Digital Marketing by Patrick LaJuett

Social Media for Small Business - Don't Over Complicate Things! I get a lot of questions from customers regarding social networking. The majority of them feel it is something they should be doing.  But many have a fear of taking the plunge... due in part to concerns with not having enough time. Being active on social media doesn't have to be overly complex.  A few minutes a day can get the job done for 99% of the small businesses out there.  Here are some thoughts on how a small business can benefit from being "social". What Is Social Media? According to Wikipedia, "social media refers to interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. It introduces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals." Why Small Business Should Incorporate Social Into their Marketing Efforts Audience Reach + Relationship

I recently received this question from a client needing SEO help: "I have a website for my company XYZ...the site is a Google Site. For some reason, my site is not indexed at all. Can you help?" Diagnosing the Problem Using Google Webmaster Tools, it became quickly apparent that Google was aware of the website (site was verified and an XML sitemap was uploaded).  But for some reason the search engine was not indexing it. The first thing I looked at was the robots.txt file to make sure no-follow wasn't blocking the Google bot.  Seemed OK.  Next I took a look at the page's source code...here's what I found: Page Source (Before):   HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow, nosnippet Last-Modified: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 19:27:23 GMT ... This is a problem!  Digging deeper...when I looked at the Google Sites Sharing and Permissions settings, it was set to " Anyone who has link can view ". This was

Quick Review of Google's New Web Designer Google Web Designer user interface Yesterday, Google announced the launch of Web Designer, a new tool for building interactive HTML5 sites and ads.  The beta version is available for download here . I have kicked the tires a bit.  Overall, I am excited with Google's foray into the world of HTML5 editors. Here are my initial thoughts: The Good: Cost:  It's free to download, at least the Beta version is. Animation Timeline : Keyframes are used to "tween" animation points on the timeline. (Size, rotation, XYZ coordinates, etc.). It reminds me of an old Flash animation app called  Swish .  Hooks:  Using the Components menu, you can link to external iframes, galleries, maps, tap areas, and videos. Preview : Ability to preview the ads directly within the UI.  You can also preview in local browsers. Publishing : Quick process with "zip" option (contains all related files for easy upload). The Bad:

NEW WEBSITE POWERED BY DNN 7 ATS The Brief (i.e., Requirements): Internet showcase for local IT services Reach new customers via Web search Define Online brand identity Establish credibility and authority and in IT space The Method: Design: Modified skin with custom graphics and CSS tweaks Platform: DNN 7 with add-on extensions (Blog, JotForm, Nivo Slider, JQuery) SEO: Author unique page titles/descriptions, XML sitemap, Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics Social: Integrate blog, add hooks to Twitter, add links to Google+, Facebook and RSS The Result: Marketing vehicle will reach potential clients in local area Clean UX parallels the feel of client's print collateral Content is managed via DNN 7 cloud hosted CMS Visit the ATS Website Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJuett.com , where he supports clients as a Web technology consultant and search marketing strategy advisor.