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SmartFinds is a web-marketing agency with over 20+ years experience in the Internet industry. As a full service, broad competency and experience agency we are able to become our client’s strategic partner managing all aspects of the digital presence, technologies and vendors.
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Articles are a written work published in a print or electronic medium. Articles may be for the purpose of propagating news, research results, academic analysis or debate. Articles are usually on a well-defined topic or topics that are related in some way, such as a factual account of a newsworthy event. The writer of a well-written article is seen as objective and showing all sides to an issue. The sources for a news story should be identified and reliable. The technique of show, don’t tell is applied. For the news story, details and elaboration are evident in the body of the news story and flow smoothly from the lead. Quotes are used to add interest and support to the story. Most news stories are structured using what is call an inverted pyramid. A featured article will follow a format appropriate for its type. In a news story, the introductory paragraph includes the most important facts and answers the questions: who, what, where, when, why and how.

Powerful Social Media Marketing Nurturing Gets You More Results

A noticeable change in social media marketing is the overuse of automation tools like Hootsuite or SocialOoomph. Businesses have turned social media automation into something that seems to resemble broadcast radio. Posting large volumes of tweets and updates happen fast with automation tools. Now imagine every business, regardless of their industry, doing the exact same thing. Automated postings have inundated social communities to a point that no one is listening anymore. Unfortunately, businesses have overused social media automation tools to be the end of their marketing efforts. They are seeking efficient (not necessarily effective) ways of getting their message out, in a fast manner, and do so at a low cost. Low cost to these businesses includes low to no labor. Of course, these quick tactics are not effective and do more harm than good. The question we have to ask ourselves is how effective is broadcasting your message in bulk? How effective is it to wait for people to come to you? With every business broadcasting to the social communities, how likely is it for someone to listen on the other end? It is more likely people have become numb to the broadcasts and do not even recognize there [...]

By | 2017-01-01T11:22:59+00:00 November 5th, 2016|Articles, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn Marketing, Marketing, Smartfinds, Social Media Marketing|Comments Off on Powerful Social Media Marketing Nurturing Gets You More Results
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Digital Marketing Contract Your Business has With the Internet

A prospect recently asked what type of agreement our digital marketing agency uses for web marketing projects. My response was not expected in this phone conversation. I explained to the prospect our agreement with them was less of a concern. The real agreement they should be asking about is the one they have with the Internet. As you can imagine there was a pause in the conversation. What agreement with the Internet? The individual I was speaking to is a baby boomer like me. As we've learned about my generation, the perspective of web marketing is not what it should be for the present day. Rather their understanding relates better to traditional advertising channels like print, radio, and TV. Meaning the term marketing and advertising are identical to this generation. Traditional media is only about advertising. Marketing activities the Internet medium has opened up is not familiar to this generation. We do need to acknowledge, this generation has the authority and responsibility of marketing budgets. At the same time, we have a new marketing medium this generation does not understand well. Thus, they like to have short start and stop points in the form of campaigns. This generation has a [...]

By | 2017-01-01T11:23:04+00:00 October 14th, 2016|Articles, Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Smartfinds|Comments Off on Digital Marketing Contract Your Business has With the Internet
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Using Expert Tools Will Insured A Well Performing Website

Expert tools in the world of information makes managing a website's health and performance easy. A business has many performance tools to choose from. These performance expert tools help a company improve their web presence. A healthy website has improved search engine visibility, speed and include improved user experience. The most important thing to remember is these expert tools are free! You will find they recommend corrections to improve various web and website metrics. After all, you spent time and money to build a website to make you proud. The website looks the way you desired. The website has the information you want to present to visitors. What do you need, right? A healthy functioning website will have many advantages. The advantages include higher conversion rates from website visitors, higher search engine rankings, and improved digital marketing performance. The below-listed expert tools provide a wealth of information. You can be downright foolish to not take a few minutes to learn about these tools. After all, who needs a well-performing website, right? Let’s take at look at the technical items Google is looking to be included with a healthy website. Then we can review tools, which will ensure you are meeting [...]

By | 2016-09-24T15:08:30+00:00 September 28th, 2016|Articles, Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines, SEO, Website Development, Website Marketability|Comments Off on Using Expert Tools Will Insured A Well Performing Website
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Google’s Penguin Algorithm With New Real-Time Results Now Released

It has been two years since Google updated the Penguin algorithm. The most significant change is Penguin runs in real-time, meaning the algorithm is no longer an add-on. Penguin will make decisions at the time of a search. This, also, means the Penguin algorithm no longer will receive updates, as it is part of Google’s core algorithm. August and September months have historically been when Google makes these changes impacting the search engine ranking positions (SERP) of websites. Including Penguin into the core algorithm, means the changes will happen immediately. You’ll know if you’ve been affected…NOW! Understanding The Google Penguin Algorithm? Google Penguin was a filter to run as part of Google’s ranking algorithm. Penguin was introduced in April 2012 designed at decreasing the SERP of websites using spamming techniques. These methods violate Google's Webmaster Guidelines with gimmicks like manipulating the links and volume of links pointing to a web page. "Steps To A Google Friendly Site" gives good points to staying on Google’s good side and staying out of black-hat SEO tactics. Google;s Announcement Of The Penguin Algorithm 4.0 "Penguin is now part of our core algorithm" is the headline on Google's Webmaster Central Blog. Here is the most [...]

By | 2017-01-01T11:23:09+00:00 September 27th, 2016|Articles, Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines, SEO, Smartfinds|Comments Off on Google’s Penguin Algorithm With New Real-Time Results Now Released
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You Can’t Miss The GUESS Brand In Ariana Grande’s New Video

Ariana Grande has a new video on the market titled "Side To Side". It is not hard to miss the video's sponsorship by GUESS. Video sponsorships are not new in the marketing industry. The question is why sponsorships are on the rise? The other question is why is digital advertising not as effective. I don’t think there is any question digital advertising has seen a reduction in effectiveness. The cause is a combination of immunity to banners, lack of trust about the ads, and saturation of ads everywhere. The Meeker 2016 Internet Trends Report shows an increase in advertising spend. Unfortunately, there is an alarming rise in ad blockers at a faster rate than the advertising spend. Based on these changes, advertisers need to find new sources to raise brand awareness. Brands are always looking to overcome these challenges by considering many different digital marketing channels. This includes areas advertisers and media buyers are not used to spending ad budgets. This is because the return on investment may not be as fast as they would like. A part of the new sponsorship areas include native advertising in content marketing areas. You can find native advertising with sponsored content in the [...]

By | 2017-01-01T11:23:13+00:00 September 12th, 2016|Articles, Internet Advertising, Internet Marketing, Marketing, New Media, Smartfinds|Comments Off on You Can’t Miss The GUESS Brand In Ariana Grande’s New Video
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How Will You Market Yourself For A Career Change Later In Life

Market yourself in the digital world has changed for everyone. Understanding your personal brand and how to present yourself goes well beyond a basic resume. Recently James Martin quoted our CEO, Melih Oztalay, in an article for the AARP’s Life Reimagined. As a digital marketing entrepreneur, digital industry author, and industry guest speaker Oztalay was thankful. Needless to say, we couldn’t help but wonder what is as Life Reimagined by the AARP! Life Reimagined and the AARP Taking parts of the AARP and the Life Reimagine Institute websites, here is a quick explanation about their efforts. “Life Reimagined was launched by AARP in 2014 as a personal guidance system to help people navigate transitions, pursue their goals, dreams, and purpose in life. The Life Reimagined Institute brings together the world's leading experts in personal development, aging, transitions, and reimagining life. These advisors help develop the groundbreaking Life Reimagined programs, services, content, tools, and innovations that have helped countless individuals reignite their sense of purpose.” To put this in different terms. As we age and live longer, we can continue to matter, contribute to society and be successful. Our needs have changed, our life experiences change our perspectives, and perhaps we [...]

By | 2017-01-01T11:23:14+00:00 September 8th, 2016|Articles, Education and Learning, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn Marketing, Marketing, Smartfinds|Comments Off on How Will You Market Yourself For A Career Change Later In Life
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Powerful Four E’s Of Business Social Media Marketing Strategies

Social media marketing for businesses changes daily and is no different to many of the changes occurring in various web marketing channels. Businesses need to change with the times in order to make their marketing communications effectively. Social communities are being inundated with postings from businesses and many of them through marketing automation services. The question is anyone listening anymore? If there is any listening going on, is anyone engaging in a conversation? Big brands may not have this problem, however, the average business spending time and money in social media marketing needs to find ways to make this marketing process more effective. Time has come to stand out from the noise and change how social media marketing is executed. The changes will come in two distinctive areas. The first will be what is being posted and how to prepare the strategy. The second will come in the form of nurturing your social community presences. Understanding The Four E’s Of Social Media Marketing These four E’s can help guide your social community posting to build interactions, discussions and engagement. 1. Educate When posting to social networks it can be difficult to know what to post, or what content is of [...]

By | 2017-04-29T05:05:40+00:00 April 21st, 2015|Articles, Content Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing, New Media, Smartfinds, Social Media Marketing|Comments Off on Powerful Four E’s Of Business Social Media Marketing Strategies
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Google’s SSL Security Algorithm Will Affect Your Website’s Ranking

Google announced in August 2014 ranking websites in the organic search results was going to include if the website was using an SSL certificate for the entire website. This would mean using a SSL 2048-bit key certificate (preferably using SHA-2) and provide a small ranking benefit. Google did mention the algorithm change would carry “less weight than other signals such as high-quality content.” While this may carry less weight in improving the ranking position of a web page, what do you think the algorithm will do if your website is not using an SSL certificate? After all Google added they “may decide to strengthen” the signal because they want to “encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.” At Google’s 2014 I/O Conference one of their sessions was named “HTTPS Everywhere”. The concept is if all legitimate business websites implemented an SSL certificate the Internet would be more secure. The concept certainly has merit because in order to implement an SSL certificate your business has to disclose its information. Spam and fraud websites certainly are less likely to decide having an SSL certificate on their website under these circumstances. The last [...]

By | 2017-01-01T11:26:25+00:00 March 1st, 2015|Articles, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engines, SEO, Smartfinds, Website Development|Comments Off on Google’s SSL Security Algorithm Will Affect Your Website’s Ranking
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Google Tag Manager Enhances Website Visitor Tracking With Powerful Functionality

Marketing measurement has changed requiring marketers to be more flexible to gather data and make decisions in nearly real time. The process of measuring the data has also become more sophisticated adding to the methodology of how different campaigns are being managed. If you have different types of tracking codes on your website, then you will want to keep reading to better understand how to best manage and gather information from each of these tracking codes. If you are only using one set of tracking on your website (e.g. Google Analytics for Google Adwords), then you will find this tool equally helpful so you can track different rules tracking your visitors. Let's Define The Word Tag First of all Google is not talking about keyword tags. In my professional opinion the usage of the word “tag” in this case is not well planned by the Google team. The word “tag” is prevalently used in the marketing industry relative to keywords or keyword tags on websites. Considering the tag manager is geared towards marketers one would think a different word or phrase could have been used by Google. Perhaps calling this Google’s Tracking Code Manager I’m sure would be helpful to [...]

By | 2017-01-01T11:26:29+00:00 January 19th, 2015|Articles, Google Analytics, Internet Advertising, Internet Marketing, Smartfinds|Comments Off on Google Tag Manager Enhances Website Visitor Tracking With Powerful Functionality
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How Pandas, Penguins and Pigeons Are Affecting Your Business

You probably didn't realize that zoo animals would affect your website, your business or revenues, right? Google has been naming its algorithms based on zoo animals and the three having the biggest impact in the past three years is a bear and two birds! Google's algorithm changes are designed to provide quality websites while pushing down thin or low-quality websites in the search results. Google's efforts are certainly admirable as they are the most used search engine and over years the impact has been one for the better. What is harder to deal with is that we have a small group of people causing the majority of people a lot of hardship. This is affecting business revenues and expenses alike. Your revenues are affected because your web site's ranking is affected negatively. Your expenses are affected because you have to spend money to make corrections. Of course we could spend a lot of time fretting about these changes or we can cowboy up and push forward. Fretting about these things is an emotional response that will have not value other than to let off steam. Pressing forward to accept the changes and objectively making corrective decisions is probably a better [...]

By | 2017-01-01T11:27:02+00:00 October 7th, 2014|Articles, Internet Marketing, Local Store Marketing, Marketing, Practical Ecommerce, Search Engines, SEO, Smartfinds, Web Marketing Today, Website Marketability|Comments Off on How Pandas, Penguins and Pigeons Are Affecting Your Business
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