Jun 02
2011
The Puzzle Box - June 2011 • Volume 1 • Issue 1
New … from us to you!
Here it is, the very first Cirrus enewsletter! We see this as an opportunity to share with you much of what we’ve learned in our 15+ years of helping clients – thousands of clients – achieve Internet success. The format allows us to share what we know in small, easily digestible nuggets, too. You won’t have to swallow a mass of empty calories before you're nourished!
Month after month, we’ll provide you with all kinds of tips on how to get the most out of your online marketing efforts. We’ll show you how to improve the visibility and performance of your website, for instance. We’ll also keep you abreast of the latest trends in technology and software as well as marketing tools, techniques, and philosophies.
Want to know what’s new at Cirrus ABS – what new programs and products we’re developing, what events we’ve got planned? We’ll tell you that here. On occasion, we’ll even profile one of our own Cirrus ABS experts – so you can get to know us better, on a more personal level.
We’d like to get to know you better, too. Drop us a line or a tweet and tell us what you think of these mailings. We welcome your feedback. If you’ve got a topic you’d like us to address, don’t be shy about letting us know that, either.
We want our enewsletter to inform you, inspire you, and empower you in the age of Internet marketing. Read on. And enjoy!
The Social Whirl
Klout: Clueless? Or Killer?
Klout is a social media analytics, monitoring, and measurement tool for Twitter and Facebook. In a recent “Ask the Kevs” podcast (@askthekevs), Kevin Mullett (one of the Kevs, as you might guess) criticized Klout for indirectly encouraging people to focus on their social media “score.” And that’s wrong because …? Well, scores are just indicators of performance. They tell you nothing about what you’re doing right or wrong in using social media.
What redeems Klout, as Kevin discusses in this video, is its ability to track individual metrics. Participants can plot cause and effect, anomalies, and trends in their social media usage. This information is particularly beneficial to employees who manage social media activity and are required to track and prove its effectiveness to their bosses and higher-ups.
Beware the Social Media “Me” Monsters!
What is a social media me monster?
Well, about a year ago I was enjoying a Brian Regan comedy skit about that one person at a party who just won’t stop talking about themselves. It was then that it occurred to me that the moniker he had given them, “me monsters,” actually fits how many are treating their social media marketing strategy. If you want to call that a strategy: me, me, with an extra heaping helping side of me. A short time later I started referring to them as social media me monsters in presentations. Today I will introduce you to Type One of the social media me monster species.
Need a little Cirrus ABS support?
We make it easy for our clients to get the help they need – through our brand-new, recently updated Knowledge Portal.
It’s loaded with all kinds tips and data on topics as wide-ranging as word processing, how to modify website content, ways to avoid the most common pitfalls of website maintenance, search engine optimizing your site, and so forth.
To be clear, only current Cirrus ABS clients – including longer-standing clients who upgrade their websites to the most current version of our software – have access to the Knowledge Portal.
Sounds like another good reason to become a Cirrus ABS client!
SEO Tip of the MonthAre Your Page Titles ‘Clickable’?
Search engine visibility: It’s all the talk these days. And as anyone will tell you, using the right keywords in your website content – especially in page titles – is crucial to achieving it.
But visibility alone won’t mean much if your page titles don’t have other elements that attract people’s attention, entice them to click on your website, and explore.
The solution to generating something both highly visible and clickable is this: Make sure your page titles include not only your keywords for search engine optimization but also words that create a sense of excitement or that relate more specifically to your customers’ needs. You want lively, colorful descriptive terms that amplify your keyword topics and motivate your audience to action.
In the final analysis, “clickability” is all about boosting sales. The more clickable your page titles are, the shorter the step is likely to be between “click” and conversion.
When the sales department at Cirrus engages a new customer we often have to educate and build awareness of the Web’s role as a sales and marketing tool and the positive impact it can have on business when executed properly. All too often, however, senior leadership becomes aware of the underperformance of its company website when they see competitors’ new or re-designed websites or when told by a key customer that its website doesn’t look up to par. At Cirrus, we are driven to provide our clients with the best tools to maximize their online visibility, which, of course, leads to more clicks and more leads.
read more of bill’s blog on improving website performance
Meet Kelly Bergman, Cirrus ABS’s Newest Business Analyst
In addition to assisting Cirrus clients with their marketing strategies and overall business plans, Kelly also serves as a Cirrus/client liaison and project account manager. If you haven’t talked with him yet, you undoubtedly will – very soon.
Prior to joining us, Kelly was a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America. His responsibilities there included managing the overall growth of the Scouting program as well as enhancing and supervising its operations within a designated geographic area. He also identified, recruited, cultivated, and provided guidance for adult volunteers who, in turn, trained, motivated, and supported other adult volunteers in delivering the Scouting program to youth.
Earlier in his career Kelly also had served at different times as the marketing manager at Indiana Auto Auction and the director of marketing for The Military History Center (Auburn, IN). He holds both a BA in mass media and public communications and a BA in anthropology from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
Event Planner
JUNE 14
FREE Web Analytics Seminar
Fort Wayne
Time: 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC)
How are people really finding your site?
This seminar will show you how to use various online analytics tools to measure the effectiveness of all your marketing efforts, both online and off.
Read more about this fort wayne analytics seminar!
JUNE 22
FREE Web Analytics Seminar
Indianapolis
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Pyramid Three, 3500 DePauw Blvd., Conference Room C, Lower Level
Why Measuring the Right Things Matters
Learn the “how and why” of measuring the effectiveness of your marketing programs.
Read more about this indianapolis analytics seminar!
the puzzle box
volume 1 • issue 1