I am extremely excited and very grateful to have the opportunity to share best practices and techniques on how to use social media to promote you and your business.

First steps matter in how your platforms are constructed and used. By the end of the class you will have a road map with helpful tools to successfully integrate into your social marketing strategies. 

I intend to throw as much FREE information at you as possible!

First stop on the 5 City tour
for Social Media Business Basics
is beautiful Fallon, Nevada!

• WHERE: WNC Fallon Campus & Rural Development Computer Lab, SAGE 102
• WHEN: MONDAY APRIL 11, 2011
• TIME: 8:30am-3:30pm

Questions? Send an e-mail to Kathy Carrico at kcarrico @ unr.edu or call directly to (775) 784-6879.

Sponsored by
Nevada Small Business Development Center

Agenda items include:

• Strengthening your on-line presence
• Reasons to create Profiles
• Selecting a professional email address
• Email recommendations
• Setup a Gravatar
• Create a quick profile page on Google and Yahoo
• Google Places – list your business on Google
• What’s Your About ‘ME’ Statement?
• Keep a Cohesive and Unified Naming Convention
• Setting up a Twitter Account is as easy as 1-2-3
• Twitter Definitions
• Twitter Tools and References
• Setting up a FaceBook Account is as easy as 1-2-3
• FaceBook Tools and References
• Setting up a LinkedIn Account is as easy as 1-2-3
• LinkedIn Tools and References

plus more if we have time!

Stillwater Wildlife Refuge - Fallon, Nevada

About the Presenter: Kristy Crabtree has more than a decade of marketing and website communication experience. As owner of Westward Strategy & Design Group she knows that in today’s market, your on-line communication platforms are the core of your management and marketing strategies. Westward Strategy & Design Group specializes in developing relationships with businesses that are in need of strategic solutions in areas of website design, social media platforms and practices.

Kristy spends much of her recreational time in various rural Nevada locations as an amateur photographer and engages in camping, hunting and fishing whenever possible.

“Unlike other Reno web design or social marketing agencies, I don’t try to be all things to all people. Instead, I focus on implementing the latest, most effective online marketing strategies that work for you and your business.”

1. Tips for creating a free business listing in Google Places: Business listing titles.

2. Tips for creating a free business listing in Google Places: business types.

3. Tips for creating a free business listing in Google Places: Adding useful descriptions and relevant categories.

Real content reigns supreme KING at the end of every day.

Google’s Search Cleanup Has Big Effect

By AMIR EFRATI

Google Inc.’s move last week to lower the search rankings of websites that the company said offer little useful information appears to be having a dramatic impact, according to firms that study search-engine data.

Many websites that previously ranked highly in searches for certain keywords on Google dropped sharply following the change in the company’s search algorithms, the firms found. Some of the sites that were hurt defended the quality of their content, arguing that they had been unfairly lumped with bad actors on the Internet.

Read Full Article

Watch video clips from the 2010 Social Media Discussion Panel. Honest transparency with Value!

• Question 1
• Question 2
• Question 3
• Question 4
• Question 5
• Question 6
• Question 7
• Question 8
• Question 9
• Question 10
• Question 11
• Question 12
• Question 13
• Question 14
• Question 15
• Question 16
• Question 17

Top 18 Featured WordPress Sites

View Westward Strategy’s WordPress Client Showcase

1. Elect Ken Stover
www.Electstover.com

2. Contract Medical Billing
www.ContractMedicalBilling.com

3. Nevada Foodies
www.NevadaFoodies.com

4. Bartlett Architecture
www.ArchitectReno.com

5. Gary Cardinal Law Office
www.CardinalLawReno.com

6. 7Q10 (formerly Huffman & Carpenter)
www.7Q10.com

7. Bidart & Ross, Inc.
www.Bidart-Ross.com

8. Paramount Bedding
www.pbmattress.com

9. Recycled Furniture
www.recycledfurniturereno.com

10. Susan Hill PR
www.SusanHillPR.com

11. The Gold ‘N Silver Inn
www.GoldnSilverReno.com

12. Koonce Consulting
www.KoonceConsulting.com

13. Lyman PR
www.LymanPR.com

14. Reno Big Band
www.RenoBigBand.org

15. WETLAB – Western Environmental Testing Laboratory
www.Wetlaboratory.com

16. Westward Strategy & Design Group
www.WestwardStrategy.com

17. Kristy Crabtree
www.KristyCrabtree.com

18. Sports Attack (former client)
www.sportsAttack.com

19. Johnson-Perkins & Associates
(Coming Soon)

 20. American Housekeeping of Northern Nevada
(Coming Soon)

Westward Strategy, a Reno web design company, has the capability of customizing a web solution for you and your business … most importantly without loss of quality and with your budget in mind. Call Kristy for a solution that fits your needs (775) 626-8330.

As a followup to the 12th step in the SEO Checklist for Your New Website, I recommend adding your site to the following 7 Free Business Listing Websites: Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, City Search, Merchant Circle and Topix.

You will be asked to create a business profile allowing you to add a brief description of your business, a link to your website, your contact phone numbers, a contact person, your business logo, photographs highlighting your business, hours of operation as well as a few other business specifics.

7 Free Business Listing Websites

1. Google
   Local Business Listings
   http://www.google.com/local/add
2. Yahoo
   Local Listings
   http://listings.local.yahoo.com
3. Bing
   Local Business Listings
   https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx
4. Yelp
   Real People. Real Reviews.
   http://www.yelp.com
5. City Search
   Local Business Listings
   http://www.citysearch.com
6. Merchant Circle
   Free Online Advertising
   http://www.merchantcircle.com
7. topix
   Local Business Listings
   http://www.topix.com

Daily Sparks Tribune
Business – May 21, 2009

By Jessica Garcia
Most Web users tend to ignore flashing display ads or the text ads on Google surrounding their desired search results.

But to Chris Gandolfo of Sparks-based Westward Strategy and Design Group, those blurbs hold a key to determining how well a company’s Web marketing strategy works.

He makes his living evaluating the effectiveness of text-based or visual ads for his clients through a process called “analytics,� in which he counts the number of clicks or tests keywords.

While most Web marketing businesses do at least that much to find out how strong a business’ presence is on the Internet, Gandolfo has taken his four years of experience and put it to the test � literally. Gandolfo recently passed an exam and became, to Westward owner and marketing specialist Kristy Crabtree’s knowledge, the only local person to be certified as a Qualified Google Advertising Professional.

“The reason I did it is, one, I wanted the experience of working with my clientele; and, two, I wanted to continue to invest in my craft and develop my skill set,� said Gandolfo, 28.

According to Google, the certification requires four basic criteria.

• The user must sign up for the program and remain in good standing.
• They must manage at least one account in AdWords, a program through which webmasters can create their own display ads and select keywords for search engines.
• They have to build and maintain an account where they manage the campaigns of their clients, who must spend at least $1,000.
• Finally, they must pass the exam.

The exam is about 110 questions long and is taken online.

“It took every bit of my four years of experience to pass,â€Â? Gandolfo said. “It was not easy. … It covers aspect of platform analytics, campaign management, budget, how to write ads.â€Â?

For the company, it’s as if Gandolfo attained a Bachelor of Science degree but with experience instead of academics.

For the client who wants to market on the Web, the value of the certification can be equated to being a money manager, Crabtree said.

“It’s like you’re the professional who tells me where I should put the money and how to track it to get the best retail dollar,� she said. “It shows you invested time to make your business better.�

Being a qualified Google ad professional will equip Gandolfo to show his clients how they can improve their search engine optimization by targeting their traffic and rankings.

For example, with one client called PDUs Direct, which sells power distribution units, the Web site offers image-based advertisements, which works well because it’s a new business, Gandolfo said.

“With a brand new business, you want many eyes on it, as many as you can,� he said. “Right now, they’re averaging 12,000 to 15,000 impressions a day.�

An impression, he said, is one appearance of a rotating ad on a Web site. Many impressions is highly desirable when browsing a search engine like Google or Yahoo, which Crabtree said are the only two companies so far pushing for professional certification in Web marketing to help businesses attain the top-paid placements for ads. On Google, for example, those placements are the top few lines in a shaded box or are listed on the right-hand side of the page.

In an age in which many people go online to make purchases from home and in which 84 percent visit search engines for comparison shopping before making a purchase, companies would miss on advertising opportunities by not having their postings placed as close to the top as possible, Gandolfo said.

“(The postings) are based on the quality of the ad and quality of the landing page (the site to which the ad takes a user) and what you bid,� Gandolfo said.

Business has been slow for Westward as its clients reign in expenses, but Crabtree and her staff don’t have much time to notice.

“You have to do whatever you can to remain on the forefront,� Crabtree said. “You want to be the lead horse.�

————————————————————-

For more information about Westward Strategy & Design Group’s Search Engine Optimization services, sign up for a complimentary SEO Consultation. Westward Strategy & Design Group is a Reno Web Design and Marketing Agency specializing in Web Design , Web Development, Search Engine Optimization and Email Marketing.

————————————————————-

Photo by Debra Reid – Chris Gandolfo, marketing & design specialist for Westward Strategy & Design Group, helps companies increase their website traffic.

A few weeks ago I decided it was finally time I took the Google Advertising Professional Qualification exam. Although I have spent hundreds of hours in the Adwords tool I was nervous about the test. I spent several hours going through the Help Center, taking quizzes and reviewing areas that I do not use all that often, like the API. Google requires that you have at least 90 days of account management under your belt before you can take the exam, but I can tell you it took all of my experience and the additional “cramming” to get through the test. I’m also fairly certain there was at least 3 trick questions in it.

However all the nerves and the extra preparation paid off because I passed the exam! I now get to use the spiffy graphic below on our website, business card and other marketing materials.

What the Exam is Missing

While the exam is a great test of your knowledge of the Google Adwords tool. It is not a test of your ability to create a great campaign that delivers targeted traffic and generates sales. In my mind, only experience can give you that kind of qualification.

You can advertise in many ways, from web based to print to word of mouth, but how do you actually get customers and build a clientele? How are your marketing strategies working for you? Do you constantly have to followup to get clients?

Here are just some ways that Westward Strategy Builds Client Trust

1: Testimonials
Westward Strategy encourages all prospective clients to call our current and past clients for a testimonial of our work. You can ask questions that we may be impartial to answer. We also feature testimonials on our website and our brochures.

2: Knowledge
We continue to stay educated in all of our online marketing services. We also continue to only work with professional contractors who are proven in their field of expertise.

3: Examples of Our Web Design and Internet Marketing Work
We show all prospects our portfolio and are happy to show examples of our work or situations that we have been in to be sure to put the prospects mind at ease of what we have experienced.

4: Passion
We believe that passion plays a key part in client trust. We love what we do and believe that a client will feel more comfortable working with a business who has fun.

5: Telling the Truth
We always tell a prospective client the truth – maybe to often. If we can’t do the job, we don’t take it. We believe that it’s better to be able to deliver the BEST JOB rather than a subpar job.

————————————————————
Contact Westward Strategy & Design Group, LLC.
If you are interested in the services we offer, please contact us at (775) 626-8330.

Rand’s article raises some valid points about the SEO industry. Now that other forms of advertising and sales channels have slipped up a bit due to their high costs or lower ROI, online marketing – including SEO, is taking more of the marketing budget pie in a lot of corporate environments. Internal marketing departments and external marketing agencies are having to prove their worth more, now that budgets are getting stretched and squeezed to their fullest. If a channel isn’t accountable for spending vs. sales then the likelihood that it will survive this downturn is unlikely.

Also, SEO is coming out of the shadows. As myths get debunked and education is expanded to business owners and marketers, true SEO is gaining ground as a viable marketing initiative. Of course there are still gamers, hacks and snake oil salesmen out there and until our industry grows up a lot more and sets some standards the fight will rage on between white hat and black hat SEO.

On the other side of the fence Ms. Callow discusses the benefits of search marketing or PPC advertising. Which is one arena where we have seen tremendous growth in the last several months. Of course a majority of this growth can be attributed to the holiday season, as we handle pay per click advertising for several online retailers. However it is not just retailers looking to leverage this channel over traditional advertising – many of our b2b customers have been asking about it as well. I believe Ms. Callow nails the reasoning for this perfectly in her article.

Often marketers are attracted to PPC advertising due to its inherent benefits such as advanced targeting, accountability and cost effectiveness. With PPC advertising you can start or stop ads at any time, run them only when you know people will be looking for your product or service, target by geographic region (down to the city level) and attract customers using their nomenclature at the exact instance of their interest and query. With advanced web analytics you can track click to conversion metrics to further account for each dollar spent vs. each dollar generated.

There is also a “safe” factor to PPC advertising. Marketers know that they can invest a minimal amount upfront and give it a test run. If they feel it is not working for them they can stop all ads and outgoing costs instantly or they can retool ads and spend more time doing keyword research to find better converting terms. Right now these are especially attractive features.

Don’t Stop at SEO and PPC Advertising

The only thing both of these articles are missing is any mention of other online marketing initiatives, like permission based email marketing. Email marketing is still a tremendous way to market on a very cost effective platform. It literally costs pennies, and in most cases fractions of pennies, to leverage an internal customer or lead list that may be gathering dust and turn it into a powerful customer relationship management channel and sales tool.

So if you are not already involved in online marketing, you better get your move on! You are already losing ground, market share and revenue to your competitors if you are not actively working the online channel. In all market conditions it is a powerful marketing tool, but especially during an economic downturn.