Janette Speyer

Whether it’s positive reinforcement from friends, the number of “likes” you get on a particular status update, or even just being able to chat online with friends you may not talk to often, Facebook and other social media platforms have proven to have an overall positive effect on the human psyche. - Janette Speyer

With the help of social media and online marketing, the quality of Super Bowl commercials has been steadily improving over the years by incorporating a lot more creativity, innovation and engagement. - Janette Speyer

If you’ve been reading the news lately, you’ve probably already heard that Facebook has announced that it’s going public and has filed an initial public offering (IPO) for $5 billion. For those of us not familiar with the financial sector, that means that Facebook is will be seeking to get $5 billion from investors. While it’s not surprising that Facebook made this move, what will be interesting is how this will impact the company as a whole, as well as the rest of the social media and online marketing world. - Janette Speyer

I once had a friend tell me that he only recently started to follow football so that he would have more interests in common with his customers. People choose to follow or not follow football for various personal reasons, however the Super Bowl is a whole different story. It is the most watched sporting event in America and a prolific gold mine for the advertising world. - Janette Speyer

Traveling and running a business sounds like an oxymoron. Well, it can be done. Thanks to Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Skype and Wi-Fi. Today with all the virtual offices around you never know if you are talking to someone in the UK, America or in India. - Janette Speyer

Building online trust is critical for an online business. Since your customers don’t often get to meet you face-to-face, in order to sell your products and services you have to build trust and confidence through your online voice instead. - Janette Speyer

The Internet just flexed its political muscle with the don’t-mess-with-the-Web campaign in response to an anti-piracy bill before Congress. Fearful that the bill passage could lead to online censorship and put many websites out of business. - Janette Speyer

"submitted by reddit to blog." - Janette Speyer

One of the most interesting trends to watch for in 2012 is social media going visual. What does that mean, you ask? It means that social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr are taking the center stage by appealing to the visual aspect of marketing and branding as opposed to just the content side. - Janette Speyer

People use search engines everyday to do research, find answers to questions, look up directions and locate products they’re interested in. But why do certain searches show up while others don’t? It has to do with search engine rankings. - Janette Speyer

2012 has just launched and it’s time to exercise our digital marketing muscles for our clients. In order to achieve the best possible results for them we have found that organizing and coordinating their previous online marketing efforts is the first order of business. Sometimes, it is more than just a Spring cleaning, rather more on the order of a redirect or facelift. - Janette Speyer

Keywords are like Super Glue. They are the fuel for search engines and connect you to your potential customers. Selecting the right keywords can make all the difference in whether you are found in search. Therefore, keyword research is the foundation of any online marketing strategy. - Janette Speyer

When I open my Facebook profile, the right hand side always has ads that are related to my "Likes". For example, if I "Like" vitamin B12, ads for vitamins and supplements appear. Along with these ads I also get shown my friends choices and "Likes". This type of marketing is known as behavioral targeting and has already started to sweep the nation. - Janette Speyer

Niche social sites are paving the way for the new era of online marketing. As businesses embrace social media strategies they are finding more and more that they can define their branding by using "niche" social sites to target their audiences and to interest smaller group of people. - Janette Speyer

Using social media to promote your business generates leads. Creating a Facebook business page can help get the word out about your business and locate potential customers. - Janette Speyer

Nothing is more appreciated and respected in business than a referral. It shows confidence in your brand, hands on experience and the ability to connect with people. It is the bi-product of a successful business–customer relationship. In today’s competitive business climate and the growing influence of the Internet to affect decision making, the marketing paradigm has changed. - Janette Speyer

With 2012 just around the corner, online marketing predictions are becoming more identifiable. In a world where technology becomes more advanced everyday, online marketing also follows suit and evolves quickly in order to adapt. In 2011, many changes took place such as Google entering the social media world with Google+ and the revamped Google Reader, the introduction of a new iPhone, and the increased reliance on Facebook and Twitter for promotional updates. Experts predict that even more changes are in store for 2012 as the online world continues to dominate marketing strategy by utilizing various avenues. - Janette Speyer

Thanksgiving signifies a time of year where people gather with their families and reflect upon what they’re thankful for. The first Thanksgiving celebration is believed to have taken place in 1621, when Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians got together and celebrated the autumn harvest. The tradition continued for many years, but it wasn’t a national holiday until President Abraham Lincoln officially declared it during the Civil War. Today, Thanksgiving has many meanings, based on various family traditions. It can be anything from watching football, to eating juicy turkey or reuniting with family members we don’t see often. For some, it may even mean getting to bed early in order to get the best sales at the mall on Black Friday, or now Black Thursday! - Janette Speyer

The lines have become blurred from traditional SEO to what I call SEO on “steroids”. The fuel that drives the traditional SEO engine is still relevant, from keyword-rich website content, code to content ratio and optimization, to being Google compliant. However, today search engines are paying increasing attention to an online social activity. Consistent social engagement indicates that a website is an active participant in commerce and is not just a content generator or link farm. - Janette Speyer

With the holidays soon approaching, everyone is gearing up for the biggest shopping weekend of the year. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, offers lucrative savings to entice people to hit the stores and buy gifts for Christmas or other holidays. Cyber Monday has also become increasingly popular since people can find what they need all with the clicks of a few buttons. Online marketing has been playing an integral role in the promotion of these savings events and consumers have been getting good at ferreting out the biggest savings with the help of social media marketing. - Janette Speyer

What is a Kardashian? Where did the brand come from? The most popular Twitter searches for the Calabasas, California area are believe it or not: #wheredothekardashianslive and #dash. The Kardashian brand, however, has not always been a multi-million dollar enterprise. The family used to be fairly ordinary, other than the father, Robert Kardashian, who was an attorney for OJ Simpson. It wasn’t until several years ago, when Kris Jenner, the matriarch of the family, decided she wanted to get the family on a reality TV show. This happened at about the same time as her daughter, Kim Kardashian, became famous because of the release of a scandalous video. - Janette Speyer

The BlogWorld and New Media Expo took place in Los Angeles on November 3-5. With more than 300 speakers, it was three days filled with non-stop workshops and presentations from online ma - Janette Speyer

Google has been busy updating a host of different applications from Gmail to Google+, and now the update for Google Reader. The new Google Reader offers an interface overhaul that is a lot more intuitive, and also offers the ability to share on Google+. This updated version helps Google further integrate with the social media community and promote the use of Google+. There are also some additional benefits that can help your online marketing efforts to either streamline or expand your social media impact. - Janette Speyer

Job searches are now mostly done online and rarely do people apply in person anymore. Major job search websites such as monster.com or careerbuilder.com have less impact as social media has transitioned into becoming the front runner for online recruiting. Recruiters are now heavily relying on social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook to locate qualified candidates based on their skills and connections. Since about half of the US population is active in social media, it makes sense that they would be used not only for personal uses, but also for professional ones as well. - Janette Speyer

The Web Success Team follows a wide variety of online marketing experts so we thought that we would create an annual summary of those that we like the best or highly recommend. Every category from SEO to content curation and social media all have an expert or platform that can help you stay organized or teach you about cutting-edge, innovative techniques. With so many talented people and platforms to choose from it was a difficult decision, but below is the short list of 16 industry professionals that we follow and why. - Janette Speyer

We all want our websites to be ranked higher on Google and be more visible — but we have to balance out how much effort to put into SEO without destroying the user experience. SEO is imperative for your website to get searched on the major search engines but its overuse can also hurt your website. The search engines will select the most relevant websites offered to users through keyword searches. SEO’s purpose is, in part, determining how to tweak a site so it is not only recognized by the search engine spiders but rewarded with a first page view. - Janette Speyer

QR codes have become an integral tool for any marketing strategy and they have made mobile marketing and advertising more accessible than ever. - Janette Speyer

If you publish blogs that are irrelevant to your field or don’t include critical keywords, you could be wasting your time. On the other hand, if you do include keywords that will show up on search engines, not only will you increase visibility to your site, but also attract potential new clients. In addition, this article will help you focus in on and target customers through creative content creation and effective blog management. - Janette Speyer

Everyone gets writer's block from time to time. In the blogging world, it’s easy to get stuck if you run out of ideas about what topics to write about. If writing more blog articles means more business, then you probably don’t want to get stuck very often. One way to avoid this is make a checklist of content creation ideas that can help your online marketing program. - Janette Speyer

No one wants to lose sales or lead opportunities once a prospective customer lands on your website. If you have broken links or error pages, visitors may downgrade your website and leave. Your site may also need a search engine optimization (SEO) overhaul. When viewers see a 404 error page, this is your opportunity to turn a negative into a positive. - Janette Speyer