The deal-a-day phenomenon pioneered by Groupon has spawned direct attacks on the model from a wide variety of companies. Newspapers, social sites and others are all going at it. But how about gift card providers?

Adility Founder Thomas Cornelius, a longtime veteran of the gift card industry, thinks the synergies are huge. His 20 person operation, with offices in Atlanta and Mountain View,CA,   is providing a deal-a-day platform to publishers, with early adopters including Center’d and Coupons.com. These publishers, in turn, are taking the gift card industry into new business models, and using online promotion to drive higher conversion rates –and more dollars.

Initially Cornelius distributed his “Value Cards” (discount cards from local businesses) only through a partnership with Incomm, a third party prepaid card distributor with 150,000 retail locations and over $8 billion in sales for retailers ranging from Starbucks to Bed, Bath & Beyond. But Cornelius branched out in 2009 to focus  on local merchants.

The initial concept was to boost their revenue by getting their prepaid card content online and offline promoting it. Cornelius says he’d have regular conversations with SMBs who’d say: “Why can’t I get into retail stores like Vons or Target and have my prepaid cards sold right next to the Starbucks gift card.”

Cornelius worked to create a “local” slot on the gift card racks –Planograms — which typically have 200 different prepaid cards featured. What he did was activate 10 slots per location where local merchants would be displayed on an equivalent basis of a major national company. He then focused on putting together a network of 300 independent resellers with 7000 feet on the street around the U.S. The resellers would sell gift cards within a 25 mile radius of a merchant.

The results have been promising, he says, as many local customers are more eager to support the local stores they know than buying from national merchants. “The local cards have become the best seller at locations such as H-E-B groceries in Texas.”

But Cornelius’ initial experience integrating local merchants taught him that locally relevant content from local businesses really drives sales in gift card malls. But it was especially important “to get something new on the shelf every three months. ” Hence the inspiration for Groupon-like online daily deals that would be available to publishers and developers on a white label basis.

Cornelius says that building a deal a day platform isn’t especially difficult. But  Adility’s value proposition is that it provides a turnkey solution for merchants seeking the online/offline solution, and delivers widespread distribution via publishers, such as Center’d and Coupons.com, he says.

“We’d provide the technology, supply the local deal content, customer service and order processing. It is a combination of a data feed and processing. Our core competency is the relationship with the SMB owners,” he says. “We have thousands of them.”

To develop stronger relationships with publishers and developers Adility has launched  “Dealwerk.com,” a new site that provides its clients with RSS deal feeds;  a white label daily deal platform; and an API for developers who want to use local prepaid deal content and develop their own mobile and social media applications.

View full post on BIA/Kelsey Local Media Watch

Seven Deadly Mistakes That Can KILL Your Search Rankings

Whether you’re brand-new to Internet marketing, or you’ve been selling online for a while now, search engine optimisation is the one strategy you can’t AFFORD to ignore!

Earn high rankings in the search engines, and you’ll be rewarded with endless streams of quality FREE traffic heading straight to your website.

But neglect your rankings, and you’ll spend ALL of your time trying to convince even a few visitors to stop by your site (and chances are, they won’t even be interested in what you’re selling when they show up).

Fortunately, optimising your website for the search engines is neither rocket science nor brain surgery!

Armed with just a few tried-and-tested techniques, you should have no problem getting those coveted high rankings for your site.

The challenge, though, is that the search engine industry changes more quickly than most, so something that used to be a sure-fire SEO strategy can suddenly become useless…

… and it might even get your listings demoted to the back pages!

So to make sure you don’t get penalized by the search engines — or just plain IGNORED — watch out for these seven deadly search engine optimization mistakes:

Deadly Mistake #1: Improper Use Of Your “Title” Tag

Not only does your title tag tell the search engines what your webpage is about, the title also appears in the search results for your site, as well as at the top of your visitors’ browsers while they’re on your site.

So this is DEFINITELY where you should put your best keywords!

But we routinely see site owners making pretty basic errors with their title tags, costing them good rankings, and sometimes, even their credibility.

So avoid these common title tag mistakes:

a. Not including a title tag at all

If you leave your title tag blank, your visitors will see “untitled document” in the search results, and the top of the browser.

This makes you look careless and unprofessional. Besides, who searches for untitled documents? You’re squandering an opportunity for better SEO, and you’re missing out on sales!

b. Using your URL as the title

Some site owners use the URLs of individual pages as the titles.

But, while a title tag like “sallysbeautyshop/cosmetics/product123.html” does contain the business name, the product category, and the product name itself, it’s not very helpful to your rankings.

Remember, your title tags are for keywords.

c. Using a friendly greeting instead of a keyword-rich title

There’s nothing wrong with a friendly greeting… in person.

But your title tag is the wrong place to say hello to your audience. And again, who searches for welcome messages?

d. Stuffing the title tag with single words

Don’t take the shotgun approach and fill your title tag with a list of words off the top of your head in the vain hope of attracting traffic.

Instead, use one or two of your TOP keyword phrases (but keep it under 70 characters so it fits on one line).

Your title tag is easy to find and easy to change in your HTML code. On most web pages, it’s right at the top, below your “head” tag, and looks like this:

Deadly Mistake #2: Misusing Your “Keywords” Meta Tag

Once upon a time, the search engines really cared about keyword meta tags, and would determine your site’s relevance based on the content of this tag.

Well, those days are long gone, and a keyword meta tag — even one that’s well-written and contains just a couple of your best keywords — will NOT help you get a higher ranking.

BUT… a poorly written meta tag CAN get your site penalized!

So our best advice is to use the meta keyword tag for what it was intended: to help you quickly and easily identify, in one line of HTML code, what keywords you’ve optimized that page for.

Meta tags only appear in your HTML code, not anywhere on your site. They’re usually placed very close to the top of the page, near your title tag, and look like this:

Deadly Mistake #3: Keyword Spamming Or Stuffing

The more keywords you have on your site — and the more places you repeat them — the better your search rankings will be, right?

Wrong!!

That may be the way it worked in the “olden” days, when the web was in its infancy, but the practice helped websites get high rankings for topics they didn’t even cover.

So these days, Google’s algorithm (the formula it uses to figure out where to rank pages on the search results) is much more complex than that, thanks to years of dealing with people trying to fudge the results.

So don’t even bother with these outdated tricks…

• Typing your keywords over and over again in very small font at the top and bottom of your page — blocks of tiny text either in the copy or the header tags don’t improve your relevance
• Increasing your keyword density above about 10% — you end up with a page full of text that doesn’t make sense to anyone reading it
• Using “invisible” keywords (white text on a white background). This one is SO frowned-upon that it can get you delisted from Google altogether!

The only foolproof strategy is still to find out what kind of quality, relevant information your customers are searching for, and then give it to them. In the long run, it’s by far the best strategy.

Deadly Mistake #4: Using Irrelevant Keywords To Attract More Traffic

So, you found some great keywords with low competition and great traffic numbers… but not quite on target with your website?

For instance, when Sarah Palin broke big in 2008, she was one of the most searched-for terms in the country. But if you’d put an article about her on your website, it wouldn’t have increased your sales!

If people come to your page or website in search of a keyword phrase, and find that your site has nothing to do with it, they’ll just leave again…

… so all the traffic in the world won’t help you if it’s off target.

And you can even end up diluting the theme of your website and irritating people so much that they report your website as spam to the search engines. And that’s not worth any number of extra visitors!

Deadly Mistake #5: Creating Useless Content

The Internet is swamped with low-quality articles and blog posts that are created for NO other reason than to get better rankings.

But consider this: It can take potential customers 6 – 8 visits to your website — and significant exposure to your content — before they feel comfortable enough to make a purchase from you.

If the only content you’ve posted is just a few keywords repeated without any real substance, why would anyone bother coming back to read more?

This tactic can harm your reputation and your credibility… and once those are gone, it’s almost impossible to get them back!

Deadly Mistake #6: Using “Doorway” Pages

When was the last time Google or Yahoo purchased a product from you?

We’re guessing NEVER, right? So why would you create pages on your website that are exclusively for them? But that’s exactly what people do with “doorway” pages (pages with very little text, but very high keyword density).

For example, if your page only has four words on it, and two of them are “sailboat,” that gives the page a keyword density of 50%, which is great for search results…

… but if someone actually searches on the term “sailboat” and lands on the doorway page, there’s nothing there for them! They’ll have to click further into your site (and for each unnecessary click you ask visitors to make, you lose a large percentage of them).

Doorway pages are really frowned upon by the search engines, because they clog up the index with junk. It’s just too easy to produce thousands of these pages that have a very high keyword density, but no real purpose, other than trying to build links and direct traffic to a single site.

Before you put a doorway page up, remember to ask yourself if it’s actually providing useful information to your potential customers. If so great. If not, don’t do it!

Deadly Mistake #7: Bait and Switch – “Magic” Pages, Redirects, and Cloaking

Search engines want to make sure that once they’ve indexed a page, the visitors they send there see the same thing they did. However, this isn’t always the case.

Some site builders build two versions of their sites. The one for the spiders is full of the kind of stuff the search engines like. The one that regular visitors see is full of the flashy, off-topic effects that look cool, but it isn’t the relevant, content-rich site it’s advertised as.

This is a strategy that will end up hurting your business!

Your customers end up at a website that may not contain the keywords they were searching for, and instead, get to one with animation and all the bells and whistles that may not be important to them.

More importantly, the search engines feel ripped off, too.

When customers start pointing this kind of fraud out to them, the search engines are pretty good at delisting the offending sites. Is a few weeks of increased traffic really worth the risk of getting booted off Google for good?!

Finally, don’t use spammy redirects on your site. These redirects send visitors from a page they think they’re going to (one that’s been optimized for the search engines), to another one altogether.

This deceptive method has been overused, and the search engines no longer fall for it. It can get your site penalized or delisted.

How You Can Avoid Being Penalized — Or Worse — By The Search Engines

These are just seven of the MANY search engine optimisation techniques that can have a harmful effect on your site’s rankings, some of which can potentially  get you into hot water with the search engines!

So why take a chance?

If you’re going to save yourself a TON of money by doing your own search engine optimisation, make sure you get ongoing advice from an SEO expert who can tell you which strategies are working right now…

… as well as show you the strategies that you should AVOID.

If you find that you do not have the time to rectify any of these problems, or would like more help to promote your small business website, contact us Today.

The Forum of Private Business is advising smaller employers affected by the Icelandic volcano eruption to be flexible with stranded staff – but know when to draw the line on unpaid leave.

View full post on fpb.org – Latest news articles from the FPB

10 Top Tips to Market a Small Business Successfully

Over the past decade more and more people are getting fired, getting downsized, or getting fed up with their corporate jobs and embark on the journey as a small business owner. Unfortunately, most of the new small business owners fail to consider their marketing plans or strategy. There are many marketing concepts for small business marketing to consider and plan for, but here is our list of Top 10 Marketing Concepts For Small Business Marketing.

Marketing Concept # 1: Consistency

Consistency is the number one marketing concept for small business marketing only because it is left out of marketing concepts for so many businesses. I have worked with a long list of clients, big and small, that are extremely inconsistent in all areas of their marketing. Consistency helps lower the cost of marketing and increase the effectiveness of branding.

Marketing Concept # 2: Planning

Once small business owners decide to be consistent with their marketing, planning is the next major concept to engage. Planning is the most vital part of small business marketing or any level of marketing, for that matter, and so many owners, marketing managers, and even CMOs plan poorly. Put the time into planning your marketing strategy, budget, and other concepts presented here to ensure success.

Marketing Concept # 3: Strategy

Strategy immediately follows planning because your strategy is the foundation for the rest of your marketing activities. In the process of planning, you must develop your strategy: who you will target, how you will target them, and how will you keep them as a customer.

Marketing Concept # 4: Target Market

Target market is also another key concept for small business marketing. Defining exactly who you are targeting allows small business owners to focus on specific customers and reduce marketing waste. A well-defined target market will make every other marketing concept so much easier to implement successfully.

Marketing Concept # 5: Budget

Although it is listed at number 5, budgeting is important throughout the entire process. Creating a marketing budget is usually the hardest and most inaccurate part of small business marketing. Most small businesses owners lack a great deal of experience in marketing, so their budgets usually end up skewed. The most important part of this marketing concept is to actually establish a marketing budget. From there, you can worry about how to distribute your available funds.

Marketing Concept # 6: Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is usually defined as product, pricing, place, and promotion. As a small business owner, you must specifically decide on your products (or services), the appropriate pricing, where and how you will distribute your products, and how will you let everyone know about you and your products.

Marketing Concept # 7: Website

In today’s market, a business of any size must have a website. I hate when I see businesses that have a one page website with out-dated information. Customers, be it businesses or consumers, will search the web over 60% of the time before making any purchasing decisions. This marketing concept contains a slew of additional components, but you must at least develop a small web presence of some kind and keep it updated.

Marketing Concept # 8: Branding

Many small businesses owners also neglect this concept. Small business marketing must focus on this marketing concept just as much as large corporations do. Branding consists of the pictures, logo, design scheme, layout, make up, and image of your products and even your company. Branding is how your customers perceive (please place a lot of emphasis on that word!) your products and company. Make sure to pay special attention to what kind of brand you are building through each step of your planning and implementation.

Marketing Concept # 9: Promotion and Advertising

Promotion and advertising is a very complex marketing concept, but must be considered for any type of business and its products and services. Once you engage the previous 8 marketing concepts, you must finally let your target market know about you and your products. Proper promotion and advertising will result in effective brand recognition, and, ultimately, increased sales.

Marketing Concept # 10: Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The concept of customer relationship management has become a huge industry in the marketing world. There are many types of software and services offered to help businesses of any size handle their customer relationship management. Since there is so much available, usually for a large sum of money, small business owners usually look at this concept as something they are not big enough for or have enough money to implement. Don’t be fooled by the massive industry that has evolved from this concept. Maintaining proper customer relationship management is essential to creating loyal and consistent customers.

This list of marketing concepts should be examined, researched, planned, and implemented, especially by small businesses, in order to be successful. Also, your marketing doesn’t stop here. Each business is unique and will have additional components that must be considered, but this list will jump-start any marketing plan.

Kyle Bumgardner of WebsiteBiz Talks Interactive Marketing with Fort Mill Rotary
CHARLOTTE –Kyle Bumgardner of interactive marketing agency WebsiteBiz ( www.websitebiz.com ) was recently the featured speaker at the Fort Mill Rotary Club’s April breakfast meeting.

Read more on dBusinessNews.com