http://www.getwebwired.com FastForward Marketing offers web design and SEO for businesses marketing their services online Charlotte, NC. Call us to see how we can help you. http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-10/article/email-is-a-social-media-tool-too.htm Email can be one of the most annoying and irritating business activites imaginable but at the end of the day I don't know how I could live without it.   In addition to staying up with friends and clients, I subscribe to several services that provide valuable information about my industry as well as competitor activity.  I truly don't have time to surf the Internet looking for information.  Having it delivered to me in an email from a service or individual that I trust is a ..... Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-10/article/leveraging-social-media.htm Learning how to Tweet and putting up a Facebook page won't help extend brand awareness or sales without a strategy in place that uses the social media platforms to build a "funnel" that drives traffic. A picture is worth a thousand words and the graphic may help clarify my explanation.  An effective social media campaign leverages all marketing activities to gain the most exposure. Although the graphic doesn't show arrows pointing between each platform, that's part of ..... Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-10/article/google-business-center-listings.htm With all the buzz about social media marketing most business owners are missing one easy tool that can gain them more exposure online.  The missing piece in their online marketing strategy is Google Local Business Listings .  This is a free service that Google offers to help businesses get listed in their local trade area.  This service is part of Google Maps and allows a business profile as part of the Maps application.  These listings may then be shown at the ..... Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-09/article/content-management-for-websites.htm This may seem a bit self-serving since FastForward Marketing designs websites and I'll admit that this post is a bit promotional but that doesn't mean the message isn't relevant.  We still see alot of potential clients who don't understand the importance of editable websites. Keeping a website current with new content is no longer a nice to have feature but one that is essential in today's environment.  With more than 80% of prospects going online to check out products and ..... Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-08/article/animoto-for-low-tech-video-production.htm Animoto is a free (a paid version is also available) video production tool that uses photo's rather than video clips.  Production of the final show is automated and you can even choose to use a variety of stock music that they make available. In a later blog post, I'll be posting a video using Animoto and a short "how to" post although the software is pretty self explanatory.  Even if you are good at making videos, using Animoto can give you a quick way to add additional ..... Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-08/article/5-reasons-to-effectively-use-digital-marketing.htm 5 Reasons Why You Need to Understand and Implement Digital Marketing The Naming Czars who have given us Internet Marketing, Web Marketing, Online Marketing have now given us Digital Marketing; another term to describe the same activities. Well, not really. Digital marketing includes all electronic based marketing and sales efforts; including marketing messages designed to be seen on mobile devices.    We’ve put together 5 Reasons Why You Need to ..... Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-06/article/google-voice.htm Google Voice Can Change Business Communications Google Voice (formerly Grand Central) is currently only available to existing Grand Central subscribers but the rumor is that Google will be launching their service this year with the added feature of portability of existing phone numbers. Google voice is a feature rich phone management system that can forward calls to multiple phones from one central number. This means that you can switch your mobile number to Google ..... Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-03/article/branding-strategy.htm "Branding," and its apparent continual evolution, is evolving even more. I found that out recently when I stood in as a substitute speaker at a business networking group.  With the script of the original speaker in hand, I started out following the party line. Somewhere along the way, I went "off script." Here's how it went: I started telling the group that traditional branding was dead; don't waste money on identity logos - just get a logo, any logo. I didn't ..... Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-03/article/10-rules-for-web-writing.htm The 10 FastForward Rules for Web Writing Web writing is an entirely new medium where new writing and producing rules apply. First, the pace of the online readership is fast, very fast . Home pages are scanned, not read. The most important information you want to know better be highly visible and easy to understand.  At FastForward Marketing we believe that the more our clients know about producing online communications, the better the results will be. As ..... Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.getwebwired.com/SEO-for-Small-Business/archive/2009-02/article/internet-marketing.htm Internet Marketing is the most common topic that comes up with my small business clients. Their biggest concern is learning how to make money with the website they have. This isn’t unusual. Big businesses wonder the same thing. The tactics used to monetize a small business website versus a big business website comes down to money. Big business has much more of it than small businesses. As in most things, the solutions lie in a trade-off between time and ..... Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST