Strategy Archives - Page 4 of 8 - AndreaVascellari.com

Strategic Online Marketing & Advertising

UPDATE:

Big thank you to @vascellari for a great presentation on current, new and emerging technology. A+++. Visit itive.net.

— Ad Club of Toledo (@adclubtoledo) November 16, 2011

The Advertising Club of Toledo recently invited me as the guest speaker for their monthly luncheon program held at the Toledo Club in – you guessed it – Toledo, Ohio.

My presentation focused on strategic online advertising and marketing, but in order to make sure I addressed the interests and questions of people who would be attending the luncheon, I created a survey that people could fill out and submit beforehand so I could tailor a few points to their input. Continue reading “Strategic Online Marketing & Advertising”

Advertising Club of Toledo – Luncheon Program

On November 16th, I’ll be speaking at the Advertising Club of Toledo‘s monthly luncheon program in Toledo, Ohio (U.S.A.). The general theme of my talk will be about strategic online advertising and marketing.

As I finish to prepare my presentation, I would like to know what AdClub members are most interested in learning about, their professional background, and their level of experience in the “digital space”, so that I can tailor a few points of my presentation to their interests and experiences.

For example, would AdClub members like to know more about how to use social media within their advertising/marketing strategies? About the importance of creating relevant content as part of a digital strategy? Or perhaps about any campaigns with a positive ROI where new tactics made the difference?

Those are just a couple of examples to get the juices flowing, but please go ahead and fill out the following form and I will incorporate your interests into my final presentation.

You can also feel free to email me at andrea@itive.net or @/DM me on Twitter – @vascellari

And just a friendly remember that registration for the luncheon must be made by Monday, November 14th.

Thanks for your input and I look forward to meeting and speaking with you on November 16th!
I’d like to thank Joe & Nick from UlrichPinciotti Design Group for sponsoring my presentation.

Andrea

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Solution: Friends’ Circles are Handy but Painful to Manage

I’m sure you noticed how handy it is to manage friends on Facebook listing them under specific groups/lists. The problem is that the process to group the friends is pretty painful. Circlehack solves this problem turning this into a flawless experience with a simple click & drag interface – see screenshot above.

Hat tip to Leah D’Emilio for the great suggestion.

Andrea

What’s Yahoo?

Google? Search.

Facebook? Social.

AOL? Media.

Twitter? Conversation.

Amazon? Commerce.

…

Yahoo? …Hmmmm?

Every single web company makes me think of at least one clear keyword that defines them, but Yahoo? For me it used to be “news”. Sure, there were other things related to it – email, search, etc – but that’s what it meant to me back in the day. What is Yahoo? Yahoo. Hmm. It doesn’t ring a bell. Or actually I should say it rings too many bells resulting in a chaotic sound instead of the one clear one Yahoo used to have. I thought about it again today when I read this post on Mashable. In fact, I was thinking about Yahoo’s future one year ago after I watched this video on Techcrunch (above). Now, I’m left wondering what I’ll be thinking about Yahoo next year and where Yahoo will be next year…

Your take?

Andrea

Pathetic Outreach Strategy

Backlinks are good because they prove the usefulness of your site i.e. I write a good post and people link back to it sharing or giving credit to me on their blogs, etc.

‘Pathetic’ is the only word that, in my opinion, can describe the latest series of attempts of certain individuals to get backlinks.

They write you an email in which there’s no link to their personal sites/blogs or sites of organizations they work for, etc. (first red flag) At times they even write you claiming that they previously wrote you even if they never did (second red flag)…(yes, there are other red flags, but I think you get the picture).

The message they send you is basically a condensed mix of useless compliments with the only aim of praising you to get in return a post with a link to their/the content that they are trying to build authority for.

Over time I received several of these requests, but today I’m sharing this one from Mxxx Txxxxxxxx. He didn’t just do a great job in bothering me, polluting my email inbox and wasting my time, but apparently something also went wrong with the research he did on me (that I’m sure he did before contacting me, right Mxxx?) …because I don’t have a daughter (at least not yet)!

You’ll find the message below.

This is hilarious and sad at the same time. I’m sharing this to remind you to take distance from people like this who want to offer you similar services or shady guest posts. And yes, please make sure to do some good research before you try to get in touch with me. If you don’t know where to start, here’s an entire post that includes valuable tips on how to reach out to someone.

Andrea

On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 4:38 PM, Mxxx Txxxxxxxx wrote:

Dear Andrea,

This is Mxxx Txxxxxxxx, writer and website usability consultant – hope this e-mail finds you (and your daughter) well! I would like to begin by saying that I appreciate how unusual most of your posts are; your blog actually does seem to be different, and not another one of those websites that constantly speak about “7 Tools For Facebook.” If you know what I mean. 🙂
I’m getting in touch because I wanted to submit to you an article that I have recently written and which, in my opinion, will fit your readers very well. The piece was written entirely based on my own professional experience, and I would love to see it posted on your blog (at no costs to you.) I only ask that you allow me to include one in-content link from within the article, pointing to a very relevant website that I’m currently working on.

Title: How SEO Has Changed The Online World For The Worse
People are constantly speaking about the positive sides of SEO and how important it is for “MY” business, but not many people choose to address the negative influence it has had on the internet as a whole.

Length: close to 650 words .

Form: HTML file with necessary HTML tags.

Copyrights: 100% original and not published anywhere else.
I hope you like the idea Andrea? If so, please let me know and I will forward the article for your review. If you would like me to write on a different subject then that’s just as fine.
What do you think?
Talk to you soon,

Mxxx

Influencer Outreach Tips

Due to the increasing number of bad pitches that I keep receiving everyday, I decided to share a list of tips that you might want to keep in mind when you are getting in touch with me or any other blogger/influencer. Andrea

When you are trying to pitch someone, please have a look if they have a page in which they provide information related to advertisement on their site. (Rates, policy, requirements, etc.).
Check if the blog/site has the audience that you are really looking for (pitching a blogger without even paying attention to his/her audience is not a good move).
Provide proper contact information about you, your company, the client you are representing (not just your website…).
What are the benefits? (Simple… Make it clear).
Keep it short and on topic. (Skip irrelevant details. People are spending their time reading your message).
Don’t beg for backlinks.
Don’t use pathetic tricks like “Just wanted to follow up on my last e-mail…” if you actually never wrote ‘that last e-mail’…
If you are trying to reach people in the social media space it would be a good idea to at least have a social media presence. (Having a channel where people can join the conversation with you is a plus and an advantage for both. And I mean something more than a simple contact form on your site).
Research before pitching. (Search on the blog/site for any post that might contain information about advertising/guest posting etc.).
Personalize your message and be genuine (Nobody likes to receive an automated, cliche, cold message that you are probably sending out to hundreds of bloggers/influencers).
Be polite (I don’t think I have to add anything to this… right?).
Show that you know the person you are trying to reach. (Show that you’ve dug a bit deeper than finding the email address on their contact page).

Do you have additional tips that other people might find useful? Feel free to share them in the comments or tweet them @vascellari. Andrea

Quality Content Pays Off Over Time [STATS]

First – Make sure to read the tips I shared on how to increase online visibility.

Second – Keep in mind it all takes time.

Yes…the most important thing is to remember that nothing happens overnight.

How does this work?

People search on Google solutions for their problem and they find your content. If it helps them in satisfying their needs, people will then happily share your content by either blogging about it or recommending it to friends in their social networks. This will increase your authority and the authority of your content so you will show up higher in the search results that Google will offer to those who are searching for solutions. But this will only happen in the long run. To prove it I conducted a test here on my blog.

One year ago I wrote a very informative post on how to use Google Calendar as a project management tool. Here’s what happened:

After the first spike related to the launch of the post, the traffic decreased to then constantly increased in the long run. These are some numbers that will help you to get a better idea:

Conclusion: Google will trust you as more people trust you and to reward you it will give you, and obviously your content, a higher authority. So follow these tips and be patient. It will payoff in the long run.

Andrea

8 Tips to Increase Visibility Online

How do I increase visibility online? This a question that people and organizations ask me quite often, so here’s a list of basic tips that will set you on the right path to increase your visibility online:

Create good quality content (detailed, informative, slim, no jargon, etc.)
The content must be relevant for your target audience.
Optimize the content syntax.
Tag the content properly.
Promote the content in the right digital venues (social networks where your target audience lives, etc…).
Tailor the content promotion for the digital venue in which you are sharing it (links for twitter, photos/videos on Facebook, etc…).
Share it at the right time (during the day, on specific weekdays, before/after a product launch etc…).
Nothing will happen overnight. To get Google’s “soul” to trust you as a relevant source on information you need to be patient. Results will come in the long run.

There are also more advanced SEO tactics that my team and I utilize – they change according to the nature & objectives of the projects we are working on. So go ahead and have fun testing out the tips I shared, then if you need some help or if you have more specific needs feel free to get in touch with us. We’ll be happy to help 😉

Andrea

How to Upload Files and Folders to Google Docs

Here’s how you can upload, not just files, but an entire folder from your computer to the cloud using Google Docs.

I can’t tell you how happy I am about this new feature! I’ve been waiting ages for this. It’s handy to upload data to the cloud but when you deal with a huge number of files you need a way to transfer offline archives to the cloud without then spending extra time in reordering everything once everything is online. This new Google Docs feature solves the problem.

Google Docs is an essential tool that I use on a daily basis with my team and clients. If you are not familiar with Google Docs I encourage you to have a look at it, I’m sure it will come in handy.

Andrea

Twitter Advertising? 5K. Thanks.

Are you interested in having your ads on Twitter? Yes? Ok, that’ll be at least $5000.
Looking at the ‘natural influence’ of big brands that probably have no need for ads on Twitter vs the 5k minimum budget for smaller businesses and other players that want to make their voices heard it’s certainly something that makes me think.
Beth Harte recently grabbed my attention on this topic with a Facebook update, I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this ‘barrier’ at the entrance that Twitter has set.
Andrea