Uncategorized 2 - Old City Web Services

Social Media: Why Photos & Videos?

July 5, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Using Photos on Social Media for your Business

Example of using images as a post for Facebook

Over the years Social Media has shifted to Visual Social Media. This means photos have increased in popularity for social media. This shift happened because our society is drawn to visual content. Photos help your customers relate to your business post and they tell a story. Users are more likely to engage and follow businesses that post more photos or videos. For example, photos on Facebook tend to generate 53% more likes on a post than without photos. What does this mean for you business's social media? It means using images on social networking platforms gets those clients engaged!

Overall, photos help break up content overload. Showing your clients rather than telling is what will get you customers interested in your social network. Pictures are worth a thousand words. For example, if you want to introduce a new product, take a picture of it and share it on your social media. Did you hire a new team member or redecorate your office space? Share it! Showing will leave a bigger impact on them as well as others that are following your clients posts will see your new product, team member, etc. All in all, images make connections and social media is all about networking.

You don't have to be an expert. Don't be afraid - get creative with your visual content use your smart phone, camera, or clip art online.

Here are some ideas to consider using.

[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"]

Example of using an image of Facebook.

Add words to a picture by either providing a contest for your customers, a daily tip or just add a quote.
Draw a cartoon then take a picture of it.
Make a graph.
Make a video of either the daily life at the office or how you make a certain product.
Use a GIF (animations) you found.
Take a picture of your product and have customers give their opinion. EX: Does this shirt look better in blue or in red? or What should our daily special be today?
Example of using an image on Twitter

Need to see some more examples? Check out our Facebook and Twitter for more examples of using photos and videos in post.

If your business doesn't have any quality images or time to take images, we can help. Contact us today to set up a photo shoot for your business.

Picking the Right Platform for Your Business

June 22, 2016 by anoadmin

With so many social media platforms out there how do decide on which one is best for your business. The guide below should help with some of the confusion you might have as a business owner. Let’s take a look at all the different platforms and how they interact with people.

Facebook- Is an open environment where you have the freedom to share and connect. You can upload images, message friends, write post, create events, and share other people’s post. Having a business on Facebook you receive a business profile where you can make a post, create events and post things about your business. You also have an “About” section and some nice tools to view how well you are doing on Facebook with your customers. Facebook is for making engaging post so your customers will get involved by liking, commenting or sharing.

Twitter- Is an environment where you can make quick short status post. Twitter only allows you to write something that is 140 characters, able to add hashtags and pictures. You can also “retweet” or like someone’s tweet. Instead of friends, like Facebook, you have followers who are able to see all your tweets.

Instagram- This platform you can only upload images, comment or like others images. On Instagram you can only use the app version, it does not allow you to use it on a desktop. This platform you have followers, like Twitter.

Pinterest- Allows users to visually share, and discover new interests by posting (known as 'pinning') images or videos to their own or others' boards and browsing what other users have pinned. This site is very popular with women.

LinkedIn- Is a network you can connect with other professionals. You create a personal profile and list all the place you have worked and connect with other people in varies professions. It’s kind of like a big resume connector. This platform’s focus is on the person and their professional experience rather than your business.

If you are still struggling with understanding or even with setting up a Social Media for your business, we are here to help. Get in contact today to get started!

5 Things Your Website Needs Today

October 28, 2015 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

October 14, 2015

Just having a website for your small business isn't enough. There are things that your website needs to keep it functioning, current, and able to meet yours and your customer's needs.

Here are 5 Things Your Website Needs Today:

Easy to Find Contact Information

Where you are located, how to email you, and your business phone number should all be prominently displayed on your website's homepage above the fold (where the viewer doesn't need to scroll to find it.

Easy to Understand Site Navigation

Don't make people guess where your information is. Make your page names obvious so site visitors know how to find just what they need.

Customer Testimonials

Share good reviews about your business, why people love your products and services, and encourage new potential customers by showing them you are trusted by others.

A Call to Action

Direct your site visitors. Tell them what you want them to do when they arrive at your site. Whether it is "Click Here" "Book Now" "Shop Now" or any other number of directions, giving site visitors a purpose and helping direct them will keep them there, and grab their business.

SEO

Your website needs SEO. Having your text content, photos, links, and other elements of your site set up so that people can find you on the internet is absolutely necessary. It is a huge part of directing internet traffic to you when they are searching for a business in your niche. You need to be found online.

Customer Retention Part II: Use Social Media for Word of Mouth Marketing

July 1, 2015 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Last week, we looked at Customer Retention: Building Your Business Community to Build Your Business and we ended with the importance of using social media to add value for your community base.

This week we are going to continue discussing the importance of Social Media as you work on customer retention, only this week we are discussing how social media's word-of-mouth marketing will increase because of and expand your customer retention.

Social media sharing is a powerful way to grow your business. Again, this is something that doesn't just happen overnight. You have to start with being a trustworthy brand, have a message of value for customers, and then those customers will help as you put forth your efforts to spread the word about who you are and what you do as a business on social media. Customers who trust you will share that with their friends and family.

How do you make this work?

Ask customers to check in on your social media page when they arrive in your business to share where they are
Ask customers to review you on your social media pages. Be a company and brand that makes customers want to tell people they know about you - whether it is a great deal they got, the smile you put on their face with your customer service, or what a great experience they had while you served them.
Share with customers how much you appreciate them on social media and they will return the favor. Everyone loves to share where they are and how their experience is going when they are happy - having social media presence will allow them to do so while promoting your business as well. You are providing an outlet for customers to share the good and the bad and this builds trust with customers, which builds loyalty and results in customer retention.

We will discuss this more in next week's installment - Customer Retention Part III: Recognize Your Customers. Be sure to check back and see how to continue building your customer base and retaining customers.

Using 301 Redirects in WordPress

October 22, 2014 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

A 301 redirect is a way to forward one web link to another. It sends users and search engines to a different link than the original while allowing you to keep your search engine ranking for the page. It's also a useful way to preserve your old, out-of-date content by simply redirecting old pages or posts to new ones with new information.

This type of redirect is permanent and passes 90-99 per cent of ranking power to the redirected page. 301 redirects can help solve outdated content problems and improve user experience while preserving your search engine rank.

301 redirects can be done when a domain name changes entirely to be sure that users who are accustomed to using the old address will be automatically forwarded to the new domain. Or they can be done on old content within a website. For example, if your website has numerous posts about a certain topic and the older posts aren't relevant or up-to-date anymore (but still hold strong search engine rank power so you don't want to remove them), a 301 redirect from the old link will send them to the new link that is current. This way users stay on your site reading the new information they are looking for instead of clicking away to another site to find up-to-date content.

In WordPress, a 301 redirect can be done easily with a plugin that not only makes setting up redirection easy, but also allows for seeing statistics of how often a redirect occurs, and where visitors are coming from when a redirect happens. This makes it very easy to see how effective the redirection of your links is on your website.

Consider using 301 redirects if you have outdated content and want to keep your site fresh and current, which search engines love. You can publish new content, use a 301 redirect, and keep your search ranking power.

What Does THAT Mean? 6 Website Terms Defined

September 30, 2014 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Does it feel like someone is speaking a foreign language when they start talking about the internet, their website, and how it works? Here are some quick definitions of terms that will help you better understand and be better at keeping up in conversation.

DOMAIN: A domain is an addressing construct for identifying and locating computers on the internet. Domain names provide a system of easy-to-remember internet addresses, which can be translated by the Domain Name System (DNS) into the IP address used by a network. An example is www.oldcity.com.

HOSTING: Hosting is a service provided by a vendor which offers a physical location for the storage of web pages and files. A web hosting company can be thought of like a landlord - they rent physical space on their servers allowing web pages to be view on the internet.

BACKLINK: Links from other website pages to yours, used to increase a site's popularity with search engines and to get more people to visit your site. The quality of a backlink and its anchor text is factored into Google's algorithm when deciding how much importance to place on it and therefore where to place it in search engines.

BLOG: a blog, short for weblog, is an online journal or diary and a very popular current method of sharing your thoughts with the world. It is also very popular as a marketing tool. An Example is http://oldcity.com/city-blog.php

CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: A content management system (CMS) is a back-end tool that allows publishing, editing and modifying content on a website. Using a CMS can make it easier to change the design of a site independent of the site's content or pages. A CMS doesn't require downloading software to your computer and can be used from anywhere with an internet connection, making it a user-friendly and streamlined way to manage your website.

DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM: Domain Name Systems (DNS) are the Internet's equivalent of a phone book. They maintain a directory of domain names and translate them to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. This is necessary because, although domain names are easy for people to remember, computers access websites based on IP addresses.

Hopefully some of these helped you have a better idea of the enigma that internet can sometimes seem to be. Don't be afraid to blog about it using a content management system!

#Hashtag Best Practices

August 12, 2014 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

What's a #Hashtag? A Hashtag is any word or phrase with the pound (#) symbol immediately in front of it-- no spaces or added characters. This symbol turns the word or phrase into a link that makes it easier to find and follow a conversation about that topic. First find out if the subject you're tweeting about already has an established Hashtag, then join that existing conversation, or you can create your own. Hashtags can show up at the beginning, middle or end of a Tweet.

You may be tired of seeing Hashtags everywhere, but consumers aren't. Better yet, search engine giant, Google, now supports Hashtags in their search results! When consumers want to find you, talk to you or talk to other people about you, Hashtags make it easy for them to do so. Connect with your audience with the keywords they're already using and help steer their conversations back to your brand. Here are a few Hashtag best practices:

1. Do your research:

Don't just pull a Hashtag out of thin air, find out what your customers are searching for and make sure the Hashtag is appropriate and talked about. Use RiteTag to help determine the strength of your word or phrase.

2. Keep it simple:

#hashtagsthataretoolong only create confusion among your consumers and you decrease your search-ability since the lengthy tag you just created isn't being used or talked about among others.

3. Don't over tag:

For optimal engagement, it's important to make sure Hashtags are only a part of your tweet or social message. Avoid using more than 3 Hashtags per tweet. Keep your message relevant, directed to general interests and pay attention to the time you deliver the message.

Overall, Hashtags are a powerful symbol, even off of Twitter. When people see one, they know they need to turn to Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest to find out what's happening.

We hope you enjoyed this week’s message. Want to learn more about the trending world of Hashtags and social engagement? Call on us for your web and marketing needs: 904-867-4112 or Email Us.

How to use Google Analytics

August 12, 2014 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Google Analytics is a service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about a website's traffic and traffic sources and measures conversions and sales. Basically, it generates valuable reports that become helpful in developing an online marketing strategy.

To sign-up for Google Analytics, visit the Google Analytic Homepage. If you already have a Google account (e.g. Gmail or Google+), just simply sign-in. If not, you must first create one. To link Google Analytics to your site, a tracking code will need to be generated. You must copy (Ctrl+c) the code and paste (Ctrl+v) to the end of the Head tag. Not sure what an Head tag is? Contact Old City Web Services and for a small fee, we'll set it all up for you!

3 Things to Pay Attention to in Google Analytics

1. Traffic Sources

Go to Acquisition > Overview

The Traffic Source Report tells you the number of visitors (both new and returning) and where they are coming from. Pay close attention to your search traffic percent-- this tells you the percentage of people finding you from search results.

2. Organic Search Traffic

Go to Acquisition > Keywords > Organic

This report shows you what keywords visitors used to find your website. Pay close attention to the non-branded keywords-- these are the services, products, or offers that you provide to your customers. If most of your keywords are branded (the actual name of your company), then you may want to consider investing in an organic SEO strategy.

3. Bounce Rate

Go to Audience > Overview

The bounce rate is one of the most overlooked analytic. Most people look at the total number of visitors that came to their site, however the bounce rate shows how many of those visitors went to one page of your website then immediately left. Having a high bounce rate can tell you that there might be something wrong with the design, layout, or content on your site.

We hope you enjoyed this week’s message. Want to learn more about Google Analytics and ways to improve the number of people finding and engaging with you online? Call on us for your web and marketing needs: 904-867-4112 or Email Us.

How to Write Engaging Post on Social Media