Your customers may think you are a large company (which you probably are), operating in your ivory tower. Starting a blog gives your company a face. A corporate blog is a good way to get in touch with your customers and to communicate with them. You can explain what you do and why you do this. Customers can react and give their opinion about your plans. This information is very important because you need support from your customers. The blog service Onetomarket offers are designed to help you in your online communication strategy.

Blogging is not always easy. Maybe you have some ideas about what to write, but do you also have new ideas after a few months? What should be the tone of voice? How do you deal with difficult issues and what to do in case of critical comments? These are very important questions. Or maybe you have a number of IT related issues. How do you start blogging? What should you write on your blog, and why does your blog not rank well? Most companies with a blog don’t understand the art of corporate blogging. They are still not able to personalize and promote new products only instead of their brand.

And if these companies understand how to write a blog there is another problem: how does your blog get attention? With our services for blogging we help you with all your questions and more. Many employees of Onetomarket are active bloggers for many years. And because of our enthusiasm we would like to share the power of blogging with you. We give blogworkshops, we help you with your content ideas, we install blogging software, we learn you how to deal with reactions and we help you with any other blog-related problem. Please contact us to discuss your conversation in motion.

To keep in mind:

• Blogging makes your organization more personal.
• Blogging is a long term investment with large and measurable results.

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With better integration of our blog and knowledge base you’re now able to keep track of our news, ideas and tactics.

Enjoy!

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The full overview in 7 steps:

1. Optimize the existing error pages
2. Improve internal links
3. Improve external links
4. NEVER remove pages from your site, but archive them
5. Redirect some common misspellings
6. Monitor error pages
7. Monitor search queries

Plus two bonus tips:

1. commercialization of the 404-page
2. keep your content up-to-date

The road map, Part 1: optimize existing error pages

Step 1: optimize existing error pages
On the web many articles can be found which explain how an error page can be made as user friendly as possible to decrease the percentage of visitors who leave your site without viewing more pages. The general view is that a 404-page must be user-friendly and that you should help visitors as good as possible by finding what they sought for. Place a few popular links or a search field on the error page. The other recommendations have already been extensively discussed at various sites, so I give merely a few links:

Additional information:

• General information can be found on Wikipedia and Evolt.org. More technical information can be found on the web designers magazine A List Apart.

Step 2: improve internal links
Prevention is better than cure. Try to avoid visitors to stream at the 404-page as much as possible, how good this page may be. A comprehensive scan shows if all links within your site (both internal and ‘outgoing’ links) are still functioning properly. The free program Xenu Link Sleuth is an excellent tool, but there are obviously more tools that do the same. The inventory of your internal links can be done automatically, but the corrections are mostly done by hand.

Additional information:

• The tool Xenu Link Sleuth. A simple Google query provides enough other tools;

Step 2.1: adding favicon.ico
This part actually belongs in step 2, but I thought it was important enough to mention it separately. Internet Explorer asks for the so-called ‘favicon.ico’ file at each Web page with a browser view. This is the small icon on the left side of the address bar of a Web browser, you must have seen it sometimes. If there is no file called ‘favicon.ico’ in the root of your website (http://www.yourwebsite.com/favicon.ico) it won’t be found and Internet Explorer generates an error message. You can easily prevented this common error by placing a favicon on your site.

Additional information:

• Technical and substantive “how-to” for dealing with favicons: http://www.trilithium.com/johan/2005/02/no-favicon/

Step 3: improving external / incoming links
Once if the internal link structure is okay, the next step is to improve the links from other sites to your site. These are the so-called inbound links or links. The inventory could also be automated, for example, with the free program back link analyzer, with the Yahoo Site Explorer and Google Webmaster Tools. The correction of incoming links is possibly more labor intensive, because you are relying on third parties. However it is worthwhile to take action on this part.
Tip: If you’re improving your external links, make sure the incoming links contain decent descriptive texts with keywords (for example: “web design and seo weblog” instead of “weblog” as link text) .

Additional information:

1. An excellent tool unfortunately with limited export opportunities is Back link analyzer;
2. Yahoo! Site Explorer: gives accurate information about incoming links;
3. Google Webmaster Tools gives an overview of all incoming links for a website. These data are not available for third parties, so you should set the webmaster tools environment with a Google account (is a winner anyway).

Step 4: NEVER remove pages, but archive them
On the news section of your site is an article from 2006. When it was placed, there was pretty much coverage by the media and the article was linked by several blogs that discussed the content in detail. But anno 2008 the news is not relevant anymore. Whatever you do, do not delete the article! The article is a while on your site already, it is included in the index of Google and Yahoo and has perhaps built up some pagerank/relevance/history. It would be an eternal shame to throw that away. So, keep it! Put it in an archive; if necessary, put an additional comment on this article that the news might be outdated and comes from the archive. This also prevents errors when people have followed the old link.

Additional information:

• Cool URIs don’t change: http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI

Part 2: installation of extra usability

Step 5: redirect some common misspellings
Are certain misspellings often made on your website? Is the word ‘contat’ tapped in by many visitors when the search for your ‘contact’ page? This is a random example, but you know what I mention. If this occurs frequently, you can redirect visitors automatically (with a so-called ’301 redirect ‘) to the proper ‘contact’ page. You can find a clear overview of the different 301-techniques on the Onetomarket site.
Please note: build in an additional warning for those who have landed on the page by using a ‘misspelling’. Show a message like: ‘We have automatically redirected you to this page, while you searched for the page ‘mispelings.html’. Make sure if you want to bookmark or link this page, that you use the correct address. Or something similar to this effect.

Part 3. Aftercare: monitoring

Step 6: Monitor error pages

To have access to the amount of visitors which comes into contact with error messages on your site, you must use your statistics package.
With the free Google Analytics package, you must set a little by your self. For example, are certain misspellings made (see step 5) and which websites provide false links that causes’ bounces’. This information could also be provided through Google webmaster tools, which shows so called “crawl errors’. WordPress users can use log-404. This WordPress plugin logs error messages and makes a network overview of the last 100.

Additional information:

• Tracking 404 pages in Google Analytics;
• Debug using Google Webmaster Tools;
• And a WordPress plugin that effectively logs error pages.

Step 7: Monitor search queries
Another aspect that can be monitored, concerns the so-called referrers. Most statistical packages would not only provide information about which site provides you visitors, but also, as they came through Google, which keywords they had used in Google when they found your site. Google Analytics works in this context with ‘keyword considerations (‘All reports > ‘Marketing Optimization’> ‘Keyword considerations ‘).
These ‘considerations’ are nothing more than suggestions for keywords that you could use in your site. People were looking for these and thought that they would find them on your site. Why not give them what they want? At least, as long as it’s relevant.
We are not very satisfied with the operation of this feature of Analytics, but because anyone can use Analytics for free, we mentioned it here. Other, but from better quality and also more specialised are the following tools: HitTail, 103Bees and the Search Meter WordPress plugin.

Additional information:

• Wikipedia on referers;
• Search Meter WordPress Plugin. Keyword suggestions from the WordPress interface;
• HitTail: http://www.hittail.com/
• 103Bees: http://www.103bees.com/

Part 4. Bonus tip: 404-pages as part of the sales process

1: commercialization of the 404-page
In some cases, an error page can be used to encourage the sales on the site rather than merely provide navigation to continue to search the site.

A good example is the 404-page of Apple. At first glance, there is a ‘normal’ 404-page, there is a slightly accusing text which says that I as a visitor might have typed in something wrong (there is some improvement needed) and there are links that leads a visitor deeper in to the site.

The most striking part of that page is a trio of images of approximately 175 by 150 pixels with information about certain offers, promotions or new products. So called banners, and they rotate. For example press several times on F5 (Ctrl-R for Safari) and you will see that each time a different banner will be shown on the page. That is a very clever action from Apple. On the 404-page are teasers that are popular. Apple makes a virtue of necessity and this principle can be applied to all kinds of sites!

Additional information:

• Apple error page: http://www.apple.com/error.html

Tip 2: keep the content up-to-date
Suppose your company site is growing and there will be new jobs at your site. For some functions you are looking for new people continuously, while others already have been filled in. It is also possible that certain functions are fulfilled now, but they will be brought back on the site in the future.
In all cases, you are better off not to remove the vacancy pages, even though the functions are already fulfilled.
In the first place the pages build up a history in search engines, in links from job sites, perhaps even on the personal weblog of someone who has responded.
Secondly, it is a cold trick to add an additional piece of text on the vacancy page in question: “at this moment this vacancy is fulfilled, but there is always place for enthusiastic, talented hard workers” or something similar. That is a lot better than ’404 Not found’….

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“The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.”

Cluetrain Manifesto

But first things first, what is an online community? It’s a place online where people get together to share, to create, to achieve a common goal. They are places on the internet which bring together groups of people who share a common interest. Or it can be an enhancement of an already existing (offline) community.

A blog is a type of community. There are more than 184 million blogs worldwide. Research has indicated that 34,1% of these bloggers write about their experiences with products and brands. Odds are they are writing about you too!

Last.fm lets people with a passion for music get together and share that passion, LinkedIn helps people utilise their professional network and Facebook helps you stay in touch with your friends.

So why is this important? Because, chances are, these people are talking about you! And there is nothing you can do about it.

Well, that’s not completely true. Understanding these communities and its inhabitants can set you on your way to achieve value from this phenomenon. Demanding a negative comment gets taken down will do nothing for your company. Listening to the feedback and getting involved with the conversation can do a lot of good for your brand, though.

Here are some of the reasons how you can benefit from working with online communities:

• Reputation Management – you can monitor the online conversation about your brand
• SEO – an involved company is more likely to get linked to, which will improve rankings
• Engagement – Active users of online communities are heavily engaged, by offering value to the community this engagement can be translated back to your company

Key Takeaways

• Online communities are becoming more and more important to the marketeer
• Why? Because they are important to your customer
• Chances are, these people are talking about you! And there is nothing you can do about it

So, what can we do for you?

Onetomarket has a great understanding of online communities and how to incorporate connecting with them into your online strategy. We have first hand experience in working with communities and can help you maximize your online presence.

Are you interested to find out more? Get in touch now!

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• Strong messages last for ever en get stronger everyday
• On line PR helps you to get in touch with the most important opinion makers
• On line PR generates relevant incoming links for your website
• With on line PR you can participate in discussions on the web

Everybody is a journalist

With the Internet, everybody can be a journalist. It is very easy and cheap to start a web log about a subject that you are passionate about. It is no wonder that the number of web logs has grown significantly over the past few years. There is a web log for almost any subject you can think of.

Some of those web logs have thousands of readers and have become authorities in their field. It can be very interesting for your organization to be in touch with those opinion leaders. Onetomarket can help you to find the most influential on line journalists and guide you to establish a successful relationship with them.

Readers aren’t just readers anymore, the keyboard has given them a voice.

Readers not only read web logs, but respond and participate actively in on line discussions. To know what the discussions are about and where they take place is very valuable for any organization. If you know what is happening you can participate and start the dialog.

New requirements for press releases

On line PR is not only about sending press releases to opinion makers but it is also a great way to gather relevant incoming links for your website by actively participating in discussions that take place on the web which are relevant to your organization.

Gathering relevant link is important because the number and the quality of those links are one of the principle factors that determine the position of you website in the search engines. So when you are planning to write and distribute a press release for on line media, it is of huge importance to take the requirements into account that search engines have for content.

Key Takeaways

• The Internet has empowered everybody to become a reader and a journalist
• New media and new ways of communicating with your target audience have changed the PR playing field
• For any organization it is wise to get involved in the on line dialogs that take place everywhere on the Internet

So how can we help you?

We can help you to create an integrated strategy which will encompass both your on- and offline PR. We have relationships with many bloggers and can help you optimize your offline strategy and update it to become relevant in an online environment. Get in touch with one of our PR experts now!

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A link bait strategy can help you boost your link popularity as you will collect links in an organic and natural way because the links are given voluntarily by the web masters.

Possibilities for link bait that adds value to your website and make it easier to collect organic links could be:

• Good editorial content and articles with information for potential clients
• Tools which are relevant and helpful to your target audience
• Instructional articles
• Top 10/50/100 lists, people love lists!

By a continuous renewal of relevant content/topic related articles, informative and editorial information on your site you can acquire links in a natural way.

Key takeaways

• Link bait can help you attract more links to your website
• Link bait is an organic, natural way of attracting links
• Link bait, if done well, can provide a viral spin off

So, what can we do for you?

Based on the above and some detailed information of your sector and the business you are in we can give you some creative examples of link bait. You will get thorough advise for the improvement and maintenance of how you can boost your link building campaign with link bait. We can also advice you with technical issues and help canalise the link bait spin off. This will ensure your website will receive maximum benefit of the link bait.

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In “normal” search, search engines follow links to discover new pages. For blogs however, they’ve found another way of finding new content. Almost all blog software has the ability to “ping” blog search engines and blog aggregators. These search engines and aggregators will then immediately (usually within a few minutes) spider the new post and include it in their index.

Because of this way of indexing, blog search engines tend to be very up to date. They are also very biased towards news and blog sites. This is the reason for normal search engines to include search results from these blog search engines into their “normal” listings (f.i. Google incorporating Blog Search results into it’s “normal” Google results).

You can use this in two ways: to gain traffic to your blog(s) and/or news site(s), and to monitor the topics discussed within the blogosphere. Most blog search engines allow you to create an RSS feed of a certain result, so you could create a feed for all blog posts with your company’s name in it that were posted in the last 24 hours.

Key Takeaways

• People are talking on blogs
• Search engines use special blog search engines to track this conversation
• This is a way to generate traffic, and a way to track the buzz

So, how can we help you?

We can help you to get your site indexed by blog search engines and thus generate traffic, and we can help you set up simple tracking tools to track the buzz around your company and your brands. Our experts can help you set up a strategy tailor made for your website. Get in touch now!

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Your clients might think you are a big corporation (which you probably are), living in your ivory tower. Starting a blog gives your company a face. A corporate blog is a good way to get in touch with your clients and communicate with them. You’ll be able to explain what you are doing and why. Customers can respond and give their opinion on your plans. This is very important information because you definitely need the support of your clients. The blogging services of Onetomarket are meant to help you in your online communication strategy.

Blogging isn’t always easy. Maybe you have some ideas about what to write, but do you also have new ideas after a few months? What should be your tone of voice? How do you address difficult issues and what to do with critical comments? These are very important questions. Or maybe you have some IT related issues. How to setup your blog? What to write on your blog and why doesn’t my blog rank well? Most companies having a blog really don’t understand corporate blogging. They still aren’t able to personalize their brand and only promote new products. And if they understand the copy part of blogging, another problem occurs; how do you market your blog? With our blogging services, we address and answer all your questions and many more.

Many employees of Onetomarket have been active bloggers for years. And because of our enthusiasm, we certainly want to share the power of blogging with you. We provide blogging workshops, help you with ideas for content, install blogging software for you and help you with any other blog related problem you may be struggling with. Get in touch now to get your conversation going!

Key Takeaways

• Blogging makes business personal
• Blogging is a long term investment with great, measurable results
• Blogging is fun and we love it!

So, how can we help you?

Looking for ways to start blogging? Give us a call and we’ll help you to create the right blogging strategy which suits the needs of your company and your customers! Or have a look at how we like to eat our own dog food and visit our company blog!

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