TechWyse Internet Marketing is On The Move!

Well the dust has settled and we are all moved into our new digs at our North American Headquarters located in Toronto, Canada.  Our new location, featuring 5000+ feet of space will provide ample room for our internal ‘WyseGuys’ to meet in quiet and discuss the latest in internet marketing strategy.

One of the highlights of our move is a closer geographical reach to our Toronto based internet marketing clients. (no more driving out to Etobicoke!)  For those clients that mainly converse with us via telephone – you can certainly take solace in the fact we now have many more quiet places to strategize over your website development, internet and search engine marketing campaigns!

It will be noisy for the next couple of months as renovations are going on around us but we are thrilled to be in our new ‘digs’.  Stay tuned for a photo gallery of the company amenities in the coming months!

For current clients make sure to change the address in your address book to our new address.

TechWyse Internet Marketing
1444 Dupont St. Suite 32
Toronto, Ontario
M8P 4H3

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Facebook is Popular but they Fall Short on Customer Service

I recently wrote a post about the positive aspects of the new Facebook design in terms of visitor experience and usability.  One of my comments, it seems, may have been a bit premature.  While I do believe the overall layout of the new Facebook is an improvement in terms of visitor experience I do have some serious gripes regarding both the way they are displaying advertising on the site and also from an advertising standpoint the absolutely ridiculous new guidelines for posting ads on behalf of those businesses that are actually advertising on Facebook.

First off, let me explain what I find annoying about the new Facebook banner ad system.  Previously, I complimented Facebook for the photo gallery in particular.  When I was going through friends pictures originally, the photos would change but the banner ads would stay the exact same.  It made the page easier to look at. (rather than a new ad with every page view)  When I looked this week, however, every single time I clicked the ‘next’ button, it would display not one but TWO new ads each and every single time.

Not only is this distracting for the visitor but it also makes the entire advertising medium less effective for advertisers.  Think about it for a second — if you were advertising on Facebook and were being charged on your Click Through Rate or Impressions, how likely are you to receive any attention from visitors that are cycling through an engaging photo album?  Where do you think the human eye is going to look?  The picture album the user is cycling through or the constant banner ads right beside them?  Bad move Facebook!

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Well, it’s only been nearly 8 months since joining the TechWyse team, and just in case you were under the SEO proverbial rock, TechWyse is quickly becoming one of the top Internet Marketing Companies in Canada and the US.

Don’t believe me?  Sign up!

Alright, enough self-promotion… So, I guess it’s about time I post in our blog and talk a little something we like to call SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Ready? OK, here we go…

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

In its very simplest terms, SEO is about crafting, fine-tuning and optimizing a website to maximize its presence on the Internet by increasing it’s listing on the major search engines,
such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Almost every Internet user finds the information they are looking for via web sites using a search engine such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN. Once you have searched for your chosen phrase, you click one of the listing links, go to that site, and make your decision about whether the site you clicked on was worthy of the query you used in the search engine.

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A Simple Strategy for Persuasive Copywriting

One thing I am a huge proponent of is simplicity and that’s exactly the way I approach persuasive copywriting. It really doesn’t matter whether you are writing for a PPC ad, landing page, organic content or any other form of writing that other people will read does it? I say no, when it comes to simple structure and keyword trigger order. Here are 4 basic rules I adhere to before composing any article.

1. Reverse rolls before to write. Put yourself in the reader’s situation.
2. Who is your reader? Have you researched your targeted readers?
3. Once #1 and #2 are completed, start persuasive writing.
4. Remember many of the sore spots or pain points while composing your content.
5. What words catch your eye and trigger you when you read? Can they form topics for persuasive writing?

   Visitors that are coming to your website are scan readers and look for trigger words. With the correct trail of trigger words you can increase visitor experience and conversion with good persuasive topics. The way we do this understanding the power of mind controlling trigger words. They require logistical planning when a visitor is moving through goal fulfillment on your site.

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Facebook’s New Design – I Like It!

The new Facebook layout is getting mixed reviews amongst many internet marketing and general website users today. Some people believe that the design is pushing the ‘application’ aspect of the site a little too much. My own belief about the new design is that it reflects a strong upgrade and is exactly what Facebook needed to improve usability for the web sites visitors.

Facebook is a social networking site that has exploded over the last 2 years. (if there was a bigger word I could use in the place of ‘exploded’ then I would!) Microsoft paid a staggering $240 million for 1.6% of this company for a reason.  It is not going away. Even Facebook is getting a better feel for what the purpose of this site fills. The new changes reflect the uses its users are becoming focused on.

The balance of this article describe the changes that I feel have helped improve overall usability for the website.   Read the rest of this entry »

Google announced today that it will not be pursuing the purchase of Digg.  Google was well into its due diligence process and was rumoured to be purchasing the social networking site for the $200 million range.

Google made the announcement on Friday after.  Rumours of the decision range from personality issues to Google finding issues in the financial side of the deal.

The implications of this decision on Digg are enormous.  When a decision like this is made it can often give other prospective buyers red flags and devalue the original asking price.

Digg is a user driven social content website where users can upload content and vote on the content.  It can then be pushed to the first page based upon the volume of “diggs.”  Digg was founded in 2004 by founder Kevin Rose and now boasts an operational staff of about 60 people.

The decision has raised some eyebrows in the industry as it is thought that Google will now begin developing its own social content collaboration site.  It is rumoured that Microsoft is still eyeing the social utility.  Infact Microsoft immediately jumped in and announced a 3 year deal to display ads on the Digg network.

As for the status of Digg.  It isn’t the first time the company has rumoured to be purchased.  This attempt will join a list of many others.  Rose will get his windfall someday.

To have a successful internet marketing plan, optimizing your website in order to rank high in search engines is a must! Before engaging in a search engine optimization company (SEO for short), it is a good idea to educate yourself first!  I have written this article for people that may be starting out.  After all, I can relate because I have been learning SEO as I gain more experience in the internet marketing industry myself!

Title Tags
The title tag is the line of text that runs across the top of your internet browser when you are on a website. For example, in the image below, the title tag of the website www.techwyse.com is highlighted.

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Millennials spend more hours on the internet each month then Television, Radio and Print combined!

Wondering where internet marketing is heading?   I recently went to a music conference in Toronto and picked up an interesting handbook called ‘Millennials in the Digital Information Age’. It described and profiled ‘Millennials’ – those born between 1981-2001.

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Multivariate Testing Simplified

Out of all the numerous split tests you conduct the primary goal that must always be at the top of your strategy is optimization. With that in mind implementing a structured testing process will be more focused. I have found that it is best to define an objective before you implement any website testing. In the online world, multivariate testing is a buzz word. It is a fairly simple experimental process to conduct yet it is easy to get complicated as you progress. You can test variations of page elements such as call to action, a form, images, headlines, and captions. Within each testing element you can have many test variants on a landing page.

A/B Testing Simplified

Some believe that if you are starting out, to go with A/B website testing. This is where you test the performance of more than one page with a similar traffic flow. Multivariate testing website experimentation is a subtle version of A/B testing. They are both extremely efficient, providing statistical validation to a predefined experiment is clearly made.

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Learning to Track Results

With every month that goes by we learn a little bit more about how to make life easier for TechWyse clients.  In the end, people that spend money on marketing feel a great deal better when they are able to know the exact return on investment for their marketing dollars.  This is why I turn as many people as I can towards the “Measurement and Tracking” aspect of your marketing plan.  This month alone we helped two clients determine the usefulness of their “Yellow Page” and “Radio” ads.

Using a combination of our “phone call tracking”, “email lead management” and “Google Analytics” services we were able to monetize both online and offline advertising for our clients.  Telling them exactly how effective (and sometimes ineffective!) their advertising was.  

An exact quote from one of our clients.  “I was shocked to see that we had 51 phone calls logged in June from the pay per click. This is information that I never knew and for me  is mind boggling and only proves that dead beat Yellow Pages are even less effective than what I already thought.”  Uhh – sorry Yellow Pages.

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