While SEO technically stands for Search Engine Optimization, we like to think of it as a broader strategy about improving site visibility to the people who are using search engines to find something. In other words, it’s not about getting just anyone in the door, but about attracting members of your target audience who are looking for the very thing your site has to offer.

At Snap, our SEO services focus on website optimization for both search engines and people. As part of our web design & development process, we ensure all the fundamentals are in place to build a user-friendly site that can be easily crawled and indexed by search engines. Next, we dive into keyword research to gather data on how people search for the product or service your business offers. We then use insights from that data in creating search-optimized page titles, URLs, heading and image tags across your site.

Once your site is optimized, the real fun begins. Earning high search rankings can be a bit of a popularity contest, so the SEO strategy gains a new focus on boosting domain authority for a given subject matter. Remember those keywords that offered insight into how people search? They serve as a great idea generator and jumping off point for creating and sharing fresh content that aligns with what your target audience is seeking. Engaging with your audience through great content that is discussion-worthy helps improve your site’s subject matter authority.

Sounds simple, right? In theory, it is: know your audience, create a site with great content and share it with the world. In reality, search optimization is a long term strategy that requires consistent use of best practices in web design, development and content creation. Combined with efforts across social media and other marketing channels, your site’s visibility will thrive.

The support dashboard was created to help users track the reports they send into Facebook. With nearly 1 billion users, Facebook wants the report cycle to be more transparent to its community. Users can see when their reports have been reviewed, when the posts have been removed, and learn what and why the decision was made.

The feature will gradually be rolling out to users today. This feature will give users more insights on their reports and hopefully “inspire them to report actionable content to Facebook”. More information can be found here.

Just about everyone has heard of Groupon, LivingSocial, and the countless other “Daily Deals” sites available. And nearly every radio and television station in the country, as well as every newspaper, has their own version trying to compete in the deals arena to drive revenue during challenging times for business.

Are you suffering from Daily Deal fatigue? If so, you are probably not alone. According to a January 2012 report by Daily Deal Media, there were 1,791 sites in North America (as of December 2011) offering some form of Daily Deals. Add in retailers who do their own daily or weekly e-mails or texts, and you have to wonder why anyone would ever pay full retail price for anything these days.

But do these deals actually work for business owners, and do they generate money for the typically small, cash-strapped businesses that participate in them?

It really depends on what your expectations are from the Daily Deals as to whether or not they will be successful and a good fit for your business. Are you hoping to get your name out and would prefer not to spend cash on advertising, but to either “guarantee” sales or trade your goods or services for advertising? Then it’s probably worth exploring. But be forewarned: every Daily Deals site has their own rules as far as expiration dates, deliverables, and client responsibilities – so ask a lot of questions, ask for references, and don’t be pressured into signing up on the spot. Your business will still survive even if you don’t sign up today, and salespeople will continue to call on you if you decide to pass.

Do you want all the control—and money—from placing a daily deal offer? Then these Daily Deal programs are probably not right for you. Most Daily Deal companies are fairly cut-and-dry as to how their programs work, and they do not want to start changing the rules of use, which could potentially confuse their customers.

But how are deals typically structured? From the business owner’s end, the company is typically asked to offer at least half off their retail prices to be the “deal” that day; the company then splits the proceeds with the Daily Deal provider by another 50 percent. That leaves the business owner with a quarter of the actual retail value going back in their pocket.

Some Daily Deal providers are a little more flexible regarding the percentage that they keep. If a business has great name recognition, product exclusivity, or is willing to not limit the number of vouchers sold, there may be an opportunity for the merchant to increase their percentage.

Things like limiting the number of vouchers sold, too many restrictions, a single location, or a less appealing offer can work against a merchant.

Why would a business owner be interested in making an offer available? Daily Deals providers claim that they will bring in new customers, that you are getting access to their database, and that a strong offer is needed to change customers’ buying habits – which all seem to make sense. They also stress that many of their customers will spend above the value of the certificate, which I think depends on the actual offer and the type of business you run.

Do you operate a high-end steakhouse with great name recognition? You will “crush it,” which can be both good and bad. You’ll get a bunch of money in advance of customers coming in, but you will need to redeem the offers when they roll in, which means you can expect a spike in redemption the closer you get to the expiration date.

What is the right offer? Forty dollars for twenty? One hundred for fifty? Higher coupon values will produce fewer sales but may scare off the frugal buyer, which may not be a bad thing. Higher values may also help increase sales during quieter sales times or shoulder seasons.

Even more important is the value of a new customer, especially if you can turn them into a lifetime customer.

Also worth noting is the question, “What will the social media impact be by doing a Daily Deal?” Assuming that most, if not all, potential buyers are active in social media (this is of interest to the Daily Deal provider so that your offer will be spread by others to increase sales), you should be conscious that many of these new customers are going to report about their experience on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and—if your business provides a service—Angie’s List or other reviewer-driven sites. This can be a bonus, provided that the customer has a good experience. But it can be crushing if the customer walks away unhappy.

Overall, the Daily Deal model may make sense for your business, but keep in mind that it is not the Holy Grail. If your business is struggling financially, be honest with yourself about the possible financial outcome of a Daily Deal. Also, keep in mind that poor quality and service will only be multiplied (especially via social media) when others are exposed to a lackluster experience. A positive customer experience is key to your success.

When it comes to making a final decision about whether or not to launch a Daily Deal, we recommend weighing the pros and cons of a Daily Deal thoroughly and making sure you have realistic expectations both on your end (can you realistically accommodate the additional business and reduced revenue?) and on that of the Daily Deal provider. And always remember the saying, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Image: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We have our clients’ best interests at heart. That’s why when one of our clients gets featured in the media, we just about bust our buttons.

Pad & Quill landed a showcase on Mashable last week for their Kindle book cases. Amy-Mae Elliott’s blog post featured “10 Kindle Cases That Look Like Books.”

Pad & Quill’s cases were third in the image slideshow, praised for their “simple elegance with birch wood frames and leather covers.”

Even better, P&Q’s cases are proudly made in the USA with time-honored book binding artistry. Now there’s quality for ya. See for yourself.

In the context of being on stage with fans who know him and his body of work, they can appreciate his true talent. But being in a subway station full of busy people on their way to work, few people could recognize or appreciate his talent. Changing the context without changing the content can make a huge difference.

Take Twitter, for example. Upon joining Twitter, most people don’t understand it, therefore they generally dislike it. It isn’t until they understand the power it holds in creating conversations and changing the context between people. When I check-in at a restaurant and they reply on Twitter asking “How was everything?” that changes the context of our relationship. Suddenly I feel different towards the business and our relationship has changed.

If you are struggling to connect with your customers, try changing the context in which you talk to them.  The results might surprise you.

Magento started as a company called Varien back in the 2000s.  The whole reason for its genesis centers around the idea that technology built to help customers shop online had become too proprietary or too disjointed.  The founders believed in the Open Source movement, but the pickings were spread too thin to create a useful cart experience.  With that in mind, they set out to build one cart that lived and breathed the Open Source ideal of having many co-creators but also set out to engender a sense of Enterprise-Level solutions for the real world.

Knowing the backstory, you can see why we at Snap get excited about the future.  So why do we use Magento?

Open-Source.
Which would you prefer, a team of 100 or a team of 1000.  Magento as an Open Source application is built to utilize the efforts of its entire supporting community.  Through the ideas and innovation of others, the application ‘rights’ itself much more often than a proprietary application could.  And since everyone has access, vendor lock-in is essentially a moot point: you build it, it’s yours. Finally, since the core development is paid for through the community, costs are kept at a minimum.  Open Source doesn’t mean free but it does mean increased agility and decreased barrier.

Marketing Focused.
Out of the box, Magento steers users toward the best practices in Internet Marketing: SEO, Accessibility and PCI-DSS compliance. Essentially, the first half of all your initial building and marketing-budget is all ready paid for!  And because Magento is Open Source, it can accept plugins and modules from 1000s of sources and most cost from $0 – $600.  These modules can help with newsletters or pull in orders from Amazon.  Regardless of your marketing focus: affiliate, inbound, social, etc, Magento can handle it.  Which brings me to the biggest reason of all.

Turn-Key Solution.
Magento was built for two things: 1) Scalability and 2) Extendability.  Scalability is the idea that as a store owner you could add one to one million products or have ten to ten million visitors; the store can do it all.  Not only that but Magento can run 1000s of stores on a single installation.  How’s that for keeping costs down?  Extendability is all about imagination. If you’ve got the proper team working for you, there is literally nothing that cannot be done through Magento.  Companies use it for CRM, Resource Planning, and eBay listings.  The sky’s the limit.  Because of this extendability, Magento can act as a hub for all of your Internet Retailing presence.

We get excited about how much can be done through one application.  How have you used Magento?  What carts are you currently using and how could they improve?  We’d love to hear from you in the comments or shoot us a note to see how Snap and Magento can help you.

How to come up with blog topics is a question that I hear from a lot of our clients and a question I find myself asking all the time. I oftentimes look at blogging as a chore and find every excuse not to do it, but this question made me think of how easy it really is to come up with blog topics.

The first place I usually look for inspiration is Twitter, whether it’s from a reliable source tweeting about the newest technology or one of my crazy friends tweeting about a sports play that took place the previous night. I’m always able to draw some sort of blog topic from Twitter.

The other places I find blog-spiration (yes, I made that up) include but are not limited to:

I guess I say all this to show that a blog topic can come from just about ANYwhere!

I’m interested to know where YOU find your blog-spiration? Let me know.

Instead, WordPress has a neat method, wp_get_attachment_image_src(), that can return the url and dimensions of any attached image from a post based on the ID of the desired image sought. To get this ID, one can use the get_post_thumbnail_id() method that retrieves the given featured image ID based on the Post ID. It’s a bit heavy-sounding but easy to understand once one sees it written out.

First, check if the post you’re using has a featured image:

<?php if( has_post_thumbnail() ){
    $thumbnail = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id( $post->ID ), 'thumbnail' );
} ?>

The $thumbnail var now has an array of the (url, height, width) for the featured image. To get only the source, one needs to call the first key in that index:

<?php
echo $thumbnail[0];
?>

Besides social media, some of my hobbies are rock climbing, going to concerts, playing video games, and traveling. I’ve been rock climbing on and off now for 5 years! It’s been the most fun I’ve ever had while getting exercise. Before I started rock climbing, the most exercise I ever got was from Dance Dance Revolution (wow, did I really just admit to that?). Anyways, before I let it slip how nerdy I really am, I should sign off…

Come follow me @JodieMPLS for more musings.

Our blogger for OneTouch Massage published an article in Massage & Bodywork (May/June 2012) called “Marketing for Introverts.” You can view the digital edition of the magazine online, or see the Sneak Preview below.

Sneak Peek:

“Spa owner Heidi Lamar has seen plenty of therapists come and go in her years hiring for Spa Lamar in Arizona. ‘Some are quite comfortable handing out their [business] cards wherever they go, but others would rather walk barefoot across shards of glass,’ Lamar says. ‘My busiest, most successful therapist is one of those. How did he become my highest paid therapist? The old-fashioned way: he does a great job, and he has been at the spa for almost 10 years.’

Lamar’s example proves that you don’t have to force yourself to act like an extrovert in order to fill up your appointment book. You don’t need to stand outside your office with a sandwich board yelling out to people on the street. All you need to do is figure out what type of marketing strategies fit your strengths and put them to work…” Read more