedIn introduced the new look for Company Pages to bring a better experience to members in order to promote relationship building to specific target audiences. Here is a summary of the structure of the page and information you’ll need to gather to create or update your own Company Page.
- Overview Page (allows cover image; a.k.a. company branding)
- Company Updates (allows targeting your audience; slight changes to attaching a link; insights to performance of company updates)
- Overview Page (company summary moved; keeps content fresh)
- Careers Tab, Product Tab (upcoming changes)
- Mobile App (updates enables search by company, not just individuals)
Overview PageYou’ll notice the new layout offers the opportunity to add a cover image. We’ve seen a variety of graphics and artwork to enhance the look of Company Pages. You’re may already be doing this with Facebook, Twitter and Google+, now you can extend that customization to show off your company personality.
- The image can be in one of the following formats: PNG, JPEG, or GIF
- With a max size of 2 MB.
- Note: Will be given the opportunity to crop the image to 646×220 pixels
Company Updates One of the other changes on Company Pages is the look and feel of Company Updates with options to share articles, ask questions, or post special offers. The new option also presents the option to attach a link a bit differently than you may be used to on LinkedIn but follows similar best practices to other applications and platforms such as Facebook. Here, you simply past the link into the post box and the preview box will appear, giving you time to remove the link and replace it with your comments. You can now target
Company Updates to all followers or a targeted audience; and then specify that further to include both employees and non-employees, or to exclude employees. When targeting your audience, remember that employees can play a part in furthering the reach of Company Updates through their individual networks if you include them. All of this functionality is available through LinkedIn’s friendly user interface with drop down menus and pop-up boxes bringing the details front and center for selection. If you are looking at learning more about company updates and how effective your messaging is to your targeted audience, 24 hours after your updates, you can return to your posts and find numbers of impressions, clicks, and percentage of engagement with your posts.
Company Summary Rather than seeing the content first, the new layout allows the image and current, fresh content to be viewed at the top of the page. Learning more about your company is still important, however, the changes move the Company Summary to the bottom of the Overview page. LinkedIn has some additional upcoming changes to watch for in regards to tabs and the right sidebar. This may look slightly different to each individual company depending on your Company Page subscription status to particular features. For that reason, we have not included screen shots. However, we’ve captured the simple nuances to aid you in navigating through the change no matter your current preferences.
Careers The tabs we are used to seeing at the top of the LinkedIn Company Page will be moved for some members, specifically if you are not subscribed to the Careers page. To find your Careers page options if you do not subscribe, you’ll need to navigate to the ‘Edit’ page by hovering over ‘Admin Tools’; click on ‘Edit’ and your old tabs should appear. A subscribing member will see this option in the right hand sidebar.
Products & Services Access to the Products and Services section of the Company Page moves from a tab at the top of the Overview Page to a feature on the sidebar, similar to the Careers tab. The sidebar feature now highlights names, job titles, companies and profile images of LinkedIn users in your network who recommend your particular products and services.
Mobile Your company can be found on the go. More reasons to be sure you have a Company Page established on LinkedIn. iPhone, Android and iPad users with the LinkedIn app can find you and your company updates while on the go.
What Next? Here at IP, we’re considering getting employees involved in creating images we can rotate periodically. Follow us to get our updates and soon to see our updated Company Page.
Send to KindleMeet Us At SMX Advanced June 11-12
Who Is Intrapromote?
