Having a web site won’t do much good if nobody can find it. Mellon & Co. offers full search engine optimization support. This article details some of the steps in getting your site indexed and staying at the top.

Are you launching a new website? There’s no better time to think about search engine optimization than prior to launching a new site. By giving consideration to your on-page optimization factors, you can increase your chances of achieving top organic search results.

To prepare your site for easy indexing, be sure to follow these basis guidelines:

1. Design your site in html or similar format that minimizes the use of java script and flash. The more complex you make your code, the more difficult it becomes for the search engine spiders to read your content and prescribe the appropriate Google PR to your web page.

2. Make sure that your meta tags are coded properly and include the Robots.txt tag. Many individuals downplay the importance of meta tags. Although meta tags themselves won’t drastically change the organic ranking of your site, they do create the display text users will see when your site appears in search results. If your meta tags are search engine optimized and compelling, you increase the changes of improving click-throughs.

3. Apply the proper tags to your page. H1, H2, and H3 tags are a great wall to call attention to your content and promote your keywords and keyword phrases. Try to use each tag at least once, but don’t force the issues. You want your text to flow and appear normal.

In addition to ensuring that you’ve made your page easy to access and presented text that is optimized, you also want to consider other factors that can help long-term with your SEO efforts. So often, web designers get caught up with on page factors, that they overlook the requirements for establishing a foundation that supports long-term initiatives.

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Source: Marketing Scoop

Constant Communication. Are you making this marketing mistake?

A few years ago, I met one of the best known ’sales experts’ in the UK. He had authored several books, and provided motivational training for blue-chip companies in a career spanning decades. If you’ve worked in the sales world for any time, you have almost certainly heard of him. Now in the ‘golden years’ of his career, he could sit back and let the opportunities come to him, couldn’t he? Actually no.

“We never kept a database, Bernadette” he privately confessed to me. So at great expense he had to hire and manage a sales team to set appointments for him. If he had cultivated a list over the years, he would have had prospective clients knocking on his door. “But my business is different!” Ok, so you’re a consultant - and you only work with 3-4 large clients each year. Surely you don’t need a list of 1,000 do you? Maybe not, but any list will give you huge leverage.

Read the full article at Marketing Scoop.

This accurate description of Integrated Marketing Communications, the words often heard when describing the field, are an important part of what we do at Mellon & Co. It may help our clients, and even prospective clients, to have a deeper understanding of our core philosophy:

Marketing: It is a process. We measure the results of the process by number of customers, sales, amount of profit generated, etc.

Marketing Communications (MC): This is an umbrella term for all communication avenues available for conveying marketing messages. These include advertising, public relations, sales promotions, direct response marketing, events, sponsorships, point-of-purchase materials, packaging, trade shows, customer service, and personal sales. MC is measured as the proportion of marketing dollars assigned to each avenue and the marketing return on investment (MROI) for each.

Marketing Mix: The specific MC elements used by an organization, measured in marketing dollars and MROI.

Brand: It is the total collection of perceptions and associations (good, bad, and indifferent) that differentiate an organization from its competitors.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC): Another process. IMC is the organization, planning, and monitoring of marketing components and data to control and influence brand information, associations, and experiences. The goal is to incubate profitable relationships and dialog with patients and other groups. This is typically measured by internal and external surveys, focus groups, managerial accounting, trend analyses, referral indices, etc. [Source: audiologyonline.com, describing how they use IMC for their business model.]

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