<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title></title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:04:40 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>How To Get Started With Email Marketing</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/get-started-email-marketing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/get-started-email-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:21:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan Hawkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3237</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>You need to ask yourself a lot of questions first. Do not take the advice of others who will tell you to sign up with an email marketing company or tool. You will need to do that, but you must &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/get-started-email-marketing/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/get-started-email-marketing/">How To Get Started With Email Marketing</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><h1 dir="ltr"></h1>
<p dir="ltr">You need to ask yourself a lot of questions first. Do not take the advice of others who will tell you to sign up with an <a href="http://email-marketing-service-review.toptenreviews.com/">email marketing company or tool</a>. You will need to do that, but you must lay a lot of sand down before you get to that stage. Do not think that just because Email is free that sending out a bunch of them will bring you back a lot of free customers, because you are shooting yourself in the foot.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Many people justify their actions by saying, “Oh well, even if I get one sale out of it, at least its free!” This is not the way that email marketing works. Doing it that way is short sighted and sows the seeds of failure. You need to cultivate a mail list and romance your readers so that they do not block you or throw you in their junk file for eternity.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Targeting</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">You need to know who should receive your emails. There is no point of sending marketing emails to people who live in apartments. There is no point of sending emails for baby goods to old age pensioners. You need to make sure that you target your customers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">You need to target them via your mail list so that the emails get to the right people, and you need to target people in the way you construct your email. Bright flashy colors are not good for funeral services, just as dark colors are not suitable for party websites.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Research</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">Find out what your competition is sending to its customers and how well they are doing off of it. Find out what your target consumer wants to see on their emails and find out what makes them click delete. Find out what your potential customers consider to be spam, and what they consider to be a “message from your company.” There is a massive difference!</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Planning</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">Plan the way you send your emails (small batches, varied batches, test batches), plan the way you will construct your advert and plan your time line. Sometimes the timing of an email is all powerful. Are you going to advertise your fireworks two days before Thanksgiving, or two weeks? Do it two weeks before and people are more likely to buy.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Advert creation</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">Make it good, make it targeted, and make it easy to understand, make it easy to use. Get to the point when you write it. People have no time for fluff and sales talk. Get straight to the meat and tell people why they want your product and how they will be missing out if they do not buy from you.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Mail list</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">Your mail list must be targeted and not one that is bought online. The ones you buy online are 80% made up and 20% people who do not want to be emailed. You need to create a double-opt-in system so that you can legally contact people. You can also make it so that your emails do not end up in the users junk folders if you create a <a href="http://emailmarketing.comm100.com/email-marketing-ebook/email-opt-in.aspx">double opt in system</a>.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Test market</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">Do not send all of your emails to your entire list. Do a test run to see if you get any response. Do a little bit of trial and error to find out if there are things you can improve about your adverts and your mailing system. Send the emails to your family and friends and ask for their help and input. Ask if they experienced any problems opening your email, or if it was directed straight to their junk folder. They will each have different types of email system and browsers, so it will help you to debug any platforms that cause your users problems.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Email marketing tool</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">This is a tool or a service that will allow you to send multiple emails. You need on that you can upload a mail list onto, which will send emails one at a time. This means that your emails are less likely to end up in someone’s junk folder, and also means that the other people you sent the email to will not show up on your recipients emails.</p>
<p dir="ltr">About the Author:</p>
<p>My name is Sonia Jackson. I represent the web-site http://<a href="http://www.writing-research-papers.org/">www.writing-research-papers.org</a>. We’ll help you to solve all problems with writing different essays and research papers in a short time; we’ll answer all your questions and give you useful advice.</p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/get-started-email-marketing/">How To Get Started With Email Marketing</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/get-started-email-marketing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Open Collaboration and Your SEO Strategy</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/open-collaboration-and-your-seo-strategy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/open-collaboration-and-your-seo-strategy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:34:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Megan Totka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3212</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>There is more to an SEO strategy and content marketing than putting the correct keywords in the correct places and the correct number of times throughout a document.  Open collaboration with customers plays an important role in developing your exposure &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/open-collaboration-and-your-seo-strategy/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="http://s.gravatar.com/avatar/5704a61cec7eea70a3714fc398d39cee?s=80" width="64" alt="Megan Totka" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com">Megan Totka</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com, the most trusted online business directory for small businesses that facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources and business news.   She spends much of her time establishing new relationships for Chamber, educating small businesses on the importance of web presence and contributes to a number of online publications. Megan can be reached at megan@chamberofcommerce.com.</span> at <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com"><span>ChamberofCommerce.com</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/MeganTotka">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/MeganTotka">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/megantotka">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/open-collaboration-and-your-seo-strategy/">Open Collaboration and Your SEO Strategy</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/maze-strategy.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3221" title="SEO Strategy" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/maze-strategy.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="360" /></a>There is more to an SEO strategy and content marketing than putting the correct keywords in the correct places and the correct number of times throughout a document.  Open collaboration with customers plays an important role in developing your exposure on the Internet.  The proper use of open collaboration allows you to work smarter, not harder.  In the world of <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/seo-copywriting-helps-businesses-succeed/">small business and SEO optimization this is critical to success</a>.</p>
<p>As a business owner your focus is on running your business and perfecting your product or service.  In reality you have very little time to focus an enormous amount of effort on SEO and content engagement.  Open collaboration is the act of capitalizing on your customers and their social media activities.  There are two types of open collaboration to concern yourself with: front end and back end.</p>
<p><strong>Front End Open Social Collaboration</strong></p>
<p>Think of the front end of this equation as the things that happen once you click on publish.  Once the publish button is pushed, the content becomes live and what you said now has a place on the Internet for posterity.  Many followers, if they like what you have to say, set up their social media accounts to automatically share your posts so you may not have the time to reconsider what you said and delete it.</p>
<p><strong>Back End Open Collaboration</strong></p>
<p>This is all the stuff that happens behind the scenes prior to publication.  You may think this is more private than open but the open part comes in with customer and client feedback and how it impacts what you post.  Customers will know when you address an issue they had or promote something positive they have said about you.  Take care in what you post and proofread before you publish.</p>
<p><strong>The First 60</strong></p>
<p>Whenever a search engine returns results, the first 60 to 70 words of your article are included in those results.  Therefore it is vital to ensure your keyword is included in those first 60 to 70 words and try to keep it to the first 60.  This is a good <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/business-advice/internet/do-it-yourself-tips-for-small-business-seo-300/">do-it-yourself SEO tip for small businesses</a>.</p>
<p>This rule also applies to re-tweets on Twitter.  Re-tweets are the way to go on Twitter to build your credibility.  Keeping your keyword(s) in those first 60 words ensures that the people you are targeting see those keywords.  The more you keep your keywords in the face of people the better your social media marketing results will be.</p>
<p><strong>Twitter Tactics to Help Open Collaboration</strong></p>
<p>Leveraging your followers on Twitter is a good way to increase your exposure.  You do this through their act of re-tweeting what you have posted.  It costs them and you nothing and gets your keywords in the face of hundreds, if not thousands of people.  Here are some tactics to make the most of this indirect leverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Create great content.</strong>  Copious amounts of content are only as good as long as they are beneficial to your readers.  Creating content for the sake of content is counterproductive.  It is far better to have fewer tweets that actually help than having more tweets that just flood the tweetosphere.</li>
<li><strong>Make posts timely</strong>.  We don’t mean posting about Christmas at the beginning of December.  Post when your customers are most likely to read your posts.  This is a hard nut to crack without some outside assistance.  Sites such as <a href="http://www.tweriod.com/">Tweriod</a> monitor your accounts and provide you with data on when your followers are reading your posts.  In this way you can time your posts to when your readers are most active.</li>
<li><strong>Include links after keywords.</strong>  Posts that include links to what your keywords are referencing are the most likely to get re-tweeted.  If you’re good at what you do, which you should be since you’re informing other people on the subject, then <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/business-advice/internet/good-at-what-you-do-then-you-can-do-seo-2201/">you can do basic SEO</a>.  People like posts that lead them to more information with greater detail than that allowed by Twitter.  If they like what you have to say and the information you referenced in your link, they are more likely to re-tweet it to their friends.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburgcom/seo">SEO</a> and social media make for strong marketing tools when combined in the right ways.  Understanding the importance of keyword placement will help you take advantage of all social media has to offer.  Open collaboration with your followers is a great way to leverage those followers into free advertising.</p>
<p><em>Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com.  She specializes on </em><a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/business-advice/internet"><em>internet topics</em></a><em>. ChamberofCommerce.com is </em><a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/business-directory/"><em>one of the largest business directories online</em></a><em>.</em></p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="http://s.gravatar.com/avatar/5704a61cec7eea70a3714fc398d39cee?s=80" width="64" alt="Megan Totka" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com">Megan Totka</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com, the most trusted online business directory for small businesses that facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources and business news.   She spends much of her time establishing new relationships for Chamber, educating small businesses on the importance of web presence and contributes to a number of online publications. Megan can be reached at megan@chamberofcommerce.com.</span> at <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com"><span>ChamberofCommerce.com</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/MeganTotka">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/MeganTotka">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/megantotka">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/open-collaboration-and-your-seo-strategy/">Open Collaboration and Your SEO Strategy</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/open-collaboration-and-your-seo-strategy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Interpreting and Understanding Email Marketing Analytics</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/interpreting-and-understanding-email-marketing-analytics/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/interpreting-and-understanding-email-marketing-analytics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Nov 2012 18:11:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan Hawkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[email marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3207</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>The following are some of the key metrics that need to be measured as part of your email marketing analytics. There are also other metrics to take into consideration, but these are the most important to focus on. Let&#8217;s go &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/interpreting-and-understanding-email-marketing-analytics/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/interpreting-and-understanding-email-marketing-analytics/">Interpreting and Understanding Email Marketing Analytics</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/outlook-email-screen.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3208" title="outlook-email-screen" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/outlook-email-screen.jpg" alt="Outlook Email Message" width="580" height="437" /></a></p>
<p>The following are some of the key metrics that need to be measured as part of your email marketing analytics. There are also other metrics to take into consideration, but these are the most important to focus on. Let&#8217;s go over them in sequential order and give a rundown of what they mean for your email promotion.</p>
<p><strong>1. Open Rates</strong></p>
<p>Your email campaigns open rate is essentially a measure of how many of the people you&#8217;re sending your emails to are actually opening those messages. If you&#8217;ve created a list of willing subscribers and started sending them regular email notifications, updates and sales pitches but notice that you have a deeply low open rate, this might mean any of several things: you could be creating uninteresting subject lines, your content could be lacking in value enough to keep readers looking forward to your next email or you could be mailing to an uninterested audience.</p>
<p>If you notice a low open rate that lags around 10% or less, <a href="http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1117-Email-Marketing-Split-Testing-Improves-Results-Up-to-191-Percent-">conduct split tests on subject lines and email content</a> to see where it can be raised; also focus on creating content that really has enough valuable info to create interest. Mix these tactics and you might raise your rate to as high as a healthy 40% or more.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>2. Click Through</strong></p>
<p>Your click through rate is a metric of how many of your email subscribers are actually clicking through the links in your email messages to the content or sales pages you have on your actual website. This rate is a sub percentage of your open rate and the higher its percentage, the more relevant and appealing your email content is to your viewers.</p>
<p>If your click through rate is low even though your open rate is relatively high, it means that you&#8217;re creating appealing subject lines but the content inside isn&#8217;t relevant to the reader. You need to improve its relevance or make the email copy text more enticing, with a better, more interesting call to action in it. Sometimes a low click through rate coupled with a high open rate means that maybe you designed your message badly and the links themselves are either non functional or too hidden; redesign them for greater visibility.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>3. Bounce Rate</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/what-is-bounce-rate/">Bounce rate</a> measures the number of people who open your email, click through your links and then just make a quick single visit to your content page before leaving and not bothering to come back. Unless you&#8217;re links are leading to a straightforward sales page that is garnering quick visits which do lead to buys, a high bounce rate is a bad metric to have because it means that your viewers aren&#8217;t finding themselves fulfilled by your content delivery promises. It means that they liked your email subject, liked what your email message promised, got to your landing page by clicking your inbox link, and didn&#8217;t like what they found after that, it failed their expectations.</p>
<p>Fix your bounce rate by setting up split tests on your landing pages and trying differently structured content for each one to see which works best at retaining eyeballs.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>4. Sales Conversion</strong></p>
<p>This is the single most important email marketing metric of them all. Sales conversion is your bread and your butter; everything else is secondary to keeping conversion high. What sales conversion measures is the percentage that ends up buying something of those who reach your sales and landing pages through your emails. Improving your <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/what-is-conversion-rate/">conversion rate</a> constantly is the single most effective ROI improvement you can perform for your email campaigns and your business in general.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;ve got a high conversion rate that&#8217;s coupled with high open rates, high click through rates and low bounce rates, you&#8217;re sitting pretty in your campaign. On the other hand, if the other metrics are very low, your bounce rate is low, but your conversion rate is quite high for those that do finally click through to you pages, this means you&#8217;re delivering emails to a lot of people, but only a small percentage is your real niche based on your content, focus more on them.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>5. Page Views/Depth of Visits</strong></p>
<p>Another valuable metric that measure just how thoroughly engaged and interested your target audience is in your content. If the visitors that reach your pages do a lot of page views and penetrate your site beyond the landing page to a high degree, it probably means that you&#8217;re selling to an interested audience and just need to entice them properly into buying with a proper call to action that will improve your sales conversion rate. Keeping this metric high in tandem with a high click through and open rate is a clear indicator that your&#8217;re directing your emails to your chosen niche effectively.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>6. Email Subscriber Retention</strong></p>
<p>How many subscribers are still on your list after a week, a month, several months? The percentages behind each of these time frames clearly indicate how well you&#8217;re retaining reader interest. It&#8217;s unavoidable that you&#8217;ll lose some of your subscribers over time, but it you want to keep a large percentage following you over the course of several months or even a couple of years, you&#8217;ll need to consistently deliver high quality content.</p>
<p>On the other hand, don&#8217;t be afraid to do some subscriber culling of your own. Remember that the most important metric is sales conversion and remember that each sent email costs you as small amount of money. Reachmail is <a href="http://www.reachmail.net/">i</a><a href="http://www.reachmail.net/">ncluding free email marketing tools</a> to business owners, their slogan is free email marketing for life. Because of these two factors, if you&#8217;ve got a large list of continuing subscribers that rarely click your emails or buy anything over an extended timeframe, get rid of them yourself if you aren&#8217;t willing to change your marketing campaign until it appeals more to these people.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/interpreting-and-understanding-email-marketing-analytics/">Interpreting and Understanding Email Marketing Analytics</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/interpreting-and-understanding-email-marketing-analytics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How To Work Smarter &#8211; Not Harder in Business &#124; Infographic</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/how-to-work-smarter-not-harder-in-business-infographic/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/how-to-work-smarter-not-harder-in-business-infographic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:04:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan Hawkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[worker harder]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3193</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>When in comes to earning money, most people discuss how many hours they work. While time is an important element, it is not the only part of working well. In many cases, it is possible to accomplish more without putting &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/how-to-work-smarter-not-harder-in-business-infographic/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/how-to-work-smarter-not-harder-in-business-infographic/">How To Work Smarter &#8211; Not Harder in Business | Infographic</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p>When in comes to earning money, most people discuss how many hours they work. While time is an important element, it is not the only part of working well. In many cases, it is possible to accomplish more without putting in extra hours.</p>
<p>To increase one&#8217;s efficiency, it is important to keep the mind sharp. Getting enough sleep allows the brain to put forth the effort needed to maximize productivity. In addition, diet can plan a role as well; by focusing on maintain a healthy, balanced diet, people can hone their brains for working in an effective manner.</p>
<p>It is also important to realize one&#8217;s limitations. To remain sharp, the mind needs occasional breaks. By building these breaks into one&#8217;s schedule, it is possible to work more efficiently. Some people work for 25 minutes and then take five minutes off. Other work for 50 minutes and then take a break of 10 minutes. By trying multiple time schemes, it is possible to develop a system that works.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/how-to-work-less-hard.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3194" title="Learn how to work less and make more money" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/how-to-work-less-hard.jpg" alt="Learn how to work less and make more money" width="600" height="1019" /></a></p>
<p>From: <a href="http://www.bestmastersdegrees.com/work-hacks/">Best Masters Degrees</a></p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/how-to-work-smarter-not-harder-in-business-infographic/">How To Work Smarter &#8211; Not Harder in Business | Infographic</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/how-to-work-smarter-not-harder-in-business-infographic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How To Create A Successful Guest Posting Campaign For Link Building</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/create-a-successful-guest-posting-campaign/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/create-a-successful-guest-posting-campaign/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:37:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan Hawkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Content Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guest posting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[link building]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3154</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Search engine optimization is a difficult forever changing industry. Due to the Penguin and Panda update the rules and regulations have changed and forcing bloggers to be more intelligent and systematic about their approach. &#160; Guest posting enables bloggers to &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/create-a-successful-guest-posting-campaign/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/create-a-successful-guest-posting-campaign/">How To Create A Successful Guest Posting Campaign For Link Building</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/successful-blogging-campaign.jpg"><img class="alignnone  wp-image-3156" style="border: 2px solid black;" title="Image concept of a good content marketing strategy" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/successful-blogging-campaign.jpg" alt="Image concept of a good content marketing strategy" width="550" height="400" /></a></p>
<p><a title="SEO - Search Engine Optimization" href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Search engine optimization</a> is a difficult forever changing industry. Due to the <a title="Google and Panda update dates " href="http://searchengineland.com/google-releases-panda-update-21-138902" target="_blank">Penguin and Panda update</a> the rules and regulations have changed and forcing bloggers to be more intelligent and systematic about their approach.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Guest posting enables bloggers to effectively post on another relevant and niche blog for no additional cost, it is purely to gain that almighty link. Here I will explain why <a title="increasing traffic through guest posting" href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/increase-your-blog-traffic-and-increase-your-sales-in-2013/" target="_blank">guest posting is now so important to a link building campaign</a> and how to ensure you are carrying out an effective, efficient and Google friendly approach.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>First of all you need to identify your niche. It is deemed appropriate by Google to post a guest post on a niche that is relevant to your back link and article. For example, a candy blog should have a post that is relevant to candy and a back link linking to a site that is also related to confectionaries. Ensure all your content is relevant, authentic and engaging, as Google will be on the look out for content that is thin, then they will penalize it accordingly.  One company that is a member of the ACRA and that I recommend is <a href="http://www.companyformations247.co.uk/company-formation">Company Formation</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Where to Find Blogging Opportunities for successful guest posting</span></strong></h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In order to find a blog relevant to your niche, implement a variety of ways in order to gain leads. Use the sites and tactics below:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>Use the latest blogging sites such as <a title="My blog Guest" href="http://myblogguest.com/" target="_blank">My Blog Guest</a> and <a title="Blogger Link Up" href="http://www.bloggerlinkup.com/" target="_blank">Blogger Link Up</a></li>
<li>Create yourself a mailing list</li>
<li>Build relationships with other bloggers</li>
<li><a title="using facebook and twitter keyword trends to find relevant blogs" href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/using-facebook-and-twitter-trends-to-find-ideas-for-your-next-blog-post/" target="_blank">Use keywords to find relevant blogs</a></li>
<li>Ask others</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">REVIEW WEBSITE AUTHORITY for successful guest posting</span></strong></h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Once you have identified your niche, identify the blogs you want to post on. Look at a variety of aspects when trying to see if the blog is worthy of posting on. Take these factors into consideration:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>Page Rank – download Google’s Page Rank tool; this will tell you how Google feel about the particular page</li>
<li>Domain and page authority – Seomoz have implemented a plug in that rates pages in accordance to relevant back links, this can be used to gauge its reliability.</li>
<li>Check the back links – use Majestic SEO.</li>
<li>Check the posts to see if they are high quality</li>
<li>Look at the Alexa ranking and traffic</li>
<li>Take into consideration a blogs use of social media plug ins</li>
<li>Check the overall quality of the blog</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Taking these factors into consideration will ensure you post on a blog that will carry high amounts of link juice. This will gives your links more weighting. Now you have identified your blog, you need to contact them. A blogger should always be polite and offer flexibility. Forward a selection of titles and allow the blog owner to choose the topic, remember to only request two links.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Remember a few things when submitting a post:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>Ensure you have included all your keywords to make your article optimized</li>
<li>Offer the blogger something in return, for example a post on your site.</li>
<li>Don’t be greedy, if you cant offer them much, don’t ask for too much.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hopefully, a blogger has accepted your submission and they are now just waiting on you to send the article.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">lINK layout examples for successful guest posting</span></strong></h3>
<p>Remember to only use a maximum of two links unless your post is very lengthy. It is now advised to moderate how much keywords and anchor text you use:</p>
<ul>
<li>20% main keywords in anchor text</li>
<li>20% URL in the author bio</li>
<li>20% lesser keywords</li>
<li>20% leading to another of your guest post</li>
<li>????????</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>You can either put a link in the article with your keyword or you can put both links in the author bio. This is dependant on the author’s requirements. You should always check their rules before creating your article. Try including a few images in the post to make it look more attractive and engaging. Once you have received the URL to your article, you should submit it to Link Pipeline; they will almost instantly register your link.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now you have successfully sent a guest post you are ready to do it on a range of blogs. Carry out this simple procedure time and time again, and then you will be able to effectively guest post. Try and build blogger relationships, this way you can post on each blog more than once for a variety of subjects and keywords. Never burn a blog, only use a keyword once or twice on each blog; otherwise Google will determine this as spam. Finally, you need to fully utilize the social media avenues, once you have submitted the post you should tweet and Facebook the post.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Before you know it, your site will be gaining a steady flow of traffic, and an array of back links and a higher Google ranking.</p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/create-a-successful-guest-posting-campaign/">How To Create A Successful Guest Posting Campaign For Link Building</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/create-a-successful-guest-posting-campaign/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Best Third Party Twitter Tools for Online Marketers</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-best-third-party-twitter-tools/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-best-third-party-twitter-tools/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2012 08:30:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan Hawkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3126</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Here is a list of the best third party twitter tools that are currently available to internet marketing professionals. Don&#8217;t forget to comment and let us know which tools you are using to help grow your followers and simplify account management on Twitter.com. &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-best-third-party-twitter-tools/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-best-third-party-twitter-tools/">The Best Third Party Twitter Tools for Online Marketers</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p>Here is a list of the best third party twitter tools that are currently available to internet marketing professionals. Don&#8217;t forget to comment and let us know which tools you are using to help grow your followers and simplify account management on Twitter.com.</p>
<h2><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Best Third Party Twitter Tools</span></h2>
<h3><strong>Hootsuite</strong></h3>
<p>Hootsuite is an essential tool to any <a title="social media marketing" href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/social-media-fredericksburg/">social media</a> manager.  It allows you to schedule and automate content releases, like Facebook posts and Tweets.  With the free version, you can manage up to five content streams at once.</p>
<p>Not only does <a title="hootsuite official website" href="http://hootsuite.com/">Hootsuite</a> release content, it also contains in-depth analytics tailor-made for Twitter account managers.  One impressive feature is the ability to analyze your Twitter feed at the Tweet level.  Each Tweet can be analyzed for reach and impact.  Hootsuite also includes standard broad analytics like hit tracking and Follower demographic analysis.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/hootsuite-owl.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3127" title="Hootsuite logo" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/hootsuite-owl.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="225" /></a></p>
<h3><strong>Buffer</strong></h3>
<p><a title="the official website for the buffer app - the smarter way to share" href="http://bufferapp.com/" target="_blank">The Buffer app</a> is similar to Hootsuite in that it allows you to schedule automated content releases throughout the day.  However, it is much simpler and easier to use.  If all you need is automated content releases and don’t want to go through the trouble of learning Hootsuite, then Buffer is for you.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/buffer-app.jpeg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3128" title="Buffer is an easy way to share any page you are reading" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/buffer-app.jpeg" alt="Buffer is an easy way to share any page you are reading" width="396" height="264" /></a></p>
<h3><strong>Followerwonk</strong></h3>
<p>Followerwonk picks up where Hootsuite left off.  <a title="Find, Analyze, and Optimize for Social Growth at followerwonk.com" href="http://followerwonk.com/" target="_blank">Followerwonk</a> offers the broadest in-depth Twitter account analysis available.  Followerwonk’s analytic tools can analyze the bios of all your followers for useful data, including demographics, posting times, and even other followed Twitter feeds.</p>
<p>Another major Followerwonk ability is a chart tracking when people follow and unfollow your feed.  This is vastly more useful than typical tools that only track your net changes in followers, because you can figure out exactly why the changes occurred.  You can also view the bias of everyone who followed or unfollowed you on a given day to try to figure out what you’re doing right (or wrong).</p>
<p>Finally, Followerwonk can export sorted tables of your followers to Excel.  This lets you analyze the data by other means.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/followerwonk-by-seo-moz.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3129" title="Follower wonk by SEO Moz" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/followerwonk-by-seo-moz.jpg" alt="Follower wonk by SEO Moz" width="540" height="284" /></a></p>
<h3><strong>Klout</strong></h3>
<p><a title="Topoftheburg.com on Klout" href="http://klout.com/#/topoftheburgweb" target="_blank">Klout</a> is not a Twitter-specific tool.  It allows you to view and measure your overall social media impact over time.  This can be broken down by website, so you can gain an understanding of how much of your online reputation is tied to your Twitter account.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/the-klout-logo.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3134" title="Klout measures your social media influence and reach online" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/the-klout-logo.jpg" alt="Klout measures your social media influence and reach online" width="199" height="199" /></a></p>
<h3><strong>SocialOomph</strong></h3>
<p>This tool comes in both free and premium versions.  In my opinion, there isn’t quite enough functionality to the premium version to justify the cost.  However, there is certainly enough functionality in the free version to add it to your arsenal.  <a title="boost your productivity with social oomph" href="https://www.socialoomph.com/" target="_blank">SocialOomph</a> allows you to schedule tweets, track your keywords, and shorten your URLs with the click of a button.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/social-oomph-logo.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3133" title="Social oomph offers the better way to share" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/social-oomph-logo.jpg" alt="Social oomph offers the better way to share" width="562" height="144" /></a></p>
<h3><strong>Ping.fm</strong></h3>
<p><a title="Pinging tool" href="Ping.fm" target="_blank">Ping.fm</a> is a must-have tool if you are running more than 5 Twitter accounts.  Ping.fm makes it very easy to update the profile pictures and information on each account regularly without losing track.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ping-dot-fm-logo.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3132" title="Ping.fm helps you ping your website so that search engines know there is new content" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ping-dot-fm-logo.jpg" alt="Ping.fm helps you ping your website so that search engines know there is new content" width="297" height="297" /></a></p>
<h3><strong>Sprout Social</strong></h3>
<p>Sprout Social uses <a title="semantics" href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/what-is-semantic-coding/">semantic logic</a> and impact assessments to determine which conversations on Twitter you should be listening to.  It helps to filter down the number of posts about your business to a more manageable size, and maximizes customer engagement.  Par for the course, <a title="sprout social pricing" href="http://sproutsocial.com/pricing" target="_blank">Sprout Social</a> also includes reach, impact, and change over time analytics for your posts and your account as a whole.</p>
<div id="attachment_3131" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 525px"><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/sproutsocial_logo.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-3131" title="Sprout social is a popular social media dashboard to manage multiple accounts" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/sproutsocial_logo.png" alt="Sprout social is a popular social media dashboard to manage multiple accounts" width="515" height="115" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Sprout social is a popular social media dashboard to manage multiple accounts</p></div>
<h3>Shouldn’t Tweetdeck be on this List?</h3>
<p>Actually, no.<a title="how to use tweetdeck" href="http://support.twitter.com/articles/20169620-getting-started-with-tweetdeck" target="_blank">Tweetdeck</a> is a beloved automated Twitter account management app.  However, it is no longer a third party app.  Twitter purchased it last year.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tweetdeck-screenshot.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3130" title="Screenshot of the tweet deck, twitter account management tool" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tweetdeck-screenshot.jpg" alt="Screenshot of the tweet deck, twitter account management tool" width="522" height="351" /></a></p>
<p>Steve is a Social Media Manager and Google AdWords Certified Individual at TechWyse, an <a href="http://www.techwyse.com/">Internet marketing</a> firm based in Toronto, Canada. TechWyse specializes in <a title="virginia seo company" href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/seo">SEO</a>, PPC and Social Media Marketing. You can read more of Steve’s writing at <a href="http://www.techwyse.com/blog/">TechWyse.com/blog</a>.</p>
<p>Email Jonathan Hawkins at info.at.topoftheburg.com with your best third party twitter tools so we can add it to the list!</p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-best-third-party-twitter-tools/">The Best Third Party Twitter Tools for Online Marketers</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-best-third-party-twitter-tools/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Importance of Small Business Web Management</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-importance-of-small-business-web-management/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-importance-of-small-business-web-management/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:21:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan Hawkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Small Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[small business web management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3069</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>They used to say “word of mouth” was the best form of advertising. Honest and free. Can’t get much better than that, right? Wrong! What happened to “you get what you pay for”? In today’s world it is virtually impossible &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-importance-of-small-business-web-management/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-importance-of-small-business-web-management/">The Importance of Small Business Web Management</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/reviewing-documents-for-web-management1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3073" title="Man reviewing web management documents from a small business" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/reviewing-documents-for-web-management1.jpg" alt="Man reviewing web management documents from a small business" width="600" height="450" /></a></p>
<p>They used to say “word of mouth” was the best form of advertising. Honest and free. Can’t get much better than that, right? Wrong! What happened to “you get what you pay for”?</p>
<p>In today’s world it is virtually impossible to just get by, much less enjoy success, without utilizing some type of internet marketing or web management. It’s not a question of how to use the internet, its a question of how much.</p>
<p>This social media frenzy we find ourselves in, is not unlike the shark feeding frenzy we all have heard so much about. Web management and marketing is no longer an option, it’s a requirement, if you want to stay connected to your customer base and continue to grow your business. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/confidence-in-small-business-internet-marketing-2011-6">There is no guarantee you will succeed with Internet Marketing. Only a guarantee you will likely fail without it.</a></p>
<p>Not every age group uses social media. At least not every day.<a href="http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/08/internet-marketing-small-businesses.html"> For example, the 35-44 age group uses Facebook and Twitter the most, while teenagers have twice as many social friends as this group</a>. Knowing that the average network user is 37 years old can be very helpful in developing internet marketing strategies.</p>
<p>Your business reputation is no longer in your own hands. It is in the hands of your customers, and maybe not even your customers! The internet highway has no speed limits and you have to be very careful negotiating all those turns. Cut somebody off and you just might pay a very steep price in terms of customer complaints. If your customers aren’t happy there are plenty of places to complain. And complain they will. Your job is to listen and monitor that feedback for honesty and quality assurance. Hold the customer accountable for what he/she is saying about your business. We all make mistakes and want to correct them as quickly as possible. <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220201">Do your research on any complaint, visit with the customer, rectify the problem and move on</a>.</p>
<p>With more and more companies using <a title="Social Media Marketing Company in Virginia" href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/social-media-fredericksburg/">social media</a> the keys are making it work for you.Don’t get caught up in all the hype and jump on some bandwagon just because everyone else seems to. Take your time and do some research specific to your business and what your business really needs. It doesn’t cost a lot of money to market your products on the internet anymore. The key is finding the right vehicle, and delivering the right message to the right people.<strong id="internal-source-marker_0.7842861963436007"><br />
</strong></p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-importance-of-small-business-web-management/">The Importance of Small Business Web Management</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/the-importance-of-small-business-web-management/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Increase Your Blog Traffic and Increase Your Sales in 2013</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/increase-your-blog-traffic-and-increase-your-sales-in-2013/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/increase-your-blog-traffic-and-increase-your-sales-in-2013/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:40:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Megan Totka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2013]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog traffic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3045</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Now you have a blog.  What’s next?  The whole reason for setting up a blog in the first place is to drive people to sections of your website, or to websites that pay you to have them visit and increase &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/increase-your-blog-traffic-and-increase-your-sales-in-2013/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="http://s.gravatar.com/avatar/5704a61cec7eea70a3714fc398d39cee?s=80" width="64" alt="Megan Totka" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com">Megan Totka</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com, the most trusted online business directory for small businesses that facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources and business news.   She spends much of her time establishing new relationships for Chamber, educating small businesses on the importance of web presence and contributes to a number of online publications. Megan can be reached at megan@chamberofcommerce.com.</span> at <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com"><span>ChamberofCommerce.com</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/MeganTotka">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/MeganTotka">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/megantotka">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/increase-your-blog-traffic-and-increase-your-sales-in-2013/">How to Increase Your Blog Traffic and Increase Your Sales in 2013</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ways-to-increase-blog-traffic-and-sales.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone  wp-image-3064" style="border: 2px solid black;" title="How to increase blog traffic and sales" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ways-to-increase-blog-traffic-and-sales.jpg" alt="How to increase blog traffic and sales" width="599" height="399" /></a></p>
<p>Now you have a blog.  What’s next?  The whole reason for setting up a blog in the first place is to drive people to sections of your website, or to websites that pay you to have them visit and increase your income.  A blog is only as good as the people writing and posting to it are dedicated so make sure you <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/writers/">hire a good writer</a> and editor.  Driving traffic to your blog will help your online sales and increase your customer base.  Here are some proven methods to increase traffic to your blog.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Write often.</strong>  Writing often on your blog is essential to keep people coming back to it.  People want to see fresh content that is useful to them and what they are currently looking for.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Write well.</strong>  This is key.  People writing for the Internet or in e-mails tend to make mistakes in their writing and just post without correcting those mistakes.  Once something is written, mistakes jump off the screen to those reading it and cheapen the writing.  Take the time to proofread and edit your work before you post it.  I prefer to write in a word processing program and then copy and paste to my blog.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Write things that matter.</strong>  Writing for the sake of writing is not the thing to do with a blog.  Your topics need to be fresh and need to matter.  It is better to not post for a few days than to post things that make no sense and provide no value to anyone.  <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/business-advice/marketing-consultant/3-tips-for-breaking-business-blog-writers-block-2672/">Posting pointless topics will drive readers away from your blog</a> and that is not what you want to do.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Get on the search engine radar screens.</strong>  Contrary to popular belief, the major search engines are not automatically aware of every new blog that is created.  You have to submit your blog to the search engines to make them aware of your presence.  The engines will then crawl you blog and include you in the list of results.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Know your SEO.</strong>  If SEO is Greek to you then start doing some research.  For those who specialize in SEO, such as <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/blog">Top of the Burg</a>, SEO is a piece of cake.  Without proper SEO you run the risk of landing at the bottom of search engine results.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Get linked.</strong>  A blog roll is a list on your blog of other blogs and websites that you like.  Once you include a link to another site or blog those owners are more likely to find you and reciprocate with a link to your blog.  This is kind of like the real estate principal of location, location, location.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Take a note from Seinfeld and syndicate.</strong>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS">RSS feeds</a> allow readers to subscribe to your blog and they are automatically notified whenever you post new content.  In this way you are keeping in touch with them even when they are not surfing your particular blog.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Pictures are worth 1,000 words.</strong>  This has never been truer than in the case of the Internet browser.  Most people surfing the Internet are drawn by a picture that catches their eye then they read the associated article.  An <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/the-small-business-tax/">infographic</a> is a good way to draw readers in visually while providing them valuable information.  Including pictures in your blog is also a great way to get people there and keep them there.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Guest blogging.</strong>  Writing for another blog or having another blogger write for you is a great way to drive traffic. It is also mutually beneficial to both bloggers.  Just use caution with those whom you allow to blog for you.  Ensure they write well and are dependable.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Don’t give in to stage fright.</strong>  The blogosphere is a large community and the only way to get noticed is to talk about your blog.  Put links to your blog in your email signature, on your social networks, on your business cards, and bring it up in offline conversations.  Talk about yourself, your business, and your blog and you will get noticed and see an increase in traffic.</li>
</ul>
<p>Blogging takes work but it should not take up all your time, you do have a business to run after all.  Keep up to date with your blog and incorporate blogging into your grand marketing scheme and you will find that you increased traffic with minimal effort.  Use your blog for everything it is worth and you will be rewarded for your efforts. These tried and tested methods will surely help to increase your blog traffic and sales in 2013.</p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="http://s.gravatar.com/avatar/5704a61cec7eea70a3714fc398d39cee?s=80" width="64" alt="Megan Totka" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com">Megan Totka</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com, the most trusted online business directory for small businesses that facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources and business news.   She spends much of her time establishing new relationships for Chamber, educating small businesses on the importance of web presence and contributes to a number of online publications. Megan can be reached at megan@chamberofcommerce.com.</span> at <a href="http://www.chamberofcommerce.com"><span>ChamberofCommerce.com</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/MeganTotka">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/MeganTotka">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/megantotka">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/increase-your-blog-traffic-and-increase-your-sales-in-2013/">How to Increase Your Blog Traffic and Increase Your Sales in 2013</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/increase-your-blog-traffic-and-increase-your-sales-in-2013/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>5 Tips To Help Increase Reader Engagement</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/5-tips-to-help-increase-reader-engagement/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/5-tips-to-help-increase-reader-engagement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:11:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan Hawkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3040</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>&#160; You can agree with me that content which is not engaging is as good shooting aimlessly. When content is not engaging it creates a gap between the writer and reader simply because the readers interest is no longer on &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/5-tips-to-help-increase-reader-engagement/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/5-tips-to-help-increase-reader-engagement/">5 Tips To Help Increase Reader Engagement</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/increase-reader-engagement-online.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone  wp-image-3051" title="Increase Reader Engagement Online" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/increase-reader-engagement-online.jpg" alt="Increase Reader Engagement Online" width="600" height="450" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>You can agree with me that content which is not engaging is as good shooting aimlessly. When content is not engaging it creates a gap between the writer and reader simply because the readers interest is no longer on the content. With this in mind, I shall be sharing a few tips on how you can write <a title="Creating Content that Your Audience of Reads Will Love" href="http://www.matchstickstrategies.com/start-creating-the-exciting-content-your-audience-is-craving/" target="_blank">content that is engaging and exciting</a> and will help you extend a powerful and meaningful message to your readers.</p>
<h3><strong>1. Keeping The Interest of the Reader In Mind</strong></h3>
<p>This is the first step to writing engaging content for your readers. If you miss this point, then it is also very unlikely that you will be able to apply the rest of the tips.<br />
It is very likely for writers to lose themselves when writing and end up writing content that is centered on what they like or what interests them alone. This will be the greatest fall to your writing career if you do so. Whenever you are writing content keep your audience in mind. Remember, you don&#8217;t write articles to make you happy unless you keep them in a personal journal, but if it is your blog or other publicity, then you better think twice.</p>
<p>A great example is an interior decoration blog. The description of the blog indicates that it shall share tips on various interior designs, but the writer only concentrates on furniture designs yet there is more to interior design than furniture alone.</p>
<h3><strong>2. Provide a Solution To Readers Problems</strong></h3>
<p>Most readers will come online looking for articles that answer their questions. They have a problem and they have turned to the internet to look for answers. So, creating content with readers who have a particular problem in mind will definitely stand out and grab most reader&#8217;s attention.</p>
<h3><strong>3. Creating a Catchy Title</strong></h3>
<p>First consider the aim of your content and its respective audience. From there, search article directories for articles with a similar aim or in the same niche. However, search articles that have high readership and grab the style or vibe used in each of the articles that have readership. This is so because, if the articles have high readership it is also very likely that it the title that drew the attention of the readers through.</p>
<h3><strong>4. Be Straightforward</strong></h3>
<p>This is a powerful tip to keep in mind at all times. By being direct, you will notice that you may not write as much content, and it will help you avoid keep beating about the bush and the readers will see a great value in your work. Unlike work that has a lot of blub and less facts or major points to bring home. The fact is that not all readers have a great attention span. In that view, content should be created with readers who have <a title="test your attention span" href="http://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/take_test.php?idRegTest=3361" target="_blank">short and long attention span.</a></p>
<h3><strong>5. Flow of Points</strong></h3>
<p>After all has been said and done, the question is that does your content flow? Your ideas written down must be able to show a logical flow of ideas. Unorganized work is very likely to distort the message you are trying convey or confuse or irritate the readers.</p>
<p>Writing content that is engaging and exciting at the same<br />
time is possible. So, start applying these tips today and surely it shall improve your level of engagement with your audience.</p>
<p>This post was sponsored by <a title="hosting reviews on Ipage" href="http://www.whoishostingthis.com/hosting-reviews/ipage/" target="_blank">IPage hosting reviews</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/5-tips-to-help-increase-reader-engagement/">5 Tips To Help Increase Reader Engagement</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/5-tips-to-help-increase-reader-engagement/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SEO Copywriting Helps Businesses Succeed</title>
		<link>http://www.topoftheburg.com/seo-copywriting-helps-businesses-succeed/</link>
		<comments>http://www.topoftheburg.com/seo-copywriting-helps-businesses-succeed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:47:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan Hawkins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Copywriting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[copywriting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.topoftheburg.com/?p=3008</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>If you are struggling with your business online visibility then you may want to read on about how SEO copywriting can make a huge difference, helping you improve your search engine ranking, increase your visibility and in turn increase your &#8230; <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/seo-copywriting-helps-businesses-succeed/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/seo-copywriting-helps-businesses-succeed/">SEO Copywriting Helps Businesses Succeed</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting"><p><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/copywriting-by-hand.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3013" style="border: 3px solid black;" title="SEO Copywriting for Websites" src="http://www.topoftheburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/copywriting-by-hand.jpg" alt="SEO Copywriting for Websites" width="500" height="332" /></a></p>
<p>If you are struggling with your business online visibility then you may want to read on about how SEO copywriting can make a huge difference, helping you improve your search engine ranking, increase your visibility and in turn increase your profits.</p>
<p>These days a business not on the internet is doomed for failure, but even though you are on the internet, are you getting the coverage you need? Is your business visible to your target audience? Are you getting the results you were hoping for?</p>
<p>What you need to remember is that there are thousands upon thousands of businesses who have all chosen the internet for their marketing campaigns; this is a sign of the times as we have shifted into a technological era and if you aren’t on the internet you are likely to suffer.</p>
<p>The problem comes in when you have businesses trading internationally, opening up a wide choice for customers and a large competition for yourself. The aim is to improve your business visibility to such a point that you dominate the market, or at least a piece of it.</p>
<h3>Online Marketing is AFFORDABLE</h3>
<p>The advantage with online marketing is that it is affordable, when you compare it against newspaper or glossy magazine advertising prices or even television, if you have considered going that far, these are exceptionally expensive.  Some online marketing can even be done yourself. Simply share your stories on Facebook or Twitter as this is just another wonderful free way to advertise your business online.</p>
<p>How do you dominate your competitors? Through SEO, a super website, fantastic and interesting blog and social media.  If you’re not technically minded this probably all sounds like complete gibberish around now so let’s start with the easy stuff, a website.</p>
<p>Your <a title="Website Design Services Company" href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">website design</a> should be easy to navigate and use, it should also be visually appealing drawing and keeping customers on it for as long as possible. The wording should be written with professional SEO copywriting that engages your customers and gets them to stay and want to find out more.</p>
<h3>Blogs Are an Important Part of Online Marketing</h3>
<p>Then there are blogs, these have become such a popular source of revenue for businesses, though you probably wonder how a blog could do that.  Blogs are interesting pieces of writing, they may inform customers about things happening in your industry, in your business or even about products you sell.  They can give buyers advice and tips, hints and how to instructions, whatever you choose as long as it’s engaging and interesting, it must be something people want to read.</p>
<p>SEO is search engine optimization and this has become very important for the majority of online businesses because in order to achieve success you need a high ranking in search engine results. By now you may be completely confused, but bear with me.</p>
<p>When a customer decides to buy or find out something about a product they will type in a particular word or sentence into a search engine, such as Google.  When they click on search they will be welcomed with a list of companies all offering that service, the aim of SEO is to use these keywords to a certain density within your pages and blogs to get you near the top or even to the top of these results, this ensures you are one of the first businesses they see and click on.</p>
<p>Through social media you can keep your customers updated on the latest happening and new products, you can interact with your customers constantly and let them leave feedback for you. Social media has become a way the majority of us live, so using this to your benefit when trying to succeed in business is important.</p>
<p>Build a great site and then get your pages done by a professional <a href="http://applecopywriting.co.uk/">SEO copywriting</a> service, this way you know you have interesting and compelling writing that will keep your customers on your page for longer.</p>
<h6><em>Photo Credit: sxc.hu</em></h6>
</div><h3>Author information</h3><div class="ts-fab-wrapper" style="overflow:hidden"><div class="ts-fab-photo" style="float:left;width:64px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Kh9yfd-PId8/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAA/SBiz1fRjSPQ/s96-c/photo.jpg" width="64" alt="Jonathan Hawkins" /></div><!-- /.ts-fab-photo --><div class="ts-fab-text" style="margin-left:74px"><div class="ts-fab-header"><div style="font-size: 1.25em;margin-bottom:0"><strong><a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com">Jonathan Hawkins</a></strong></div><div class="ts-fab-description" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"><em><span>Jonathan Hawkins is founder and CEO of Topoftheburg. Since a young age he has been involved in website design and search engine marketing for business owners.</span> at <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"><span>Topoftheburg, LLC</span></a></em></div></div><!-- /.ts-fab-header --><div class="ts-fab-content" style="margin-bottom:0.5em"></div><div class="ts-fab-footer"><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://twitter.com/topoftheburgweb">Twitter</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.facebook.com/212694425430693">Facebook</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://plus.google.com/112193034918050960824">Google+</a><a style="margin-right:1.25em" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanchasehawkins">LinkedIn</a></div><!-- /.ts-fab-footer --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-text --></div><!-- /.ts-fab-wrapper --><p>The post <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com/seo-copywriting-helps-businesses-succeed/">SEO Copywriting Helps Businesses Succeed</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.topoftheburg.com"></a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.topoftheburg.com/seo-copywriting-helps-businesses-succeed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
