Search Engines love blogs!  Blogs are a great way of adding additional content to your site, which search engines love…ultimately it’s a great way of driving more traffic to your site and more interest in your products/services.

 A company that has a blog is serious about succeeding in business. Companies that consistently updated their blog content with back links to their main site will always perform much better in the search engines.  So, why don’t most companies have a blog?  I’m sure there are any number of reasons; like lack of resources, time management issues, inexperience with the web, etc.

If you’re serious about driving traffic to your site and increasing business, give me a call!  I’m happy to walk you through all the necessary steps  in developing an effective blog that search engines will gravitate toward.  I can develop a fully customized, site integrated blog for you, or give you some DIY tips on how to create your own blog.  Call or e-mail me at: 480-983-3100 or Mike @ ShubicWebDesign.com

www.ShubicWebDeisgn.com

Need to throw an event, but not sure how to promote it or even sell tickets?  Eventbrite might be the solution!  Eventbrite is an online event management and ticketing service, they make it easy for anyone to hold an event of any type or size. Eventbrite is even free to use if your event happens to be free.

If you sell tickets to your event, Eventbrite collects a small fee per ticket. The Eventbrite service includes many features and tools intended to let you perform three basic tasks:

1. Publish: Everything you need to create and easily personalize a custom web page for your event.
2. Promote: The tools you need to spread the word about your event and maximize attendance.
3. Sell: The immediate power to sell tickets and collect money online. .

Phoenix WordCamp will take place on November 13, 2009, at the gorgeous Arizona Grand Resort. It will bring together enthusiastic bloggers, successful geeks and WordPress experts.  If you haven’t been to the Phoenix area this time of year, believe me, you’ll love it!

Plan for an all-day event.  The fun starts at 8 AM with registration and breakfast; sessions are scheduled until 5 PM.

Your ticket for Phoenix WordCamp includes:

• Admission to all sessions
• Continental breakfast
• Lunch
• Event t-shirt
• Opportunity to talk to WordPress experts at the Expert Bar
• Plenty of networking time to collaborate, share ideas, and maybe even drum up some business
• A chance to win door prizes

Individual ticket cost is $30.  Reserve your seat today (the event is limited to 300 participants).

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FetchBack - The Retargeting Company, introduces Engagement Mapping for Retargeting.  This allows Advertisers to review and determine the value Retargeting provides for each individual conversion. This is the first attribution management solution of its kind for Retargeting. Thanks to FetchBack’s Engagement Mapping tool, it is now possible to see when a consumer viewed a Retargeted ad, how many Retargeted ads that consumer viewed, and how long after viewing those ads it took the consumer to convert. The Advertiser can then determine how much of an effect that had on their decision to purchase by assigning a value to each time a consumer viewed an ad.  Click here to read more…

Have you had a problem launching Google Chrome?  Has Google Chrome stopped working, or does it crash? It happened to me, I even uninstalled/reinstalled to no avail.  I did some research and found a quick and easy work-around.  Click here for instructions.

http://www.ShubicWebDesign.com

For all you travel warriors out there…ever get tired of lugging the projector around for your presentations?  Well, a solution has arrived…the “Cinema” by WowWee has come up with an ultra, ultra portable projector.  The Cinema is so portable and reasonably priced that the market for this product could be quite large.  Imagine this…you’re off to the in-laws for Thanksgiving and you want to show the family some of your home movies—whip out your i-Pod and Cinema and you’re all set.

WowWee has some other really cool products, check out the Rovio…a robotic wi-fi mobile web cam.

Web 2.0 website features and tools continue to impress. I recently ran into a company that allows website owners to integrate a speaking avatar.  Before you say something like “I’m not into video games. Or, what the hell is an ‘Avatar’?” Let me explain…SitePal has created a software app that lets you easily create and add an animated speaking character to your web site, Flash application, email, blog, PowerPoint or even eBay auction—making it more personal and persuasive.
You can use any number of SitePal’s avatar models/characters, or, you can even send them a picture of yourself and they will create a custom avatar just for you.  You can also select any number of backgrounds, or, customize that too.  You can create little sample movies and embed them throughout your site in order to better interact with your visitors.   SitePal even has an API and a host of options to choose from.  For example, you could have your Avatar thank someone once they’ve completed a task or form on your website. Or, they have an FAQ solution where the user types in their question and an Avatar answers it for them.   I’ve always said, the more senses you can touch, the more apt you are to convert a prospect into a customer. SitePal’s technology allows you to really connect with your prospects in some amazing new ways.  I encourage you to check out this exciting new technology.  If you want to see how SitePal works, check out this cool demo.

http://www.ShubicWebDesign.com

Setting your clients up for success when developing/delivering an e-commerce, database-driven and or other CMS (content management system) site is just good business.  I typically offer my clients a 3-pronged approach–an in-person and/or phone training introduction of the back-end; followed by custom documentation that guides the client through the various steps in order to manage the site; then I send them a link to this site to watch free video tutorials. 

PHP Open Source CMS offers a great library of free video tutorials on all the most popular open source technologies, from WordPress, Drupal to ZenCart and more.

PRWeb is offering a Free webinar on how to optimize your online press releases for search engines.  Below is information about the webinar and a link to register.  Start date is October 23rd thru the 30th, each session is one hour in duration.

Incorporating keywords and search terms on your website is a smart way to drive traffic to your site. However, using online news releases to promote your company while making sure that every release includes those same keywords and search terms is genius!

Register today for PRWeb’s monthly webinar, “How to Search Engine Optimize Your Online News Releases”and get helpful tips on how to use your news releases to drive more business to your website.

During this webinar you will learn:

• Where you should place your keywords within your release to optimize visibility and reach your prospects
• Helpful SEO best practices that will set your news apart from your competitors
• Why using helpful links in your news releases are crucial to increasing awareness

If you’re still trying to figure out how online news releases and SEO can help your business, you can’t afford to miss this webinar!

Click Here to sign up for 10/23
Click Here to sign up for 10/26
Click Here to sign up for 10/30

If you have a website where you can generate coupon codes, then you really should try “coupon code marketing” to drive your sales efforts.  Today, the use of coupons has grown so much that consumers have saved over $4 billion dollars since their online inception. 

There are many ways in which to promote your coupon code.  You could highlight it in a newsletter or related blog/forum, or you could submit it to a variety of  coupon directory sties.  Some of the more popular sites include:

• DealCatcher:  Features up-to-date offers and a forum for users to post coupon codes and other offers. 
• Wow-Coupons : Wow-Coupons focuses on providing both online coupons and the printable variety to use in-person at general retailers.
• Coolsavings: Coolsavings offers great printable coupons for groceries, baby products, and much more.

For a sample list of Free & Paid coupon directories sites, Click Here.